Flyfishing Questions For Bass ?

Hi,

Great Forum.
Two questions, please.

Anyone have any luck/experience going after Largemouth and/or Smallmouth Bass with a fly rod ?

Do they take surface flies at all ?
Use sub-surface ones ?

If so, which ones seem to work here in New England waters ?

And, regarding Mayfly Hatches:

Is there "only" a Hatch in the Spring, and the Fall ?

Or, much more often ?

Thanks,
Bob

Hi,

Great Forum.
Two questions, please.

Anyone have any luck/experience going after Largemouth and/or Smallmouth Bass with a fly rod ?
Yes...

Do they take surface flies at all ?
Yes. Foam, cork, or deer hair poppers are standard. Bass aren't really that picky... they will hit most bulky topwater flies as long as they make some noise (or movement). Fishing them near the edges of lily pads is key.

Use sub-surface ones ?
Yes again. Almost every sort of streamer... Woolly buggers, clouser minnows, crawfish, pretty much any sort of baitfish imitation.

If so, which ones seem to work here in New England waters ?
All of them (ie. the ones I described above)

And, regarding Mayfly Hatches:

Is there "only" a Hatch in the Spring, and the Fall ?
No, there are many different types of bugs in the mayfly family. All hatch at different times. Many of them do hatch in the spring, like you mentioned, but there are mayfly hatches throughout the entire year.

Not just mayflies too; there are plenty of other bugs hatching all year 'round as well.

Bass don't really feed on mayflies, at least not like trout do. Occasionally they gorge during the larger hatches, like the hexagenias (aka the hex hatch).

Or, much more often ?
^

Thanks,
Bob

Hope this helps.

dragon flies are big around here. frogs, poppers for largemouths. smallies feed at dusk on bugs in late spring. its a black fly hatch.

clousers and streamers would work. but a bug pattern in shallow weeds filled ponds would be the way to go.

What about wooly buggers?

CatfishKid already mentioned them, but they work so well on everything that it bears repeating. Olive or black Wooly around size 6 (plus or minus a size or two) is a bass killer. I also love top water action with hoppers and poppers. Fish 'em just like you fish a frog, give it a twitch and slowly count to 10.

What about wooly buggers?

thats a given, woolies catch everything

My go to streamer for LMB and smallies are wooly buggers ,some hybrid ones have legs tied in,very deadly.My 2nd go to for bass are MUDDLER minnows,they move allot of water and attract attention to most species as well.You may have to go with the larger ones or you will catch every kivver in the water.A small muddler with a bobber,hours of action with my grand child.When they are dry they float ,you can fish them like a popper.when they get wet they are just below the surface,steady stripping action is real effective,depending on the day.If there is chain pickerel around they will find that muddler and shred it...

You don’t need a long tapered leader to fly fish for bass. I typically use a 36 inch level 10# mono leader tied to a no knot eyelet.

The muddler minnow flies can be fished both wet and dry. As others have mentioned poppers and woolly buggers are very effective flies to use.

If money is not an object you get also use mouse flies and crayfish flies. The drawback to these flies is that can be difficult to cast and they are not very durable. The mice tend to lose their tails and the crayfish lose their claws.

You may also want to consider some of the Berkley artificial baits, I like to use Honey worms, on which I have caught several bass.



If your presentation looks like food and smells like food and if the bass have not gorged themselves on baitfish then you should be able to catch many bass using a fly rod.
Trout worms for fly fishing