Fly Fishing For Bass

[Hollisray]

have been looking into fly fishing for bass anyone have any tips and

advice on fly fishing thanks.

[flyfisher]

I love fly fishing for bass of both the brown and green variety. For largemouth there is nothing better than picking apart a Lilly pad field with a top water frog or diver and actually you can do it easier than conventional gear and faster since you don't have to reel all the way in between casts.

Here is my set up for largemouth:

Sage bass II largemouth rod (equates to about a 10wt) lamsom reel floating line and 12lb straight leader of either flouro or mono depending on if I want the fly to float or not.

Smallies is similar with a sage 9' 7wt xp galvan reel with WF floating lone and usually a 6-8lb straight leader

Favorite flies :

Poppers

Frogs

Clawdads

CK baitfish

Rabbit hair flies

Clousers

The list goes on and on.....

My advice would be set a budget on your first set up and spend about 70% on the rod 25% on the line and the rest on the reel. Nice reels are awesome and look spectacular but in all reality you will rarely use it more than storing line. Once you pick out your set up I would strongly advise to bite the bullet and get a casting lesson. This will dramatically shorten your learning curve and casting the heavier wind resistant files typical for bass are not the easiest to learn with.

Above all, have fun and don't get intimidated and feel free to ask more specific questions as your knowledge and experience increase.

[gr8outdoorz]

Flyfisher has great advise. Especially about getting a casting lesson if this is your first time flyfishing. You will be fine with a 6-8wt rod although I would suggest an 8wt. It will handle the bigger flies better. Flyfisher's percentages on rod / line / reel are right on. Get the best rod you can then get a decent line, nothing too expensive, and just about any reel will do for now. I do highly recommend getting a "bass taper" line though. You will be slinging some big wind resistant flies and bass taper lines have a short head designed to sling such flies.

 

You can practice your casting at home. Tie a piece of yarn to the end of your leader. Place a t-shirt in your yard & walk off 20 steps. Then try and cast the yarn onto the t-shirt. Flyfishing for any species is incredibly fun and addictive. Fight through the initial frustrations and you will be rewarded handsomely with some amazing fishing!

 

Good Luck!

[0119]

I dont use anything but a 6wt anymore, I find 8wt.s too heavy to have fun with but its better for bass size poppers and sliders.   I find the Sage Bass rod to be nonsense. Their whole premise of it being for tournaments is a all out lie considering that a fly rod is against the rules of the very organizations conducting the tournaments.  I dont even use a 10wt. for the snook, reds and tarpon here.  Maybe because I prefer a lighter outfit is why I find the reel more important than an expensive rod.  I want a excellent drag as I prefer to fight the fish on the reel and not with line at my feet.  The great thing about fly fishing for bass is its so open to your own preferences.  Light, heavy wt.s, using flies you make yourself, its all up to you.  And a blast because it makes for so much more of a fight. The best thing is with the poor economy really good rods and reels have become more competitively priced.

[Paul Roberts]

FF runs at a slower pace than conventional. Try to avoid the tournament (competitive) mentality at all costs against your conventional buddies. But over time you'll figure things out and can catch a lot of bass. And there is something enormously satisfying about success amidst self-imposed limitations.

 

There is one situation in which I've had FF consistently outproduce conventional and that has been during tremendous hatch years of baby bass filling waters with hordes of fingerling bass. The bass become focused on lots of little prey and the big stuff falls off the table by comparison. I've done VERY well with keel streamers -bucktail tied on a "keel" hook. I also just make the hooks myself by bending the first quarter of a straight worm hook down. Fished in short pulls through shallow cover can be quite exciting.

 

As to tackle, you don't need to spend a lot. For a lot of LM fishing you'll need some power and I'd suggest minimum 8wt for the mass to move big damp flies and for wrestling LM from cover. For open water fishing and a lot of SM water, a 6 is fine. You don't need a long rod, esp for stillwater, so you can get by with less expensive graphite compared to 8-1/2Ft plus trout rods that begin to get "clubby" if you go cheap. Reels do not need fancy drags; bass won't run. Leaders can be a couple short lengths of tough mono.

