windy day bluegill

Formerly Illinoisgiller before computer crash.
After a lot of scouting ,I found a public lake that I could put the wife on the bank of. We went yesterday afternoon and found the wind at 15-20 out of the south on a North South strip mine. We both had 12' long rods,with hers being Outlaw and mine B&M Sam's Sensitive. The reach of these long rods are a blessing at strip mines even without the wind. Having enough rod length to get the line on the water in a strong side wind really helps. We use different lines. She is using Power pro 8-3 Hi Vis and I am using Cabelas pro line mono Hi Vis 4 lb. test. There was little difference in the bite on the totally different lines. The bite was pretty good considering the hefty chop from the wind. The best results came on a couple red butt jigs I tied. Both had a red hackle wrapped the length of the body but the gills and hook outs destroyed it. We caught a lot of gills but kept 17 and all were within a 1/4" of 8". The temperature was dropping steadily and we left when it got unfun. lol We hit rain on the way home so we timed it just right . Those 17 will make for a nice feast for I, the wife and the nice widow lady across the street . On the way home we seen a broken blade in the windmill area. Looks costly .

Good looking mess of gills

Nice gills alright and love the looks of those jigs you were using. Where do you get em?

Attachment 200608These are some better example of the jigs I tie .They are 1/80 oz on a #8 bronze hook. The tie is simple with a short piece of red yarn at the rear and krenike (sp) chinelle for body. Some I wrap the body with red hackle . Gills seem to like the sparkle of the chennile.
Story- A lot of years ago I was on a trip with a young grandson and stopped at Hazleton Mo. bass pro. There was a real nice guy in the fly fishing section that sat down at a tying kiosk and showed me a legged tie he liked for bluegill . As he worked he said "I'll tie in a tuft of this red yarn for a stub tail--Never pass a chance to add red to the tail of a jig if it can be worked in. " I never forgot that advise.

nice fish and jigs . totally agree with the red .

i tie a very similar fly,and it is one of my best

Yeppers, red tail works great for gills.