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Bass Fishing on the fly....Any tips?

1K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  wheelbarrow 
#1 ·
Howdy all=)

Having a slight issue here hope someone can give me a clue.

I happen to live on a private lake that rarely gets fished and has loads of big bass in it. I can go out there on any given day and slay 'em with my ultra lite spinning rod...However when I grab my fly rod to go get them, I cannot get any to bite. I use a black leech a green leech, and try to fish these flies like I would my grubs. I have also used poppers and have only nailed one. THIS IS NO FUN!!! I am using a floating line with a 8ft bass leader casting out and using different retrieval techiques such as erratic stripping, letting it sink to the bottom and slowly stripping it back. ANY HELP? :CONFUSED :DUNNO
 
#2 ·
To start with what time are you fishing for bass. I seem to catch more in the evening between 7PM to 9PM using either a green leech patern or a black one. The middle of the day I still can catch some but not nearly as many. I have not fished the early morning yet for bass. Its to good of a time of day for other fish. Fish a floating line with a single small split shot or a beaded head patern. Cast along the shore around underwater logs is best. Use a steady type pull in, then pause once in a while. Trolling the shore line also works well with some occational twitches of the rod tip and some pauses. I love to use a black and green pattern mixed about 1 1/2" long. Last note on some small ponds I have found that leech paterns are not the best way to go when full of bass. On these small ponds it can be harder to figure out a patern to work. Some times small minow paterns, some times other things. Just like trout. Sometimes you have to figure out the food the bass are keying on. If they are hitting on the surface look to see what they are taking. Dragon flies, Ants, and frogs both adult and babies are comon food sources. I will always remember the day that bass where throwing themselves against a rock. When I got closer the rock was crawling with ants. I did not have any ant paterns that day on me but it was fun to watch. Last keep trying bass are one heck of all lot of fun on a fly rod. A one pound fish will fight hard and a bigger one :THUMBSUP
 
#3 ·
Hikepat: Thanks for the response=) I am also fishing between 7pm and 9pm. I also find bass to be very active during this period when fishing with a grub. Maybe the bass have just been asleep the past few days=) I have fished all the special little hiding places for those critters, like sunken logs, stumps, pads and so forth. I will try that stripping technique you mentioned this evening and let you know. Thanks
 
#4 ·
Fish till ya drop.
Then suck it up
and fish the evening hatch.

Don't stop fishing at 9PM, fish right on up to midnight on moonlit nights. Use the topwater stuff after 9 and make sure you splat it down with sloppy casts and twitch it hard with pauses in between, making all the commotion you can.
The first signal to bass at night is usually SOUND, then they will migrate to the area till they find what's making the commotion.
 
#5 ·
Good point. This works well on any lake that you are allowed to fish after dark. Just make sure that its legal to do so. Most of the lakes I fish for bass are posted no access after dark. Also after dark in some areas the bass feed on moths. I have seen this on lakes out on the peninsula and one secret lake around here and got information to imitate using large elk hair caddis from people on this board a while back. I have been waiting to come across again this year but it seems to be September when that goes on. :WINK I did catch a nice sized bass on that secret lake the September before last using a large Caddis late one evening while fishing for trout. That was before I learned about the bass eating the moths and got the information from this board. I may be out on the Peninsula again this September and if I see another swarm of moths over a lake again with both the trout and bass going crazy. You can guess what I will be using. So yes you can catch bass after dark. It just seems like I catch more between 7PM to 9PM most of the time. :BIGSMILE
 
G
#6 ·
Have fun be Safe

Iv hooked a lot of bass. I don’t think bass are smart. They are just a mean fish. The don’t like any thing coming in to there territory.
When I fish for them I use the biggest and most ugly fly I have.
like salt water flys, salmon flys, wooly bugers will work some times but not that often. Use some thing really bright and flashy.
ull nockem dead.