 

Here's a "lake record" (lol) bass I caught a few years back while teaching a FF class. Someone spotted a "big bass" under a bridge that spanned the narrows of the pond. "I know how to catch her" I boasted, and grabbed a 9wt rod from the saltwater instructor and an "eelworm" -a striper fly tied with long black hackles. It was essentially a feathered version of a plastic worm. While the class watched, I pitched the fly past the bass so's not to spook it, swum the worm to it, then killed it, letting the worm fall into the green depths. The bass followed it down. I layed the floating line onto the surface, drew it slightly taut, and watched. Shortly the line twitched. I set the hook and she put on quite a show, even leaping clear. She taped 19" and the pond owner said she was "the lake record". Yes, that's a smug look on my face.

 

[flyfisher]

I dont use anything but a 6wt anymore, I find 8wt.s too heavy to have fun with but its better for bass size poppers and sliders.   I find the Sage Bass rod to be nonsense. Their whole premise of it being for tournaments is a all out lie considering that a fly rod is against the rules of the very organizations conducting the tournaments.  I dont even use a 10wt. for the snook, reds and tarpon here.  Maybe because I prefer a lighter outfit is why I find the reel more important than an expensive rod.  I want a excellent drag as I prefer to fight the fish on the reel and not with line at my feet.  The great thing about fly fishing for bass is its so open to your own preferences.  Light, heavy wt.s, using flies you make yourself, its all up to you.  And a blast because it makes for so much more of a fight. The best thing is with the poor economy really good rods and reels have become more competitively priced.

Sorry but you have obviously not had much time with a Sage Bass series rod and from what i can find Fly Rods are legal in tournaments as long as they comply with the 8' length requirement.  They are also easier to manage for me when fishing from a kayak.

 

The bass series of rods is designed to throw heavier weighted flies more easily when used in conjunction with the line that is matched for the rod.  The length of the stick makes it much more manageable to cast heavier flies given the equivalent line weight in grains than it would if you were casting say a 9' 10 or 11wt all day.  I have used both the current version and the older version and both rods cast heavier and more wind resistant flies better than any of hte other rods i have used. 

 

Seems silly to me to fight a bass on the reel but maybe if it was a large one i would do the same thing but after landing smallmouth up to 20", largemouth up t0 21" and brown trout to 24" i have never used the reel to land the fish.  I have used them to land carp before though but that was because i saw them tailing and only had my 4wt with me

[Paul Roberts]

I think what 0119 probably means is that expensive specialty rods are not necessary and I like his comment: "The great thing about fly fishing for bass is its so open to your own preferences."

 

That said, shorter rods have an advantage in terms of power both to cast heavy stuff and in fighting fish. Big game SW rods are short for a reason. Not all manufacturers offer heavier fly rods in shorter lengths bc most of that market is geared toward SW and salmon/steelhead in movng water where long rods are requisite. I'd often toyed with the idea of cutting a foot off of one of the myriad 9fters offered out there. But there are some shorter power rods being made now. BPS offers one called "Heat" for $99 that I haven't seen, but at 8ft even lower grade graphites nowadays can maintain rigidity at that length.

[flyfisher]

I casted the "heat" rod at bass pro when the salesman was telling me it was easily as good as the sage Bass series....not even close in my opinion.

 

You are right though that there are numerous rods out there in shorter lengths designed to throw heavier flies.  One thing i have noticed is that having somewhat decent gear does make fly casting more enjoyable and easier to learn.  When i used to guide in college I would prefer to teach clients on the fastest rods as the tendency for people is to speed up their stroke and faster rods shorten the learning curve and unfortunately, faster rods equal more cash in most cases.

[SudburyBasser]

By odd coincidence I just picked up a new rod and reel for bass fly fishing yesterday and went with a 6wt as I generally do SMB. I'll probably end up picking up an 8wt for LMB later this year. But I do agree that spending crazy money on a reel is probably ill-advised since as flyfisher said it's basically there to store line.

