With Spring lookin like its right around the corner here in the north bay, that means bass fishing will be kickin off soon. I would love some info regarding fly fishing for bass; techniques, rods, reels, lines and flies. What are your favorite patterns to fish with? What kind of setup do you use if you are looking to produce numbers of fish? Sink/float lines? Any info you have is appreciated! Thanks.
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Nothing makes a fish seem bigger than almost being caught...
I know this is a little late, but here's what I know based on my reasonable amount of experience fly fishing for bass.
1. Make sure you have some #2 white gurglers in your box. These are fantastic top water flies for bass. I've probably caught more bass on these flies than any other in my box. It's just wonderful to see how both largemouths and smallmouths smash this topwater fly when the bite is on. Also, many times the fishing has been slow with sinking lines and this fly has saved the day.
2. Use a shooting head system for underwater with #1 to #6. You probably could get by with just #1, #3 and #6 although I've caught bass on all the sink rates. The shooting head system is economical and versatile. You only have to buy the 30ft section which is a lot cheaper than a full integrated line and they are easily and quickly swapped out on the water. I use Varivas 36lb for the shooting line. That said, I think integrated lines are easier to cast for most people.
3. Some other simple flies that work well based on the bait in the water. Chartreuse/white clousers (shad), black or olive wooly buggers (a lot of things), elk hair caddis #8 (motor boat caddis). I was on a large private lake one day and a blizzard caddis hatch came off and bass up to 3lbs were eating caddis like piranhas.
3. Make sure you have a fishfinder. Nothing like knowing the general vicinity of the fish, depth and water temperature for success.
4. I use a 6 or 7 wt rods since it allows me to easily throw every fly in the box easily. I usually carry 3 rods in my pontoon boat: 2 with shooting line (usually type 3 and type 6 pre-loaded) and 1 with floating line. Reels are almost an afterthought. Bass - even smallmouths - don't do a lot of running and aren't very leader shy so any kind of reel that balances with the rod will do the trick.
With this long winded post, I think I talked myself into some bass fishing this month!