:THUMBSUP :THUMBSUP

sage
 
#7 ·
just remember, throw 'em back

i just got back from flyfishing my aunts bass pond. they are a very tough fish, let me tell you. through several years of fishing for bass with a fly rod and with conventional tackle, i quit trying to flyfish like i spinfish, if that makes sense at all. instead of imitating what i do with my spinning rod (fishing grubs and spinnerbaits) i have had much, much better success fishing completely different. i have found that bass generally strike lures out of curiousity rather than feeding; while they strike a fly out of feeding instinct. this curiousity is great when fishing with a spinning rod when you can make more casts and cover more water and more effectivley create this curiousity. but when you have your fly rod in hand, it becomes harder to cover water. you just really cant flyfish like you can spinfish. instead i flyfish for bass by showing them something they cant refuse by matching the hatch (i hate that phrase!) and trying to get them to feed. at about this time of year the bluegills have completed spawning and you can find good action fishing flies that correspond to the size and coloration of the bluegill fry. due to excellent water conditions i spent a considerable amount of time just observing the bass. i found that a lot of bass were cruising the shoreline (1'-2' of water) looking for bluegill fry which hide among shoreline growth. however, bass are VERY oppurtunistic and react well to terrestrials as mention in another post. if you encounter fish feeding on the surface, stop and watch. you can tell very quickly if it is a bass or bluegill that is feeding by just listening. bluegill make a distinct popping sound when they take something off the surface. while a bass makes more of a slurping swirl. I found one of my best fly patterns was a grasshopper. this time of year grasshoppers are very plentiful anywhere there is grass. just look for a spot with a steep shoreline (quick access to deep water) and shoreline vegetation like reeds/cattails and/or milfoil. a gusty wind of any kind can work wonders. it ruffles up the surface so the bass feel safer in shallow water and it either (1) blows food from the mainlake towards the shore, or it (2) blows terrestrials off the shoreline and into the water. good in either occasion. just throw a grasshopper or adult damsel fly or a small minnow imitation or a frog up tight to the weeds and do lots of twitching and lots of pauses during the retrieve. try throwing a live grasshopper into the water and observing what the hopper does and how the bass react to it. i did this over 30 times at my aunts pond and the hopper got eaten maybe all but 5 times (usually do to my spooking the fish or *the grasshopper being dead*). i also found that if the hopper gets eaten instantly and/or with a large splash it was usually because there were multiple bass in the area. probably because of competition. when the bass just sucked it under it was either the largest bass in the area or it was the only bass (lack of competiton). i dont pretend to know everything about every body of water but i surely spent enough time experimenting and observing on this particular body of water to have learned a few things about how bass react in certain situations. bass are highly complicated critters that i believe are every bit as wily and every bit as "smart" as our local trout and steelies. just my $.02. if you would like anymore info i'd be happy to share more of my experiences with you. you be surprised how much observing i do for an impatient 16 year old. i geuss i just like to catch fish and observation has led to many a bass for me.
 
G
#8 ·
IveofIone
Try much larger flies right at dusk. I once caught a 13" bass that had at least 4" of a sqawfish sticking out of it's throat and it was still feeding! I have also caught bass with stomachs packed full of dragon flies so they were looking up for the big meal. If the pond you are fishing is full of big bass they probably aren't nibblers. Happy hooking, Ive
 
#10 ·
I'd throw big, colorful streamers if you have them. Clouser minnows, things like that. 4" plus if possible.

Also, with a surface popper, be sure to let it sit still on the surface for a while occasionally. Vary the retrieve, but don't be too impatient. I've had hits after leaving the thing floating for a few minutes while I was doing something else. Bass seem to come up to a popper when it hits the surface and they stare at it for a while, sometimes 10-20 seconds before deciding to hit it. So right after you cast it and it lands in the water, let it sit for 5-10 seconds at least before giving it action.

At least this is good advice in the upper Midwest... the bass might have different taste here in Washington.
 
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