Sharing a boat w/ a spinner rod fisherman

[greenlander]

A friend and I are considering buying a cheap bass boat and starting to fish some of the ponds and lakes around Philly and in South Jersey.

I've never fished for bass before, he hasn't in some time, but fished avidly for them for most of his life.

He's a spinner rod bass fisherman, as are most, and I aim to get them on the fly (mostly).

I'm wondering how well a fly fisherman and a spin rod fisherman can share a boat when fishing for bass. Casting itself shouldn't be a problem, but I'm wondering if we'd conflict in regards to the kind of water and approach, etc.

Thoughts?

 

[afishinado]

greenlander wrote:
A friend and I are considering buying a cheap bass boat and starting to fish some of the ponds and lakes around Philly and in South Jersey.

I've never fished for bass before, he hasn't in some time, but fished avidly for them for most of his life.

He's a spinner rod bass fisherman, as are most, and I aim to get them on the fly (mostly).

I'm wondering how well a fly fisherman and a spin rod fisherman can share a boat when fishing for bass. Casting itself shouldn't be a problem, but I'm wondering if we'd conflict in regards to the kind of water and approach, etc.

Thoughts?

I had a bass boat and fly-fished alongside buddies that spin-fished all the time. It worked out just fine. I could see a problem when the spin guys are looking to fish deep and you are looking to FF the shallow cover and shoreline. You can work out those situations with your friend. I say go for it!.....it's a lot of fun.

 

[jjsjigs]

I have fished with spin guys in boats. It's really no problem whatsoever.

I do have a few suggestions though...

If the spin guy wants to fish deep water you might want to have a sinking line with you so you can fish productively as well.

If your huckin' big streamers and your at the back of the boat, be mindful of the engine cowling. Some boat owners scowl if you hack the cowling with a big #2 beaded streamer fly.

Other than that... OUTFISH YER BUDDY! Get another to convert to flies!!!

 

[mystillwater]

it's probably easier to fish that way than having two streamer chucking fly fishermen!

as for the situation others mentioned about fishing deep water... i'd disagree with the others.. bring a spinning rod for that scenario. sinking line in deep water sound miserable. it sounds like a really complicated workaround for a problem easily solved with a spinning rod and a drop shot rig. there's no trophy for being a fly fishing purist.

with that said i freaking love lake fishing in the shallows with a popper for blugill and bass. there is no more exciting fishing than that. the last couple of weeks i've been out a few times and seldom go 5 minutes without catching a fish and rarely 30 seconds without some kind of a hit on my popper.

 

[greenlander]

Thanks for all the replies.

Now I just have to find a good source online to order poppers that aren't $3 a piece!

 

[bam]

say what you want, but that's still less than half the price of a Rapala or surface plug.

 

[tomgamber]

tell him you want the bow..

 

[greenlander]

bam wrote:
say what you want, but that's still less than half the price of a Rapala or surface plug.

Good point. I guess I'm just used to frowning at paying those prices for trout flies which get lost often enough.

Chances are a popper doesn't get lost as easily as say, a nymph. But, then again, what do I know -- I've never fished 'em before.

 

[Fishidiot]

It's definitely doable and I agree with Tom: usually it's best to put the fly guy in the bow. I FF with spin guys all the time and we have a blast. Sometimes it's interesting to see who is doing the catchin. I enjoy trying to figure out which of my flies would best replicate the deep running crankbait or spinnerbait that's working for him or seeing what lure he'll tie on if I'm nailing 'em on a helgrammite nymph.
Never pass up a chance to fish with a friend. Tackle really means nothin.

 

[greenlander]

If the spin guy wants to fish deep water you might want to have a sinking line with you so you can fish productively as well.

I was wondering about that. I have a variety of sink tips (T-8 through T-14) of varying lengths, that really get little use as they're meant for steelhead and salmon which I get to fish once a year if I'm lucky.

I thought perhaps they would be a preferable alternative to loading up on shot to get to bass in deeper water.

Opinions on this seem to be mixed?

Any suggestions for online sources on FF tactics for bass? Wouldn't mind heading out with a gameplan.

Hopefully we'll have a boat come Monday or Tuesday (going to look at once we're pretty sure we're going to buy). Can't wait to get out for bass.

 

[jayL]

If the spin guy wants to fish deep water, grab your own spinning and use that. Assuming catching fish is the goal, that's your best bet.

 

[mystillwater]

flyfishing with sinking line to fish deep for bass sounds like trying to wipe your a$$ without trying to take the paper off the roll... it might work but it isn't the best way. and probably isn't fun.

 

[afishinado]

lol.......T-paper aside, I agree fly-fishing is a fairly shallow water way of fishing, at least for me. The deeper you try to fish, the less fun it becomes.

 

[PatriotFly26]

Well about the poppers you can always make your own. Sharing a boat with a spin fisherman can be done as said before.

Its a fun time if you catch more fish than the spinning rod fisherman.

I can't agree more that it would be a great way to help switch the spinning fisherman to the fly rod and reel. Enjoy!