Smb fly fishermen, I have a question

[chucknduck]

Hey fellas, 

I'm not used to fly fishing bass on these small clear creeks. All of my bass fishing on flies has been up in Wi or Mi so I would throw big decievers or clousers on my 8 wt. 

Down here the fish are smaller (on the creeks I'm targeting) so the 8wt is overkill. I've been using my 5wt and I can't really throw the patterns I'm  used to with it, I think they'd be too big anyway. 

So what patterns do you guys use for bass on the skinny water? I've been successful on basic buggers but I'm trying to hone in on something more specific.

[drew03cmc]

Either tie a smaller pattern or just use what you're accustomed to. A smallie is a smallie.

[fishinwrench]

[fishinwrench]

This Fall.... beginning about NOW, a #2-#4 white Sneaky Pete is real REAL hard to beat.

2nd choice is a Club Sandwich Hopper about 2 1/2" long.

And always work your way UPSTREAM if you can.

[tjm]

I just use my 7 or 8 wt. with some Pig Boats, crappie jigs,  mallard minnows and big  wooly buggers.  My usual top water is a gurgler or Tap's Bug.  I used the 7wt more this year, but the fly determines the line and I ain't good enough to cast  big heavy flies with ultra light tackle, so the 7 is about as small as I ever go, even flicking #20s at trout I just adjust the leader.  I don't know about anyone else but I find bigger fish at dark.

Wrench what name does the bottom right go by? I want to look up the recipe.

[chucknduck]

12 hours ago, drew03cmc said:

Either tie a smaller pattern or just use what you're accustomed to. A smallie is a smallie.

You're right, I'll tie up some small deceivers. I forgot that was an option😆😆

11 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

This Fall.... beginning about NOW, a #2-#4 white Sneaky Pete is real REAL hard to beat.

2nd choice is a Club Sandwich Hopper about 2 1/2" long.

And always work your way UPSTREAM if you can.

Those are some nice looking flies, wrench. Thanks for the suggestions! 

 

4 hours ago, tjm said:

4 hours ago, tjm said:

I just use my 7 or 8 wt. with some Pig Boats, crappie jigs,  mallard minnows and big  wooly buggers.  My usual top water is a gurgler or Tap's Bug.  I used the 7wt more this year, but the fly determines the line and I ain't good enough to cast  big heavy flies with ultra light tackle, so the 7 is about as small as I ever go, even flicking #20s at trout I just adjust the leader.  I don't know about anyone else but I find bigger fish at dark.

Wrench what name does the bottom right go by? I want to look up the recipe.

I find the bigger rod just overpowers the fish and takes some of the fun out of small creek fishing.

I also want the recipe for bottom right. What a great looking fly!

 😆

[fishinwrench]

5 hours ago, tjm said:

Wrench what name does the bottom right go by? I want to look up the recipe

Bulkhead Deciever.  Use a no-slip loop knot when tying it on.  Hands down the best streamer pattern I have ever found, I love it.  

It's a little tricky to tie, you'll trash the first 2-3 until you get it right....but it's worth it.

[tjm]

39 minutes ago, chucknduck said:

I find the bigger rod just overpowers the fish and takes some of the fun out of small creek fishing.

Use smaller tippets to increase the challenge.  The fly lines are all about 30-40# test so the fish is over powered by design.

The ideal of catch and release is to quickly bring the fish to hand so that it can be released unexhausted, which can't be done on ultra light gear. I will suggest an alternative that might help you as a compromise; fly rods by virtue of the materials they are made of can handle a couple line  weights up or down from that suggested by the maker, so try a 7wt line on the 5?wt rod and see if that will deliver the size flies you want. I used to have an Orvis 5wt that all it normally saw was 7wt lines.  You can do the math but if a rod is designed to carry  33 yards of 5wt line - ~562 grains - on an extreme cast it follows that it can handle the ~210 grains of an 8wt line at 10 yards that is common when fishing.  As long as the cast line is less than 10 yards the 5wt rod should handle even a 13 wt line at ~430 gn., that is how the Skagit lines came too be. That 5wt Orvis did see a 9wt bass bug  taper a few times a year. You can also cut the taper off a fly line giving the last few feet more weight to turn over bigger flies, and shorten the leaders.  Rather than use fishing time  learning to cast,  I usually just adjust the line weight, heavier for short casts or big flies  and lighter for long casts or smaller dries using the same 7 1/2' -8 1/2' rods.  

[chucknduck]

40 minutes ago, tjm said:

Use smaller tippets to increase the challenge.  The fly lines are all about 30-40# test so the fish is over powered by design.

The ideal of catch and release is to quickly bring the fish to hand so that it can be released unexhausted, which can't be done on ultra light gear. I will suggest an alternative that might help you as a compromise; fly rods by virtue of the materials they are made of can handle a couple line  weights up or down from that suggested by the maker, so try a 7wt line on the 5?wt rod and see if that will deliver the size flies you want. I used to have an Orvis 5wt that all it normally saw was 7wt lines.  You can do the math but if a rod is designed to carry  33 yards of 5wt line - ~562 grains - on an extreme cast it follows that it can handle the ~210 grains of an 8wt line at 10 yards that is common when fishing.  As long as the cast line is less than 10 yards the 5wt rod should handle even a 13 wt line at ~430 gn., that is how the Skagit lines came too be. That 5wt Orvis did see a 9wt bass bug  taper a few times a year. You can also cut the taper off a fly line giving the last few feet more weight to turn over bigger flies, and shorten the leaders.  Rather than use fishing time  learning to cast,  I usually just adjust the line weight, heavier for short casts or big flies  and lighter for long casts or smaller dries using the same 7 1/2' -8 1/2' rods.  

First off thanks for pushing those responsible fishing practices, I follow them closely since I really only catch and release. I do however like to feel the fish - that's what I meant when I said the 8wt overpowers them. I'm willing to help a fish recover twice as long as it took me to land it, that's the rule I follow and I never touch a fish without wetting my hands first.

I have been fishing my orvis 5wt so I'll look into overlining it. I've been thinking about possibly picking up a 6wt for this type of fishing too. I suppose I could try overlining my 5wt with 6wt line and then just pick up the rest of the outfit if I don't like the way it casts.

[Flysmallie]

Don't make it difficult. 

Something on top.

Gartside Gurgler

Something for the middle.

Murdich Minnow

And something for the bottom.

 

I carry an 8wt everywhere I go.