Posted: Wed 03/11/09 6:52 pm Post subject: Bass Flies: Best Flies For Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass?
So,
I am really excited for this year - as my new years resolution was to break the habitual mode I get it into. I love to fish for new species of fish on the fly, hence my love for fly fishing travel. There is nothing more I like than being in an environment that I don't know and having to learn everything about a new species and the water of a specific spot. I will always love the things I do know and I can't ever see a day that I will grow tired of fly fishing for salmon, trout, stripers, albies, bluefish, steelhead etc.. (especially since each one of those .. depending on the degree one wishes to learn them - could provide 1 angler with a lifetime of learning.) - But, for me, there is a certain sense of adventure and freshness that I love about pursuing and trying to dial into new species. So, when it comes to Bass here is what I know (not much.)
Large Mouth & Small Mouth Bass: I live in the state of Maine. I do know that people travel from all over the world to come hear and fish for Smallmouth Bass. To date, I have been mostly a cold water species fly fisherman - spending all of my days on freshwater targeting Salmon, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout and steelhead. Here in Maine I have caught a lot of smallmouth bass by "accident" when fly fishing with streamers in select rivers. I usually have caught them on big leech type patterns or wooly buggers. Same is true for Largemouth Bass here in Maine. So, yes - I have caught them - but my question is this - I plan on targeting them this year .. what flies would you recommend for smallmouth & largemouth Bass? Let's say I had a fly box for Bass with nothing in it - what should I fill it with? Thanks![/b]
Jeremy,
I fish for smallies for the majority of the summer b/c they are so easily accessible in Virginia. I think the best things to stock up on would be olive, black and white crystal and regular wooly buggers, sliders, poppers (both deer hair and foam) as well as some smaller clouser minnows. There are a few flies and I just started using this past year that have produced great results. They are tied by a guy in Virginia named Chuck Kraft. (You can check them out if you Google Kreel tackle). One is called a kreelex fly which is very similar to a flashy clouser, a claw-dad fly, and the CK baitfish. Hope this helps.
Posted: Thu 03/12/09 9:15 am Post subject: Thanks!
Hey thanks man! .. What percentage of time do you throw top water flies? I like the idea of ripping poppers or sliders across the top and seeing them get crushed by bass:) .. thanks!
It depends on what time of year it is. In the early part of spring I will fish mostly sub surface patterns but once late May comes around and the water warms up I fish top water about 50% of the time. I think first thing in the morning and later in the evening is the most successful time to throw poppers. If you use your kayak to fish the banks of the river you can cast tight under some cover and you should be able to see some great strikes when using poppers or sliders anytime of the day once the water heats up.
Here on the Housatonic River in CT the smallmouths main diet seems to be crayfish. Once the water warms up you can look into the smallies mouthes and see antennae and claws hanging out on almost every fish. Darter type patterns also take alot of fish for me as well. Try chucking yellow zoo cougars if you dont stick a nice smallmouth maybe youll get a nice brown. Rusty colored clousers work great too. For largemouth I just use poppers most of the time if not poppers then zonkers in all different colors.
I would I have to second every fly that has been posted already. The only thing I would add is some dragon or damsel fly niymphs. Twitched over and around weed beds and lily pads they are unstoppable. Also a purple wooly bugger once you start seeing the adults flying around. Throw one towards a rise and hold on!
Man, I have always felt that bass have gotten a little left out on this site. Glad to hear you are going to give them an honest shot! Though my first love will always be streams and creeks, I can't always jump in the car and travel an hour to get to them. Bass have always been "gap fillers" for me but over the years, I have grown to bring them into the fold. I have a bass box that I keep year round in the car. I'll list a few flies that I don't think you can go wrong with.
1. Articulated wooly buggers. The extra action seem to bring larger fish up from the bottom.
2. Black deer popper. I have had more fun with this fly during the bass season than any other
3. White Gartside Gurgler. Really noisy and durable. I know guys that like the bright colors but white foam, chartreuse thread, and grizzly hackle is all I personally need. I tie them on big salt hooks too.
4. Sneaky peat reverse poppers. I don't know what it is, but even the big fish like this small popper. You'll get some smaller ones and a few blues along with it but be patient and the big ones will come up for it.
5. Chartreuse Clousers. Obvious choice but is there anything these won't catch?
6. Zoo Cougar. The wobbly action when stripped fast seems to get a lot of attention.
These are some obvious choices that may sound like an article in a magazine but if there are bass around, one of these flies will work. Large or small mouth it doesn't matter. If you're going for the big 8 to 10 pound largemouths, don't underestimate adding the extra action on the bugger. All my big fish over 5 pounds have been on that or a clouser.
