"If the weeds are just below the surface, I'll use a dry fly pattern, fish over the weeds, and the bluegills will come shooting up out of the weeds to hammer the fly," he said. "That's a really fun way to fish. If the weeds are right on the surface, I'll fish the inside edge of the weedline. I look for indentations or pockets in the weeds, and either float a dry fly right on the edge, or drop that bead-eyed leech so if falls right along the weedline."

The length of fly rods allows Anderson to fish holes and pockets in the weeds that might be inaccessible to spincasting anglers. "If there's a bucket-sized hole in the weeds, I'll use the length of the fly rod to drop a dry fly or the leech into that hole," he said. "If you're good enough, you can cast and just lay that fly or leech right in the hole. Either way, if you catch a bluegill, you just use the length of the rod to get him up on the surface, then skim him over the weeds and out to where you can play him."

In small, shallow coves with minimal weeds, Anderson borrows tactics from spin casting anglers to find bluegills lurking in "deeper" water. He casts his bead-eyed leech, and then counts it down before retrieving to determine at what depth bluegills are suspended.

"I could fish deeper than 4 feet, but it takes so long for the leech to settle down to the deeper depths that it's not worth the wait," he explained. "It's more time-efficient to fish shallow and cover a lot of water than it is to fish deep and slow."

Joel Frye, a fly-fishing tackle salesman for Scheels Sporting Goods (stores in eight Midwestern and Western states; on the Internet at www.scheels.com) who uses fly-casting tackle to fish smack in the middle of woody structure often avoided by spincasting bluegill anglers.

"Bluegills love brushy habitat," he said. "I can flip my flies and nymphs right into that nasty stuff. If I snag up, the little hooks straighten out and pull loose without spooking all the fish. If I hook a fish, I just get him up on top and skim him out to where I can play him. Fishing the deepwater sides of deadfalls and brushpiles in the late spring and early summer is a fantastic way to get bluegills that the spincasting guys have trouble getting."

EASIER THAN YOU THINK
For all the advantages of fly-casting for bluegills, many anglers have stuck with spincasting tackle because of concerns about the cost and complexity of learning to cast flies. According to Frye, those concerns are unfounded.

"It's going to cost a little bit to get started, but the cash to buy a decent beginner's outfit is well worth it," he said. "I've taught hundreds of people how to fly-cast. I recommend starting out with something like St. Croix's $140 Premier Kit, with a 5-weight rod. It's a good starter's outfit that will work well even after you're a veteran fly-caster. You can get a beginner's outfit for less than $100, but I suggest buying a little quality so that quality will be there once you get past the beginner stage."

Frye explained that fly-casting rods are numbered from 0 through 9, with a 0-weight being a light, flippy rod equivalent to the lightest ultralight spinning rod, while a 9-weight rod has backbone and stiffness on par with a salmon or muskie rod. A 6 to 6 1/2-foot 5-weight rod is an all-round fly-casting rod that works well for bluegills, trout and other small to midsize species.

"Buy the fly-casting equipment from a store with someone on the staff who knows fly-casting, and ask them to show you how to get started," he suggested. "I show guys how to tie on the leader and tippet in the store, then take them out in the parking lot and teach them basic fly-casting. You can buy a fly rod in the morning and be catching bluegills with it that afternoon.

"You don't have to be elegant in your casting, or have a $1000 worth of waders and fishing vests and fancy stuff to catch fish and have fun. Once you learn how to do some basic casts, just go out and catch fish. I've never ran into anybody that I couldn't teach to fly-cast, so there's no reason for anybody to not try it."