Good piece on Smallies on a fly

[Further North]

...and it's a Bass Resource article:

 

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/streamers-bass.html?utm_source=SEPnews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9417

 

Works on Largemouth too...

 

 

That's an 8" fly...hard to see in the pic, but it is...

 

 

[A-Jay]

I just finished reading that myself - enjoyed it. 

So much so that I did a little poking around and found Tony Sandrone's site.

https://www.nightmaremuskyflies.com/shop

The man has mad fly tying skills . . . 

I'm liking The Big Bird - 

OH NO - I might need a 9 Wt.

A-Jay

[Further North]

Yeah, he does...

 

I see a lot of similar flies at Lund's Fly Shop in River Falls...Brian had a bunch of what looked a lot like the Bucktail Game Changers hanging on a rack when I was there last Tuesday.

 

I'm really focusing on big flies (10" - 16") that I can throw on an 8 wt. without beating myself up.  I spent a day on the St. Croix last fall with a a musky fly guide...and I was just beat to death at the end of the day...

 

These flies are the same size, are weedless...and you can throw them on an 8 wt. instead of a 10 - 12 wt.

 

 

...and they work great, at least on LOTW...and out local lakes...

 

I'm working on a smaller version for bass...haven't quite got the details nailed yet.

[Scott F]

As a former fly fisherman, I have a lot of respect for anyone who has the skill to throw big flies especially on light rods. Those big flies can be like trying to throw a kite. Plus they can hold a lot of water which makes them even harder to throw. I believe one of the biggest mistakes most fly fishermen make is using flies that are too small for bass.  I quit fly fishing mainly because of how hard I found it to cast big baits with a fly rod. 

[Further North]

Just now, Scott F said:

As a former fly fisherman, I have a lot of respect for anyone who has the skill to throw big flies especially on light rods. Those big flies can be like trying to throw a kite. Plus they can hold a lot of water which makes them even harder to throw. I believe one of the biggest mistakes most fly fishermen make is using flies that are too small for bass.  I quit fly fishing mainly because of how hard I found it to cast big baits with a fly rod. 

Scott, the "trick" to that is...don't use a light rod to throw big flies.

 

One of the comments I get a lot when I mention fly fishing for pike and muskies is along the lines of, "Wow, that must be one helluva fight!", and you can tell people are thinking I'm using a trout rod...I'm not.  Not even close.

 

I really feel like most bass flies are an 8 wt. game for me...maybe 7 wt...occasionally 6 wt. if the flies are small poppers...but never lighter than that.Pike ant muskies start at 8 wt, and go up to 9 and 10 wt. for me...11 wt. and 12 wt. for a lot of guys.

 

Most of my bass on a fly are on 8 wt. rods, and I tie my flies to work that way...which means using materials that shed water.  I'm not much of a fan of bucktail, feathers and fur when a similar fly made from synthetic materials will shed water at a much higher rates and look just fine in the water.

[Scott F]

Just now, Further North said:

Scott, the "trick" to that is...don't use a light rod to throw big flies.

 

One of the comments I get a lot when I mention fly fishing for pike and muskies is along the lines of, "Wow, that must be one helluva fight!", and you can tell people are thinking I'm using a trout rod...I'm not.  Not even close.

 

I really feel like most bass flies are an 8 wt. game for me...maybe 7 wt...occasionally 6 wt. if the flies are small poppers...but never lighter than that.Pike ant muskies start at 8 wt, and go up to 9 and 10 wt. for me...11 wt. and 12 wt. for a lot of guys.

 

Most of my bass on a fly are on 8 wt. rods, and I tie my flies to work that way...which means using materials that shed water.  I'm not much of a fan of bucktail, feathers and fur when a similar fly made from synthetic materials will shed water at a much higher rates and look just fine in the water.

The guy in the article above uses a 5/6wt to throw huge streamers.  I was using an 11wt for the big flies I was throwing for big pike in Northern Canada.  I was a self taught fly tier and fly fisherman and my skills, while adequate for throwing poppers and rubber spiders, was not up to snuff to handle the big stuff. I fish for fun, recreation and relaxation. I know guys who can fly fish out of a phone booth during a hurricane.  That kind of fishing is just too much work and I didn't enjoy it so I put down the fly rod and these days just stick to hardware.  

[Further North]

34 minutes ago, Scott F said:

The guy in the article above uses a 5/6wt to throw huge streamers.

Yeah, he does.  Well...maybe not "huge", but certainly big streamers.

 

He is, IMO, way undergunned in that area...it's one place I disagree with him.  There's no reason to do that, IMO.  Why work that hard?  A 7 wt., or even better an 8 wt. will make that a lot easier on the fisherman...light rods with big flies are a chore and I just can't wrap my head around any good reasons to go lighter...it is similar (in my head) to fishermen who use an ultralight to try to catch big bass because it's "sporting"

 

Rods that are too light also make it harder to set the hook...

 

In fly fishing...much more than with gear...the size of the fly, and how wind resistant it is determine the line weight...and thus the rod weight.

 

34 minutes ago, Scott F said:

I was using an 11wt for the big flies I was throwing for big pike in Northern Canada.

I went down that path for a while as well...until I found that synthetic materials tied very sparsely gave me flies that had the same profile as the hair/fur/feather flies my buddies were tossing but that I could throw with a rod that was two weights lighter...and that much easier to use all day if need be.

 

One of the things I do is switch back and forth during the day.  You can get worn out and tired of throwing flies on a heavier rig...so set it down and throw gear for a while...when you're rested, try flies again...it's surprising how much this makes throwing gear easier as well...

 

34 minutes ago, Scott F said:

I was a self taught fly tier and fly fisherman and my skills, while adequate for throwing poppers and rubber spiders, was not up to snuff to handle the big stuff.

Same here...discussions with other fly fishermen and reading a lot are what helped to realize that trying to use too light a rod for the size of the flies I wanted to use was frustrating me and pushing me away from fly fishing.  As soon as I upped my line and rod weights, it became easy to to throw big bass flies...and now I do it some almost every time I go out.

 

34 minutes ago, Scott F said:

That kind of fishing is just too much work and I didn't enjoy it so I put down the fly rod and these days just stick to hardware.  

I got really close to that point myself...until I learned to balance fly size, fly weight and wind resistance to the gear needed to get the job done with minimum effort.  I see guys working way too hard all the time...and if I get the opportunity to pick up their rig and try it, I almost always find something out of balance...Sometimes its as simple as the line just not working on that rod.

 

When I was on LOTW this summer, my boat partner was just struggling with a relatively light fly on an Orvis Helios 2 and Hardy reel...he had a Rio Pike/Musky intermediate sinking line on the rod...after watching him fight the rig all day, I picked it up to try it when we got back to camp that night...it took almost 30 feet of line out to load the rod to the point you could cast with it.

 

Hmmmm....

 

I grabbed a rig I had set up on a similar 9 wt. rod (Lamson Speedster reel with an Airflo pike/musky line...and BINGO! ...needed about 12 feet of line out to load the rod so you could cast it.  THis simple swap turned an unworkable rig into an easy to cast set up.  I put my 9 wt. in the cabin and told my buddy to try his rod with my reel and line...and he fell in love with his H2 all over again...He bought a reel and line like mine when he got home...

 

In retrospect, I shoulda just kept my findings to my self and lowballed him on the Helios at the end of the trip...coulda had it for pennies on the dollar...