Bass Fly Fishing Tools and Tips

The sport of fly fishing has in the past been all about catching trout. Using fly fishing techniques, today it is now possible to catch just about any freshwater or salt-water fish. Bass fly fishing has now become extremely popular all over the world. This is due to the fighting qualities of bass. Bass on the whole put up a tougher fight than trout – the exception being the big steelhead trout species. Bass have quite a flat body shape – this increases the drag when you try to pull them through the water using your fly rod, which also makes them a tougher fight. There are differences between bass and trout fly fishing, but on the whole, the techniques used are mostly the same.

Smallmouth Bass Fly Fishing Technique

Smallmouth bass are found in rivers and streams. With fishing rivers and streams, quite often there are trees and bush lining the river or stream, and therefore not enough room behind you to make a full overhead cast. Therefore learning to roll cast is recommended. Take a look at the following fly fishing casting techniques guide for more information on roll casting. Another option is wading deep into the stream or river which would provide you with sufficient room for overhead casting.

When fly fishing rivers and streams its also important to know how to mend the line. With the different currents within the river there may be areas flowing quicker than others, which may cause the fly to overtake the line, or the line to overtake the fly. This will disturb the natural drift of the fly line, and may spook the bass. The technique whereby a section of the fly line is lifted and moved to re-align it with the drift of the fly is called mending. Smallmouth bass mostly sit and wait for prey in the small pools in the river which are formed by submerged rocks, trees, or other objects. Target these pools when casting for smallmouth bass. With smallmouth bass fly fishing, using streamers that look like crayfish or small baitfish often produce good results.

Largemouth Bass Fly Fishing Technique

Largemouth bass are found mostly in ponds and lakes. Flies used for largemouth bass fly fishing tend to be quite large. Poppers are commonly used, and deer hair flies are extremely popular. Terrestrial flies (flies which resemble land based insects that land on the water by accident) are also quite effective. When casting dry flies for largemouth bass, its a good idea to land your fly near to weeds, rocks, lilies or other underwater objects where largemouth bass love to hide when stalking prey. After the dry fly hits the water, just let it float for a few minutes – then make the dry fly twitch, before retrieving the fly slowly. The bass will quite often hit the fly as it lands on the water.

Bass Fly Fishing Equipment

You can use the same equipment for bass fly fishing that you would use for trout fly fishing. With bass fly fishing a 6 to 9 weight fly fishing rod is normally used, along with a fly line with a matching weight. It’s not necessary to have an expensive rod and reel for bass fly fishing, and a good fly rod for someone starting out in the sport of bass fly fishing is the reasonable St Croix Triumph Fly Fishing Rod. You can use the same double-tapered line used for trout fly fishing, but its recommended that you use a weight-forward line for bass fly fishing. Although you can catch bass with normal trout flies, you will have more success with bass specific flies.

Additional flt fishing information, tips, techniques, and fly fishing equipment reviews can be found at the Fly Fishing Elite news feed at Feedage.com.

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