Bullhead on the fly

[adkjoe]

I would like to change things up a bit and go for some bullhead in the swamp near my house. I've never caught bullhead on a fly before and really have no idea what type of flies to even use. I know bullhead have a reputation for eating pretty much anything edible but can anyone give me some tips or advice on how to land some bullhead. There are also a lot of pumpkin seeds in the swamp and I don't want to be snagging those worthless things every couple minutes.

The swamp is full of them, I was going to throw a bass leader on my 5wt and see what I can get. Any suggested fly patterns for bullhead in New England (Vermont). Thanks!

[Didgeridoo]

Could try a sinking line and a booby or floating dragon pattern. Let the fly line sink til it's on the bottom and the fly will stay just above the weeds and you can vary the fly height by the length of your leader and retrieve speed.

Just a thought.

[adkjoe]

That's a good thought. As of right now I only have floating line though.

[Didgeridoo]

Can use a strike indicator and set the depth to a specific level. Accomplishes the same thing, just the opposite. lol.

Also, might be worth it to add a dab of juice on your fly. Some type of scent, like a worm scent or something. Especially since bullheads are scent/taste oriented.

Nick

[o mykiss]

Originally Posted by Didgeridoo

Can use a strike indicator and set the depth to a specific level. Accomplishes the same thing, just the opposite. lol.

Also, might be worth it to add a dab of juice on your fly. Some type of scent, like a worm scent or something. Especially since bullheads are scent/taste oriented.

Nick

x2.

or cut open one of those sunnies and soak a wolly bugger in its gut juices. hehe.

[adkjoe]

That's not a bad idea. you think a stinky wooly bugger would do the trick?

Cut open a sunny and soak the bugger....genius!

[ncflyboy]

Use bass sized flies for bullheads...even small bullheads will inhale them.

I caught a 3 lb bullhead on a size 2 wooly bugger looking fly...using a 7 1/2 ft leader on a weight foward floating line at my friend's pond. This is a relatively shallow pond, so I didn't need any weight to carry it towards the bottom.

Fish towards the bottom of the deep holes (especially on hot afternoons). I'd suggest a fly with a conehead or beadhead for weight.

Catfish will cruise the shallows for food at night...flyfish at night for them!

Cheers,

Robert

[theboz]

Every May at Lake Wallenpaupack there are huge hatches of mayflys during the evening hours. It's a great time to catch Walleyes in the flats with drys. Funny thing is the only other fish that seem to rise to these hatches are small black bullheads. Sometimes there are so many bullheads rising it's hard to find the Walleye in the frenzy.Either way probably the only time you'll ever catch either fish on top!

[jhammer]

Keep in mind that this is very unorthodox, but it works for bullheads.

Put a small wapsi spinner blade on a size 8 4X long hook, and follow it with an appropriate sized bead. Build a big thread base to keep the spinner and bead from sliding around. Then, take a big chunk of sponge and superglue it to the shank of the hook. When you're fishing, take the sponge and put it something stinky to absorb the scent. Fish the fly below a small strike indicator. The fly gets beat up pretty good, so have a few on hand. I use this technique for nasty muddy backwaters. Some may call it cheating, but I was bored and wanted to catch something.

If you're fishing cleaner water, a black bead-head woolly bugger works great.

[bluedaksi]

Thanks for the great idea - I might give bullhead fly fishing a try! We have a good run of bullhead up the inlet of Conesus Lake. My first thoughts about how to go about doing this echo those others have said already - Nighttime fishing, scent, suspending or on the bottom.