[0119]

Im sure no BPS rod could compare to a Sage.   But yes, fly equipment is illegal in all FLW and B.A.S.S. tournaments.  Fly in specific, nothing to do with the seperate rod maximum length rules.   Sage, Redington, Ross and anyone else who quoted and pitched the tournament schtick did so strictly to gain yet another niche of the market, a market they were seeing as dwindling as the last of "The River Runs Through It" crowd ventured away from the fly.

[flyfisher]

And actually the rods aren't advertised as legal to use in tourneys but rather that they meet the length requirements semantics at its finest I guess....

[PondHunter]

My FlyFishing setup for Bass is a 6wt. I just use terrestrial insect flies, as anything big, black, and buggy looking will catch them.

[jhoffman]

Ive been at the fly game almost 20 years now. This is just my perspective after fishing 100+ days a year for multiple species for almost 10 years strait with a fly rod.

If I was just going to start I would swing for the fence. I would not buy a traditional rod. I would buy a spey rod. Youll be able to cast on moving water half way across the river, a traditional rod wont do that.

 

To me when you start getting upwards of 8wts you are looking at massive fish and by massive I am talking 30lb+ leaping flying salmon in heavy current. Ive taken a 4 wt steelhead fishing and effectively used it better than guys throwing 6 or 8's but thats because I know how to use side pressure to my advantage.

 

 I would either buy the switch or buy the adjustable wrench of fly rods, a 5wt which will let you fish for everything from blue gills to 10lb steelhead.

[Paul Roberts]

Ive been at the fly game almost 20 years now. This is just my perspective after fishing 100+ days a year for multiple species for almost 10 years strait with a fly rod.

If I was just going to start I would swing for the fence. I would not buy a traditional rod. I would buy a spey rod. Youll be able to cast on moving water half way across the river, a traditional rod wont do that.

 

To me when you start getting upwards of 8wts you are looking at massive fish and by massive I am talking 30lb+ leaping flying salmon in heavy current. Ive taken a 4 wt steelhead fishing and effectively used it better than guys throwing 6 or 8's but thats because I know how to use side pressure to my advantage.

 

 I would either buy the switch or buy the adjustable wrench of fly rods, a 5wt which will let you fish for everything from blue gills to 10lb steelhead.

 

I don't want to make this thread any more contentious than it already seems, but ... I'm going to disagree.

 

Much of what you are suggesting is very good advice for moving water. But, for bass, esp LM within the cover they tend to live in, heavy gear is not for handling 2lb fish per say, but directing them out of heavy cover. And for throwing bulky and usually damp, flies. 4wt works fine even for big fish in open water. I've done a ton of FF and UL fishing, including steelhead and have even taken big 'bows on 1kg line. But I'd never consider such rigs for LM a lot of the places LM live, or for some of the bass flies I throw. Just as I'd not use my UL, or even, finesse gear in a lot of summer LM situations.

 

My recommendation for the OPer is at least an 8wt for cover, and a 6wt for open water. As to how much you want to pay, that's up to your budget. You can fish effectively without paying $600 for a rod.

[Bladesmith,]

I have been fly fishing for more than 20 years for everything from steelhead in the little salmon river to bream in my pond. I get a great amount of satisfaction from catching any fish on a fly that I tied myself. I do not use my flyrod to try to horse a bass out of heavy cover. That is not what a flyrod is designed for. I have casting rods for that. In it's place a flyrod is great fun and very likely to be successful in highly pressured water where other methods are not. I would recommend starting with a medium weight (6 or 7) rod with line to match. As mentioned before on this thread, the reel is only to store line and a cheap one will work for that purpose. Buy the best line and rod your budget will allow and learn how to use it well. After you catch a few fish on it you'll probably wind up, like me, with several flyrod combos in different weights, and a fly-tying vice, feathers and hair patches, an assortment of hooks and other tying accessories. Catching fish with a flyrod is FUN!

[0119]

Thats why I feel the reel is more important than most.  A fly rod of any weight except the broomhandle 12-16wts will not horse a bass out of cover.  Fly line itself is as strong as 60-80lbs pulling strength.  Heavy duty leader can cope with the cover, so can a reel with a strong drag.  I cant horse a tarpon out of the mangroves with my 9wt rod but patience, strong leader and a reel with a real drag I can get it to my feet.  The same applies to a bass that tarpon could eat.