Funny, I haven't been on this or other sites in a while, but the season is approaching and I am of course thinking trout and salmon, trying to get my boxes ready tying the variety of flies I know I will need, but many that will never get a take. Anyway, I check out your site and I am drawn to your post on bass and here is why.
I love to go out after bass after the spring salmonid action has lulled because I treat it very simply. Contrary to taking out my expensive trout rod and reel that I have to be careful not to step on, contrary to bringing a miriad of fly boxes with dries, streamers and nymphs, and contrary to packing the boots, waders, vest, kitchen sink - all that, I grab an older 6, or maybe my 8 wt with floating line, and 1 box of maybe 6 flies, of which I will probably use 1 or 2. Likely that will be a foam body popper or a foam club sandwich and I will probably catch enough fish to satisfy my need. And if I don't at least I will get 1 or 2 and will have had a nice float in my canoe with a beer and a sandwich.
There is a lot of merit in using a lot of strategies to target bass, just like with trout, but by july I get a lot out of tying on 1 size 4 yellow popper and leaving it there. You asked about top -water -yeah, I find that unlike finicky trout, I can entice a surface smash with just a pop and a wait, or a pop, pop, pop, then wait. If the action is slow, sometimes a good rule of thumb is pop, then wait till the rings clear and pop again. If this doesn't produce, try the opposite -- sequential pops all the way to the boat.
I'm in the Portland area. Shoot me a PM for some ponds, or let me know if you want to go sometime. ~Mike
Hey jeremy. Because you have supplied me with an immense amount of useful information, I want to help you with your quest for bass. Every summer, I venture up to the Adirondacks and kick back for three weeks since I have good friends that own a retreat. Thankfully, just a few feet away from my cabin is a pristine, extremely clear, untouched lake with surprisingly strong Largemotuh Bass. While fishing for largemouth and smallmuth bass, I will ALWAYS bring BH Wooly buggers in olive and black (When fishing for bass, they usually be used to imitate baitfish or crayfish, nymph imitations are not too efficient besides Damsels). Also, if you want to have a hefty fish in your hands within a few casts, I advise you to use some Mouse imitations at night. Other important flies are the Dahlberg Diver in chartreuse and Clouser's Minnow with a combo of light and dark colors, necessities when fishing any time. Of course you need some poppers (Deer hair or foam) in multiple colors but believe it or not, the retrieval methods are an improtant factor; it is not just strip and chug. Depending on the mood of the bass, you will be demanded to chug a bug, create some splashes or simply shake it to cause minimal disruption. I have also found that a deer hair popper with some orange may trigger a strike. Crayfish imitations such as Clouser's Crayfish are claimed to be effective but I actually forget its in the depths of my box. The least important flies but sometimes most effective would be trout streamers like a Mickey Finn or even a Black Nose Dace in sizes 8 or higher. With these and the Wolly Bugger, I find very rapid, short strips work great during the heat of summer and very slow retrievals with pauses in the cold days of spring. Hope you enjoy yourself on the water.
i haven't had a chance to fish in maine, but i do go to northern minnesota every summer and fish for largemouth and pike, and i imagine the water temps and fish action are pretty similar during the year.
i love the action and the strikes you get from poppers. i think pretty much any color will work, but i've had the most success with black and orange.
i've also caught some of my largest bass on fishtail whistlers. yellow/red, red/white, or black/purple have caught some seriously large-largemouth as well as pike.
Jeremy, I fish for bass quite a bit around the Portland area. One of my favorite spots is in Cape Elizabeth where a creek runs a mile to the ocean and baitfish swim up. The bass and pickerel go nuts for clousers there. But my favorite is a summer night throwing big fat poppers and watching them smash my fly. 20 mins from Portland. Let me know if you want in sometime, I'd be glad to take you there.
I would have to Say Dick Empie's Goldie! Several warmwater fisherman I know swear by it, and I have had some great success with this wicked simple fly.
I think that most of the flies have been mentioned but I have used a bead head or cone head olive wooly bugger for years and it proves consistent as a producer of fish. It is my go to fly on the kennebec for smallmouths when things get slow. White zonkers can be killer if there are any alewives or shad in the bodies of water you fish. I also have had great smallmouth fishing with size 18 and 20 black nymphs, I know it sounds crazy but my best numbers day ever on smallmouths was on the sebasticook river and I was using a small black nymph with a slow hand twist retrieve and absolutely hammered them. My biggest smallmouths have always come on woolybuggers, zonkers, cone head muddlers or clousers though.
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