Flyfishing for Bass

[od354]

I was wondering if anyone could give some tips for targeting Bass while flyfishing. I just moved from Philly to Maryland and I am fortunate enough to be within a short hike of Loch Raven Reservoir which is one of the best Bass spots in the state. Are there any patterns that work better for Bass? With the Loch Raven Reservoir and The Gun Powder River within a short distance, looks like I'll have good fish'in close to home all year round wherther its for Trout or Bass! Thanks!

 

[tomgamber]

Clouser minnows are always good. Poppers on top. Big wooley buggers are good for almost any fish. Buggers are especially good for crappies. Grab a f-fing catalog like llbean or orvis or cabelas and look at the fly pages (or look at thier selections online). There are a ton of flies just for bass and pike and panfish. Also, look up the local Fly shop and I bet they'd have some great suggestions.

 

[FarmerDave]

I'll second tom's suggestions regardless of whether you are talking largemouth or smallmouth. I'll also use smaller wooly buggers if the stream also holds trout.

 

[Padraic]

I'm far from an expert on flyfishing for bass. However, there are two books, I can really recommend Harry Murray's and Bob Clouser's. Both are excellent. However, they are both centered on fishing in rivers and streams. Still a great proportion of what they have to say will likely apply to the lake.

I think the bass fishing shows on ESPN and VS are great. They frequently talk about where to find bass and why. Which is important to know whether you are tossing crank baits or Clouser minnows.

 

[Bruno]

http://www.flyfishersrepublic.com/patterns/ramsey-estaz-worm

 

[shipnfish2006]

I tied up that leather tail pattern that is in this months Fly Tyer and so far it has worked really well on Largemouths. I also caught my first pickerel on the fly rod on it. I made it in both black and olive and both colors have produced. Don't forget crystal buggers for smallmouths, absolute killer!

 

[Maurice]

Bruno,

That looks yummy...thanks for posting it.

Maurice

 

[cwwbell]

While we're on the subject of worm flies, a pair of lead eyes and a long strip of rabbit makes my favorite. The bass will inhale it on a pause or as it drops, though, so it can be tough to hook up. The hardware fisherman have a little bit more sensitive connection in this situation than we do.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

i would still like to try a rapala double jointed minnow fly. the whole body would be like a muddler head(what a pain) but probably very effective.

 

[RLeeP]

About 25 years ago, I got to monkeying around with tying different largemouth bass flies to see if I could get away from the popper/worm fly thing and so see what the fish seemed to prefer.

One technique that worked really well is to, as best possible, suspend a sunken fly that has a lot of inherent movement because of the materials used, or at least slow the sink rate down to the point where it is all but negligible. I did this with big ugly wooly buggers in yellow and chartruese and with rabbit fur leeches in the same colors. by lashing some foam to the front ends of the bodies and a little lead wire to the rear ends. All tied on Stinger hooks. It took some tinkering, but when I got it right, I had a fly that when I stopped the usual very slow retrieve, the thing would just sit there and pulsate at a depth of anywhere from 18" to 3 feet. I'd tie in a loop of 40 lb. Mason for a weed guard and this kept most of the salad off my hook.

The bass in Presque Isle Bay and in the smaller lakes in Erie and Crawford County seemed to like this pretty well. It isn't the easiest rig to detect a strike on though. I missed a lot of fish..

This was a long time ago when the available materials weren't nearly as good as they are are now. I'll bet a lot better and more precisely designed fly could be made using the newer stuff on the market now..

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear od,

A fellow on another fly fishing message board who is from England posted pictures of flies he tied to represent sandworms that he used for fishing for seatrout.

He takes women's/girl's elastic hairbands and cuts them in half with wire cutters at the metal piece that joins the band together. he then crimps the metal pieces flat to keep them from unraveling and lashes one end ot a wide gap hook and leaves the other end dangling. Sometimes he uses lead eyes.

I haven't stopped in a beauty supply shop to check those hairbands out but he says they are about 6 inches long and as thick as a pencil when cut at the joint and they come in a zillion colors just like real rubber worms.

I'm going to give them a look this weekend.

Regards,
Tim Murphy

 

[skiltonian]

i've tried and messed around with a lot of baitfish flys, even many articulated patterns, which all work, but lately i've been stripping (with varies retrieves) just plain old bead head nyphms (hares ear, prince, ect) in sizes 10-14
If you tie, try different colored beads (tungston, silver, copper).
I've been catching fish just a big and get to use a lower weight rod..... Also, consider using a sinking line and poppers (chartruese works best for me). Lastly, use a stripping basket to improve your casting distance and worry free line management .

Tight Lines,

Skiltonian

 

[buckbarrett]

After many years of flyfishing for bass I would advise using a popper in still waters for largemouth. If that isnt working sink something with a beadhead like a Muddler Minnow (in various styles) in still water or water with a current. Throw your minnow to the shore and keep stripping back to yourself. Throw your popper to clumps of grass or debris and twitch it a little.

 

[ryguyfi]

I was nailing some bass at a local private lake (not that that's very hard, these fish hit anything) But vary the weight on your flies too. I was tossing some streamers, some on top with no weight, some a little bit under. As the temp changed, so did the fish and you needed to hit different water levels. I had one hit my fly before it hit the water, jumped about 2 feet out of the water to take my fly. I was so shocked I almost missed a hookset. I also used some hoppers about size 8-12. A good stable food supply for bass. Keep trying new things out and you'll figure out what works best for you. After you figure that out, keep trying new things. NEVER STOP LEARNING!!

 

[Fredrick]

For subsurface I like to use a hop/finness retrieve with a fly with alot of rubber legs for largemouth and with a crawfish patern with alot of action in it for smallies stay away from crawfish paterns with big claws if you were a smallie would you want to try to eat a crawfish with really big pinchers. You can never go wrong with finness fishing for bass no matter what the mood of the bass at the time they will always hit a finness retrieve and they always love to hit a lure or fly on the drop. For top water try all different retrieves until you find out what the mood of the bass are that day try big hopper paterns dragon fly paterns and poppers I like size 4 for largemouth and size 6 for smallies as far as color I like them all with bass it matters more about the action you are greating with the fly than color but there are times that the bass are picky with color and size like trout . The key thing for bass is structure always fish near some kind of structure and look for structure that stands out from the rest these will usually be the best spots.Bob and Harry's book are good but I feel that the whole time i'm reading them they are trying to sell me thier products so I pefer Tim Holschlag book better and it gets more in depth than those other guys. I could go all day on this subject :lol: