Bluegills and a fly rod go together like wieners and kraut or lutefisk and lefse.

I have known fly fishers (myself included) who would think twice about driving 30 miles to a trout stream, yet drive 300 for a few hours fishing for trophy-sized bluegills.

It isn't entirely the idea of taking them on light tackle either. No small part of the fun of fly fishing lies in the fact that there is no machinery between angler and fish. The line isn't thrown off a reel nor is the fish cranked in with one.

A fly rod lure is manipulated and fish are played by the anglers line hand. There is a direct connection that other angling methods lack. A large bluegill emphasizes this.

An encyclopedia definition of game fish is "any fish that by reason of its courage and strength puts up a vigorous and prolonged resistance to capture and will take an artificial lure or fly". Sounds like a bluegill, doesn't?

They possess all the qualities ordinarily attributed to game fish and are delicious to boot.

Their fight when taken on a fly never ceases to amaze anglers. I can recall breaking three fly rods in nearly 40 years of fly fishing. Each time was on a big bluegill. Like the fellow said, "If they grew to five pounds, we would never know what one looked like".

In many Wisconsin waters bluegills reach a weight of over a pound, and fish of over two pounds have been reported. Rate of growth and size depend on availability of food and the competition for it.

In some small lakes and ponds, bluegills become stunted as the population increases, especially where there is abundant weed growth. Fish managers rely heavily on northerns and largemouth bass as predators and stock them to keep bluegills in check.

The idea makes sense in the north where many lakes are relatively free of vegetation but not in the rest of the state.

The bluegill's flat, platter-like shape allows even large ones to move through dense weeds with alacrity. Bass and northerns cannot.

As a rule, northerns lie backed into a weed bed's edge until something edible swims by. Bass wait for their food to cross open pockets.

The chances of either pursuing a bluegill through weeds and catching it are non-existent.

Crappies, however, are something else. They are probably one of the best predators a lake can hold. Not only are they fish eaters, but they are designed to move through weeds as well as bluegills.

Weedy lakes that contain both crappies and bluegills usually hold big bluegills.

As a rule, the largest bluegills feed most actively in early morning and late afternoon when they move into shallow water. The fastest surface fishing will be from just before sunset until dark. They seldom feed at night.

Although not considered a schooling fish, they do group roughly as to size.

Look for them in and around weed beds. When the afternoon feeding starts, the largest fish will be on the deep water side of the weeds. The shallow side will hold little ones. As the sun lowers, the large ones move towards shore and just before dark, a bug or fly placed tight to shore will often take good fish from water that doesn't quite cover their back fins. This is one of the times fly fishing comes into its own. A spinning lure, plastic bubble or anything similar, alights with a splash that sends fish streaking for deeper water. The slight sound a fly or bug makes unrolling ahead of a long leader seems to attract them.

For morning fishing, at least in summer, the order is reversed. The largest are near shore at sun-up and move out as the sun climbs. By mid-morning they are in deep water.

Most of us are used to the idea that when fishing for bass in shallow water we must be careful about banging the boat bottom, dropping the oars or other antics that frighten fish. When pan fishing, however, we tend to become careless.

Authorities tell us that a ten-inch bluegill from Wisconsin waters will probably be eight or more years old. In order to live that long it had to evade a great many predators and a host of anglers.

It didn't grow to ten inches by hanging around boats. Not only is caution about noise necessary, but long casts are also. You are much more likely to take a trophy with a 50 foot cast than, for instance, a 35 foot one.

Speaking of boats, my favorite for fly fishing is a wide bottom canoe. It should have enough keel so as not to be at the mercy of any vagrant wind that comes along. One like this will let you maneuver in, over and around weed beds with the least disturbance and navigate very shallow water.

I often hear remarks about fly casting from a canoe as if it were some way dangerous. Actually, with just a little common sense, it isn't.

The fly caster who does enough flailing to rock a canoe is dangerous any place, if not to himself, at least to by-standers. The common sense approach is to extend line by shooting rather than false casting. Keep the back cast high and short. You should be able to shoot out any desired amount of line after a single, short back cast with no false casting and no canoe rocking. If you don't quite reach your target, pick up and shoot some more.

When feeding, bluegills take both wet and dry flies with enthusiasm. As a rule the less direct the sun's rays, the more interested they are in surface flies.

Late in the afternoon, before they start surface feeding, sunken flies will be most attractive, usually along the deep side of the weeds, out a little in open water. You may have to experiment with pattern or color.

In Wisconsin, it is legal to fish with two flies, so adding a dropper fly of a different style or color can help determine what is most effective. Also, two flies will travel deeper than one.

Rigging a dropper fly that won’t tangle is easy. Tie the fly to a short length of monofilament, a little thicker than the leader tippet, with a loop in the other end. Keep it short, five or six inches is about right. Then fold the loop around the leader, pass the fly through the loop and pull tight just above the tippet knot. The stiffness of the double strands in the loop will hold the dropper well away from the leader.

Tan, brown, gray and green are good wet fly colors for bluegills. Bee patterns are excellent. one of my favorites for early season is a simple shellback.

It has an orange yarn body, brown palmer hackle and duck or goose wing feather section back. This seems to produce well anywhere. As far as I know it has no name but its dark back and orange breast always puts me in mind of a robin. Maybe that is what it should be called.

A yellow cork popper with brown hackle and a mallard flank feather tail is another favorite. It is almost sure-fire for late evening. Fish it with long pauses between very short pulls. An expert popper fisher can bring up fish when there is no surface activity. Sometimes even in mid-day. My friend, Roy Sarow of Evansville, Wisconsin, is one. He makes beautiful poppers, too.

If you have a hit on a popper and miss it, shoot the line back to the same place immediately. Big bluegills often slash at it without actually taking. If you get right back two or three times, it seems to anger them and they take with a rush.

Small deer hair bugs are also very effective. One, a hollow-hair moth (see Sure-Fire Bluegill Lure, Badger Sportsman, September, '84). I have a great deal of confidence in.