Warm-Water Fly Fishing, Where to Begin?

[Char_Master]

Hello, everyone.

I've been fly fishing for about four years now, but almost exclusively for Trout with the occasional small SMB, Sucker, or Sunfish along the way. Admittedly, I've gotten pretty good at fly fishing for 6-16" Suckers and little 3-9" Smallies in my local creek. That said, this year, one of my personal goals is to fly fish much more. So far, I've been keeping up with that goal and am getting out for Trout every couple days. Now, since summer is coming and local waters around Pittsburgh will be warming, I'm looking to expand my horizons as far as species go.

I've caught plenty of warm water species over the years including everything from Bass and Carp to Musky and Bowfin, but all of them except a few sunfish have been caught either casting lures for Bass, Pike, etc or bait fishing for Catfish, Carp, and Drum (don't hate, I use circle hooks and very rarely foul hook fish haha). Just watching YouTube videos and seeing guys land massive Carp and Musky on the fly is enough to motivate me to learn more about catching these species in this way. I really only have the Internet to teach me how to catch these fish now since my fly fishing teacher, my pap, passed away last May while fly fishing for Brookies. He didn't know much about warm water fly fishing either, but he knew trout and fly fishing in general pretty well.

In terms of where I'll be fishing, I'm looking for suggestions. I'm located just a few minutes north of Pittsburgh and I'm willing to make up to a 50-60 minute drive to a spot for a day trip but would prefer to stay within 10-40 minutes of home. My dad and I are also up on Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay many weekends from April through October. Most of the time we're on the main lake trolling for Trout and Drum, but we can certainly bring the boat in to shallow spots like Misery Bay and Graveyard Pond to fly fish.

So, basically what I'm looking for here are any tips, advice, suggestions, gear, flies, tackle, reads, etc that you all can give me on fishing for our various warm water species accessible by the fly. I'm going to try to fish for as many species as possible this summer, so whatever you personally know the most about of the following fish, please feel free to post what you'd like to share. Common Carp, Grass Carp, Muskellunge, Northern Pike, Walleye, Sauger, White Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Crappie, large Sunfish, FW Drum, Bowfin, and Longnose Gar.

Once again, thanks for all the help, everyone!
-Sean

PS, if anyone knows of any western PA guides that fly fish for any of the above species that won't break the bank, let me know. I'm already considering one local guide for this summer on the Allegheny that goes after Musky and Smallies on the fly, but I'm sure there's guys who cover other species like Carp too.

 

[jifigz]

Maybe a little further than you want to drive, but when I was in college at Clarion I fished the Clarion River near Cooksburg. Very nice little smallmouth river there. Fish buggers, Clousers, and surface flies and you're covered. Good times. But since you're right by Pittsburgh why not just drive any distance and fish the Allegheny. Many of the species you listed live there. Certainly lots of pike depending how far north you drive.

 

[Char_Master]

Thanks for the info, jifigz. I've fished the Clarion before but never by the fly, so I'll have to bring the 5 weight next time I'm up that way.

 

[Dave_W]

Char_Master wrote:

So, basically what I'm looking for here are any tips, advice, suggestions, gear, flies, tackle, reads, etc that you all can give me on fishing for our various warm water species accessible by the fly. I'm going to try to fish for as many species as possible this summer, so whatever you personally know the most about of the following fish, please feel free to post what you'd like to share.

My recommendation is to focus mainly on river smallies for now. Carp, walleyes, and especially muskies, are specialty game fish for FFing and much more of a challenge. I'd suggest you get a 7 or 8WT rod, fit it with a floating line, get some typical bass flies, and drive up the Allegheny River to where you can find some good wading, and target bass. This will get you started and you'll have a blast. Eventually, you can start to target the other fish you mention which are also available in that river.

Welcome to warm water FFing - glad you've seen the light! We WW guys on this forum like to call ourselves "The Warm Water Insurgents." Our motto: "Trout are for suckers."
Glad to have a new recruit.

 

[Char_Master]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Dave_W (no pun intended, lol). Trout will always be some of my favorite fish, but I'm constantly looking to add variety in to my fishing pursuits, which is why warm water fish are so appealing to me, there's so many of them and so many places to fish. I plan on hitting the middle Allegheny sometime this summer but for now I'm going to work on targeting them in my local creek in preparation for bigger water. I also know a few spots on the same creek that are full of Carp in the summer and one spot that is stuffed with Walleye and Sauger. As far as Musky go, I don't even know where to start. I've only caught a total of 5 of them on casting and trolling tackle and chasing them on the fly seems an almost impossible task to me. But if I ever was able to catch one on a big streamer, or even a pike, it'd probably be one of the proudest moments in my angling career.

 

[purplewoolly]

This goes back about 30 years so I don't know how the fishing is today, but I cut my warm water FFing teeth on Little Beaver Creek (OH& PA) and the Connequnessing (sp?) just west of Zelionople.