How many fans of Bass on a fly rod?

[the reel ess]

7 minutes ago, Sphynx said:

I guess it depends on the weight your using, I could grab a 12 weight designed for offshore fishing and horse any bass in the world out of any laydown with impunity, of I could use a 4 or 5 weight and force myself to play that fish out, not especially different to using traditional tackle I guess, but you do have to invest in the appropriate gear if horsing fish our of cover is your game, your average 7 or 8 weight rod is not going to be suited to that, 9+ probably could do just as good at it as any standard 7ft MHF rod though...depending on rod composition etc.

If it was that similar you'd see BASS circuit anglers using their 12 weight flyrods and flies to flip heavy cover. The added length would be useful.

 

I use a 7' H-Fast rod for pitching/flipping and a 7'3" H-XF for frogs. I use 50# braid with the drag cinched down and winch the fish until I can grab it. They're currently the best tools for that job.

[WRB]

Fly fishing for bass is fun especially smallmouth that jump a lot. 

Tom

[bulldog1935]

The best use of a fly rod is outside of the boat, and in moving water.  Usually stalking, wading, and sight fishing.  Fly fishing is more effective in moving water than any other tackle, at least partly because there it fishes with less effort than other tackle. 

Fly tackle can make a stealthier presentation when you're stalking and sight-fishing. 

Most blind casting with a fly rod is an obstinate way to fish, especially if you can do more with spinning or bait tackle with less effort.  The blind casting exception is being on spots and conditions that concentrate bait and gamefish - e.g., tide passes with moving current (that's kind of like river fishing), spawning phenomena that move and stack large numbers of fish (e.g. salmon) - spots with a high strike probability that naturally concentrate fish.  Any time you have visible fish sign - jumping bait - that counts as sight fishing.  

My first fly rod was for white bass as a teenager, because I discovered you catch more of them with smaller lures -  a fly rod will get even smaller stuff out farther than most UL tackle.  

Sometimes, really big fish are eating really small bait there's just no other way to imitate. 

Allure, mysticism? - no, it's just fishing.  

[FishinBuck07]

Love using a fly rod for smallies while wade fishing!  Nothing better, water so clear you can see them running between your legs after you hook up and trying to figure out how to dance your way out of it!

[Scud_Muffin]

I do a lot of fly fishing, and I was fly fish only for a long time. Now I like to dabble in everything. 
 

I do not however find myself gravitating to fly fishing in Stillwater for bass. I tend to find it feels like I’m fishing a fly rod just to say that I caught bass on the fly and usually think “I wish I had conventional gear”. However I think it’s great in rivers for river bass because of a lot of the advantages fly rods give you. I don’t like to limit myself anymore to fly only in rivers because spin/bc rods bring their own advantages. 
 

Fly fishing has some advantages in current, such as being able to track and swing baitfish patterns in some ways that a jerkbait or swimjig dont do as easily. Because you don’t have to reel in to recast, it can even be faster to recast to an area; giving you more time in your target area. Because of your control over sink rate by changing line types, you get some real advantages to staying in the strike zone. 
 

Because the material is made of feathers, it also has a cool tendency to create lots of enticing flowing movement beyond what a jig skirt can do, for instance. Customization in tying flies is also nice. But there are some real disadvantages too and things that can be done better with a jerkbait or a crankbait than a streamer. Jigs aren’t even close, there is a reason nobody has upsized euro nymph tackle for bass jigging to my knowledge.
 

When it comes to other species, fly fishing has some advantages too. Carp for instance don’t have a lot of lures, most traditional tackle uses bait. Not saying you couldn’t make lures work for carp, I’m just saying that fly fishing for carp is becoming popular and is proven very effective. The ability to gently place a fly right next to a carp, in still or moving water, and have it gently flutter down below to its mouth is very nice. Since you aren’t relying on the weight of the lure to cast, it’s a much lighter bait with less splash to spook the very spooky carp. 

