Bass Fly Fishing - An Introductiory Guide

Bass Fly Fishing Techniques and Tools

The sport of fly fishing has in the past been all about catching trout. Today though, just about any fish can be caught using fly fishing techniques, whether it be 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. Because of the shape of bass (they have a flat body shape), there is increased resistance when you try to pull bass through the water with your fly rod. Bass fly fishing is slightly different from tout fishing, but the basic skills used are 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 article for more information on roll casting. To give yourself enough space to use the overhead casting technique, you could wade into the river or stream.

When fly fishing rivers and streams its also important to know how to mend the line. As rivers have faster and slower currents, the fly line may overtake the fly, or the fly may overtake the line, thus disturbing the natural drift of the fly, and possibly spooking the bass. Mending is the technique whereby a section of the fly line is lifted and moved in order to re-align it with the drift of the fly. 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. With smallmouth bass fly fishing, It's a good idea to target these pools. 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. Quite large flies are commonly used for largemouth bass fly fishing. The most popular flies used for bass fly fishing are deer hair flies and poppers. 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. Allow the dry fly to float on the water for a few minutes, then twitch the fly before slowly retrieving the fly. The fly lands on the water will often provoke the bass into striking the fly.

Bass Fly Fishing Equipment

You can use the same equipment for bass fly fishing that you would use for trout fly fishing. Normally a 6 to 9 weight fly rod can be used for bass fly fishing, with a matching fly line 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.

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