What Are Your Best Fly's For Bass

arbor1

arbor1

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Apr 16, 2010
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Now that the temps are getting too warm to target Trout, I've been doing some Bass fishing and I landed a nice Largemouth with a Crayfish Fly pattern, however the past couple times I've gone out for Bass they just kind of look the other way as I'm stripping in the Crayfish. I thought for sure they would be going after this fly like crazy, but there not. I also hooked onto another Bass using a White Wolly Bugger, but my knot slipped and he got away. I ordered some poppers from Cabelas so we'll see how they work out.

So, what fly's do you guys use for Bass, and how do you present them in the water? Also, why time of day is best for Bass? I was out at 6:30 this morning and they wanted nothing to do with anything I would throw at them. I know Bass aren't too picky so time shouldn't matter I would think. Right?
 
sliders, buggers, clousers.
a bugger can be just about anything depending on color and how you present it.
 
I'm not sure the fly pattern itself makes a lot of difference, although I've seen certain colors work better than other at times for bass.

Think presentation rather than pattern.

I usually start with aggressive type fishing (when water temps are in the ideal range). I like to fish poppers and sliders on top - great fun seeing them come up.

If I strike out, I'll try swinging and stripping streamers/clousers/ buggers underneath.

No fish? I'll dead drift a bugger, let it swing, hang, and strip back - all on the same cast, to see what type of presentation the fish want. Still no fish?...

I'll dead-drift buggers and/or larger nymphs deep, since the fish are not chasing.

 
White deer hair popper. Toss it next to lilly pads,let the rings disappear, pop it once, let the rings disappear, repeat till you get it close to you and repeat. Love the surface takes. GG
 
BH Woolly Buggers...Black, White, Chartruse.
 
Afish,

Thanks for the great information on different presentations. So far most of my bass have been caught swinging and stripping Clousers. I've had some success on pencil poppers. I am really feeling I need to broaden my horizons on different techniques. Right now all of my confidence is lying with deep Clouser minnows (particularly in chartreuse/white - size 4). Most of my fishing has been during the evening hours. Hoping to learn a lot more at the WW jam! Good luck with your bass fishing, arbor1. Tight lines!
 
Stealth Bomber in White. I got 9 LMB today and lost a couple more, 6 on the bomber the, others on a dragonfly nymph. Its the most productive top water fly I have found. And occasionally a large sunfish will take it.
 
Bass are more evolved than trout.Not as much as catfish.lol
If you flyfish something like a farm pond frequently the bass will know whats in your fly box better than you.
So if you have been hitting the same spots it doesn't mean the flies aren't any good if they turn up a fin at them.Fly fishermen don't have the advantage of using sound variations the way lure fishermen do.
That's why fly fishing for largemouths is about as challenging as it gets in freshwater fishing......
 
Thanks guys for all the tips, I have to give them a try and see if I'm successful. It's funny as some of you describe how evolved Bass are, because the other day I was using a Grasshopper pattern and about 4 Bass were toying with this thing. Know matter how I presented the Grasshopper they just wanted to play with it. The other thing they like to do is when I hook onto a bluegill they have to see what all the fuss is about and I'm pretty sure when I hooked onto a small Bluegill a lunker came out of the rocks and ate em. That was when my knot slipped and I lost em. That was quite an eye opener!
 
Big buck tails, Mouse flys, poppers, when they don't seem interested put on something bright and rip it through the water, sometimes that triggers a curiousity strike. Fish don't have hands they have to bite it to feel it. I have taken lmb and smb on some crazy flies.
 
i like to use a gartside gurgler,a madame X,or a popper on top,with a wet fly or nymph or two hanging off of it.

any soft hackle,coachman,mcginty,prince,PT,GRHE,zug bug,girdle bug,montana nymph or any wet or nymph tyed a little bigger than i would use for trout.

i also use gray and/or olive cat's whiskers ,briminators and a red silk body streamer with white hackle feather wing .they hit that last one hard!

i think the gartside gurgler is one of the best catching to easy to tye ratio top water warm water flies there is.
 
It doesn't matter to me what fly I use as long as its a chartruse popper.
 
Slumpbusters down and across. White, yellow, and black are my favorite colors. Sometimes letting it hang in the current after the swing is productive.

For topwater poppers, sliders and Gartside Gurglurs. I don't think color matters much for topwater.

If they are not biting one of these flies, it's time to find something else to do because they are not biting!
 
I killed the largemouth last week in an Adirondack pond with chartreuse wooly buggers! The buggers were weighted down with a good amount of lead incorporated into the tie. cast, let sink for 5 seconds, give a jerk & strip with a wiggle of the rod with each strip. They were crushing them!

never had to swtich flies
 
i was just up in the adirondacks! lower saranack. wooly buggers all the way.
 
Suprised no one has mentioned anything in pink.
Pink Clousers for SMB, oversized pink buggers for LMB.
 
love the gurgler. great for SW bass too.
 
For lakes in Fall, a crayfish fly tied with a wrap of lead on the shank on a weedless 1/0 hook, normal tie but with a hackle spun around it like a big wolly bugger.
 
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