Just my 2 cents, I am more interested in what works best and how to get my skills where they need to be do it. Fly fishing is just another tool. 

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, FishinBuck07 said:

Love using a fly rod for smallies while wade fishing!  Nothing better, water so clear you can see them running between your legs after you hook up and trying to figure out how to dance your way out of it!

We are going to need to work on your line control, sir.......

[FishinBuck07]

7 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

We are going to need to work on your line control, sir.......

Most likely yes!  Haha!  I don't get real technical with the fly fishing, just something I picked up to have something in common with my nephew.  Other than the couple times a year I wade fish this creek I don't use the fly rod much.  

[Logan S]

I fly fish for trout in the winter, it's fun and hiking though the quiet woods is a nice change of pace from blasting around at 70mph chasing bass .  I typically make a handful of fly fishing trips each winter and then I've had enough and it's back to bass.  

 

I've fly fished for bass and caught them, but generally speaking its just not as effective.  Your casting distance and effective depth range is very limited compared to normal bass tackle.  It's fun though, something different.  I will say that I've been on lakes when huge mayfly hatches were happening, watched bass munching them (and mostly ignoring my offerings) and thought, "this might be a time you could really clean up with a fly rod."  Maybe one day I'll hide a fly rod in my rod locker and try it out (at a lake and time where it's likely to happen) .

[bulldog1935]

@Logan S I've taken quite a few white bass in trico hatches, both on the river and lake.  When they're sipping tricos, can't buy a strike on anything else.  

Also witnessed a stonefly hatch in a creek-arm cove one day with a thousand bass sitting just below the surface, waiting.  I couldn't imitate them, and also couldn't buy a strike.  

 

I'll add to this - we occasionally get rhinocerous butterfly migration scourge plugging our radiators.  When this is going on, bass will their bellies distended will impale themselves on a red or orange popper.  

[N.Y. Yankee]

A fly rod may not always be the best choice but if you tie into a good smallie or even a relatively small largemouth on a 4-5 wt rod and a 4x tippet, you will have an experience! One you will want to do again real soon. Keep in mind if you have some trees to deal with, a longer rod can actually be a benefit rather than a hindrance. It helps you reach out and over things as well as roll cast much easier. There are other ways of getting your fly to the fish than always just back-casting.

[avid]

Flyroding bass is great fun 

stripping streamers and popping those fuzzy little frogs is a very productive 

Way to catch bass   I love a finely tuned bait casting rig as much as the next guy but I’m tellin y’all  don’t knock fly rods is faster than casting or spinning tackle and the tied imitations really attract bites 

[cdlittle]

I love fly fishing bass on hoppers/poppers in the summer. It's basically my primary way of fishing in the dog days of summer. It is so fun!

[Deleted account]

On 12/30/2020 at 9:14 PM, Scud_Mufffin said:

Carp for instance don’t have a lot of lures, most traditional tackle uses bait. Not saying you couldn’t make lures work for carp, I’m just saying that fly fishing for carp is becoming popular and is proven very effective. The ability to gently place a fly right next to a carp, in still or moving water, and have it gently flutter down below to its mouth is very nice. Since you aren’t relying on the weight of the lure to cast, it’s a much lighter bait with less splash to spook the very spooky carp. 

Caught an 8 or 9 lb Koi on a crank (Norman Thin N) the other day, thought I must have snagged it, but no, it ate it. surprised the heck out of me, I've only ever caught them on flies and other tiny lures.

[flyfisher]

The last two seasons I’m probably 90% fly with the main exception is winter. 
 

as far as efficiency goes, while it seems conventional is more efficient I’m not 100% sure. If my cast is off a few feet I can pick up my fly and recast it in less time than you can reel and throw again. 
 

fly fishing sucks deeper than 10’ though 

[Manifestgtr]

I’ve been doing a ton of fly fishing this year. Some springs are like that for me. I get trout fever...then before I know it, it’s mid-April and I realize I’m completely blowing the prespawn.

