Flies for Bass

[blacknoseddace]

For those of you that may be interested... here are a few flies that have worked in the past for Stockton Bass, especially in the Spring and Fall when they are near shallow water.  Bass in Stockton can be caught on a wide range of flies and the ones that seem to work best imitate shad.

 

 

 

 

[fishinwrench]

I'm surprised that none of those are fat headed water-pushers.     Everywhere I have ever fished streamers for bass, big-headed muddler style flys have outfished the slender streamers designed more for swinging across current.  

Here are some of my favs...

[blacknoseddace]

nice flies Fishwrench! I'll bet they draw som explosive strikes. 

[blacknoseddace]

Actually, the streamers catch a lot of decent fish in Stockton's clear water. 

[fishinwrench]

40 minutes ago, blacknoseddace said:

nice flies Fishwrench! I'll bet they draw som explosive strikes. 

That top one looks real good !   

[Kayak_Runner]

What rod size and line set up are you using for streamers this size? What size hooks are you generally using?

[blacknoseddace]

For large bass flies, especially in wind, I use an 8 weight with a weight forward floating line. The larger flies are on a 1/0 to 3/0 saltwater or stinger hook. I do scale it down to a 6 weight for smaller flies as well. I like to strip the flies back briskly on the same shallow points and flats that I would fish a spinnerbait. The size average of the bass is the same as I catch on spinnerbaits, Quality fish. I use on average a 9 foot flourocarbon leader with a 10-15 lb Tippett. The flies sink fast enough where I can fish them a little deeper, depending on speed of retrieve. It helps if you can comfortably cast 40 to 60 feet. Practice on the front lawn helps. 

[fishinwrench]

Big bulky flys in the wind are nearly impossible even with my 9wt.  so on windy days I'll just wait until evening when it lays down a bit.   

My bass lines live a pretty hard life so I don't go for expensive lines.  Cortland 333 Bass taper is pretty tough stuff and its affordable so that's what I throw. It helps if you cut 3-4' off the front end.  I'm not gonna rake a 70.00+ line over the crap I usually throw my bass flys. Noway!  

[blacknoseddace]

Instead of fighting the wind I let it work for me by drifting with it and not fishing it so it blows the line toward me while casting. Granted, you can't always do that but many times you can. And if it's too windy throw the spinnerbait. The large flies I throw cut through the wind pretty good because of the materials used to tie them. I'll fly fish 10 to 15 mph wind, nothing more. I have fly fished the Florida flats for tarpon and the days without wind are few. 

[mic]

Works on pond bass, don't know about lake bass, but try an "over sized nymph".  Tie a standard flashback or prince on a size 6 or 8 hook and let it sink in fishy spots.  Plus, you can catch some pig catfish that way also.