Fly Fishing for bass.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom Edwards on December 26, 2009 at 8:05pm

Streamers, poppers of different sizes. Over and around weeds, trees, and other plants. Docks, rocks, fallen timber and other structure.

Floating ,and sinking 'leadcore', or such, line.

Permalink Reply by David Williams on December 27, 2009 at 11:43am

Take a look at Volume 18, Issue 4 and Volume 19, Issue 1 of Bass Angler's Guide for a two-part article on fly fishing for smallmouth.

Permalink Reply by Shawn O'Connell on December 27, 2009 at 12:06pm

I use a lot of leech imitators on sinking line in the river. It is a blast to catch a big smallie on a fly rod.

Permalink Reply by Marc Marcantonio on December 27, 2009 at 10:59pm

Poppers with a Weight Forward floating line are the most fun. Wooly buggers work great in moving water for smallmouths, as will any large sinking nymph with a sink tip line. One of my favorites is a simple weighted muskrat nymph.

As far as when...I remember a tournament I won on Lake Cachuma in 1981 using a fly rod with streamers. The key was that it was post spawn, and the bite was terrible for everyone except for me and my fly rod. Fishing a streamer around weedbed nurseries next to spawning areas produced the winning limit for me. The only bass that were feeding were doing so on all the fry in the shallow weedy areas. The bass weren't big, but they were bigger than everyone else's. They banned 8' rods on that tourney circuit after that; guess I made a few guys mad.

ciao,
Marc

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on December 28, 2009 at 8:52pm

I'm a big fan of Hopper patterns. I've spent a whole weekend catching 10-16 inch smallmouth on conventional gear only to hook a 17-18 incher on a Joe's hopper I was throwing for only 15 minutes.

Permalink Reply by Larry Austin on December 29, 2009 at 5:40am

I fly fish mostly for largies here in snoh. county out of my tube. For me it's quick and easy to be on and off the water and it's a blast. I always bring at least 1 other pole with a spinner bait thou.

Permalink Reply by Graham Dahl on December 29, 2009 at 10:25am

Hey, interesting angle. I know Sage makes a 7'11" fly rod just for the purpose of fitting under the 8' rod limit. Is it legal to use a fly rod in a tournament?

Marc Marcantonio said:

Poppers with a Weight Forward floating line are the most fun. Wooly buggers work great in moving water for smallmouths, as will any large sinking nymph with a sink tip line. One of my favorites is a simple weighted muskrat nymph.

As far as when...I remember a tournament I won on Lake Cachuma in 1981 using a fly rod with streamers. The key was that it was post spawn, and the bite was terrible for everyone except for me and my fly rod. Fishing a streamer around weedbed nurseries next to spawning areas produced the winning limit for me. The only bass that were feeding were doing so on all the fry in the shallow weedy areas. The bass weren't big, but they were bigger than everyone else's. They banned 8' rods on that tourney circuit after that; guess I made a few guys mad.

ciao,
Marc