Question

[smalliestalker 0]

At that risk of being lynched by an angry mob of steelheaders......I see these beautifully tied spey flies....The black hooks, perfectly tied hackle....Well formed fly heads....beautifully made flies with lots of movement and color....and I think to myself.....why wouldn't I tie flies in that style to chase small mouth bass with?.....So...my question is.....Why are these flies kept to steelheaders and is there anyone out there that ties similar styled flies for warmwater species?

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

because bucket mouths will eat anything so there is no need to tie them like that :hyst:

seriously I have pitched some steelhead flies at the bronzebacks on more then one ocasion it has paid off

[tidewaterfly 0]

I tie & have bought steelhead/salmon flies, but I've never cast to a steelhead or salmon in my life, maybe never will. Bass certainly will eat just about anything, even steelhead flies!

 

I'm glad to see some of the flies the guys who chase steelhead have come up with, great stuff! :thumbup:

 

Tie & use what you like. I do.

 

 

[bad fish rising 0]

ive caught smallmouth on speys in the summer swinging for skams

[JimCanuck 0]

I see these beautifully tied spey flies....The black hooks, perfectly tied hackle....Well formed fly heads....beautifully made flies with lots of movement and color....and I think to myself.....why wouldn't I tie flies in that style to chase small mouth bass with?

 

Wait, there are two problems with that question. One, your assuming they use them to actually fish. Many of these flies seem like they are going to be in the fly box for the rest of time to show off they look too go to be usable flies, and problem number Two, well is obvious, if they are not used for trout, how can they be used for bass?

 

Jim

[Guest Big E]

I think another reason I wouldn't do it is cost. Once you pay for the unique feathers, vintage tinsel, hooks, etc, you won't want to loose it on a snag.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I wouldn't tie full dress salmon flies to fish for bass, nor use expensive or rare materials.

 

I'm referring to more recent flies like MOALs & Intruders. I've caught a lot of Smallmouths on Skunk's & Polar Shrimp, as well as some of the other older steelhead flies. They're just big wet flies. I've tied & used General Practitioners for bass, which are great crawfish imitations, even though they're called a salmon fly & intended to represent prawns. The bass don't seem to care!

 

 

There are many patterns that can work well for multiple species, especially those that imitate prey species, like leeches. I bought a group of about 2 dozen flies on Ebay several months ago real cheap, that were sold as Steelhead & Salmon flies. There was some Clouser Minnows in the group. There was some Intruders in the bunch too, and a few I had never seen before, but I'm sure bass will eat them just as well, that's why I bought them. I've caught bass on egg sucking woolly bugger versions too. Sometimes that extra colored "egg" works real well, when regular buggers don't.

[letumgo 0]

Pat - I've caught bass on a number of flies I use on steelhead. These are not exactly the ones your talking about, but here are a few examples and some fish photos:

 

Spectrum Leech

Stone Roller Minnow

POP (Partridge-Orange-Peacock) Soft Hackles

Altmar Specials

Magog Smelt Bucktail

[smalliestalker 0]

thanks ....letmego......those were nice looking flies.....my feelings are that smallmouth are the true kings of the river and deserve every bit of fancy a fly as cold water fish......I was just poking around to see what others thought...

[Rocky Maley 0]

FEATHER WING SPEYS ARE THE BOMB FOR RIVER SMALLIES

[smalliestalker 0]

yeah Rocky...that's what I'm talking about....

[Old Hat 0]

Pretty fish deserve to be caught on pretty flies, ugly fish......?

 

That's all I'm saying....

[Steve P 0]

I love all these salmon and steelie flies for large and small mouth. I actually got into an intruder swap earlier this summer just so I could see more f them for warm water adaptation.... Heck I scour every board, forum, and database I can to find a different warm water fly than I have been using. you should really start looking at the big flies hey use for surf fishing stripers!!!!! Now those are some killer LMB and SMB flies right there.

 

 

Steve

[smalliestalker 0]

Steve...absolutely...I use salt water streamer adaptations all the time....Great for all warm water applications...