 

I do occasionally take a bass on the fly but it’s always unintentional. There are a few brooks near me where trout and bass coexist...

 

The thing about fly fishing for bass is that it’s not quite as flexible. You really shouldn’t be casting a fly into small pocket of brush or large weed beds with the occasional hole. Maybe there are some guys who can do it? I’m not one of those guys. 
 

Freshwater fishing has always held two distinct forms for me. Conventional tackle for bass and fly rods for trout and panfish. I just see them as being two different skill sets. 

[Bubba 460]

Fly fishing is like shooting an old percussion revolver, It takes five minutes to load it and three seconds to shoot off six. I have fly fished in my younger days for bass. I was pretty good at all the fancy casting, having watched my older brother and his friend, the famous fly fisherman Lefty Kreh. I even went wading for smallmouth with them once as a teenager when Lefty lived in Fredrick Maryland (I caught the biggest smallmouth ~HA!)  I used a small hair mouse, popper or gnat as I found those produced the most action. I would, if necessary, wade into the lake or pond as to cast parallel with the shore. Fly fishing is an art, its relaxing and enjoyable. It is not the most efficient way to catch a fish, particularly a large bass. If you start using auto winding reels, you've missed to whole point of fly fishing.

 

I had a 9 wt Sage fly rod I used for salmon in Alaska catching reds, silvers Kings and sea run rainbows (steelhead). I sold the rod on eBay after moving to VA. I enjoyed my time spent with a fly rod but now refer much more efficient modern gear as my main fishing is bass.  

[bulldog1935]

here's my buddy Josh last weekend fishing a run in the upper Frio for Texas brook trout (endemic Guadalupe bass)

 

 

The mid-length, mid-weight venerable glass rods from the 60s and 70s are a big advantage in little water like this.  

[king fisher]

I have fly fished all of my life for multiple species of fish.  I look at a fly rod as just another tool.  For some species of fish, in specific situations it is by far the best tool for the job.  For other times it may not be the best tool, but more than adequate and there are times, when the added challenge of catching a fish on the fly makes the accomplishment worth the effort.  

      The down side of fly fishing is there are many times, when a fly rod is the complete opposite of the right tool for the job.  Like using a Crescent wrench for a hammer.  It can be done but why?  Two examples I have experience with, are King Salmon in deep fast rivers, and bass in deep, snag infested water.  I spent many years watching fly fisherman struggle to get a king salmon to bite a fly when they could have spent the whole day fighting fish after fish with conventional gear.  At the end of the day they were tired, defeated, and blaming me their guide for lack of success.  Same river two feet lower, fly's worked great and I was a hero guide.  Same is true for bass.  Watching a bass smash a fly rod popper, or attack a streamer stripped through a shallow pool in a stream is as good as life gets.  Casting a heavy sinking line with heavy weighted fly, trying to catch a bass in 15 foot of water hiding in the branches of a submerged tree, is two steps beyond a challenge, and a half a step from stupidity.  Short answer to question is I love to fly fish for bass, but only in certain situations.

[Surfcaster79]

On 12/29/2020 at 5:33 PM, Whatever said:

I am curious on how many of you Bass anglers prefer fly fishing, and why? I pursue fish with a variety of gear, but fly fishing has always been a favorite. If nothing else I cry far less over losing a fly I spent 15 minutes tying, versus breaking off a $10 lure.

Anyone else have thoughts on this subject?

 

 

I would love to use my fly rod on bass, problem is most places I fish have no room for double hauling

[redux]

The past few weeks I've been eyeballing my fly rods and thinking about the old days when I was only fishing for bass on the fly. Yesterday I finally tossed my 6 weight Radian and Nautilus reel in the truck with a few flies just in case I got a wild hair. I am very thankful I did. Yesterday was really bad at the places I went. Low water, zero clouds, steady wind and clear water. I got desperate to avoid a skunk so I tied on a tiny minnow and sight fished an 8 incher in the shallows.

 

A bit overpowered for the job and my casting is awful after 6 years using bass rigs.