Cold Weather Fly Fishing For Bass

[Ryker]

Does anyone have any fly choices or techniques for coaxing largemouth to hit flies during the winter? I hit some farm ponds over the holidays, and I had some success on Clousers and other baitfish imitations, but I was consistently out fished by my Dad with his crank baits. Yes, I know they are considered "warm water" species for a reason, but I love the feeling of a largemouth slamming my fly. Otherwise, I'm stuck freezing in a deer stand. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. -R

[Wayne SW/MO]

I think you have to start by asking yourself why your dad was doing better? Was it depth, suspending, vibration? There are ways to do this with a fly, if you tie.

[fishinwrench]

I have a few suspending streamers that I think will imitate dying shad real well and I have high hopes for them soon after ice-out in the reservoirs. But in a pond without a shad population there's not gonna be much of a dependable feeding pattern to key in on. If the body of water is big enough to have schools of shad then you're in business with either suspending streamers or a float-n-fly type setup as soon as some of the shad start falling away from the schools and wandering around half dead. Don't expect them to "slam it' though. They'll just ease up and suck it in, and you'll have about a 2 second window to detect the bite and stick 'em. There's one small lake that I hit for big bluegill during late Winter/very early Spring and it doesn't have any shad, but I do usually catch a few bass in the sunny shallow areas on slow falling bluegill flys.... it's not a very dependable bite though.