Shifting gears to freshwater bass....HELP!

[IgotWood 0]

Hey folks. I am moving very soon to Virginia. I have spent my entire life saltwater fishing and trout fishing in a few local rivers. I will be moving soon to an area with a few good sized lakes close by. I read a little bit about them on the VA DEP or DNR (or whatever thewy're called) website. These few lakes are apparently known to have good populations of LMB, striped bass, perch, and grass carp. I think I'd be more interested in targeting the bass.

 

I don't know ANYTHING about freshwater bass fishing! I will be fishing from a kayak. What types of flies would I want to be fishing around April and May? One of the lakes is quite shallow, no more than 20' at its deepest point. One side of the lake is only a few feet deep, with lots of cyprus trees. Supposedly, this is the place to fish for larger bass. Not sure what time of year to target them in that type of water. Any advice would be a huge help for me! Thanks!!

[heavynets 0]

I would use anything that imitates bait fish (minnows, shad, bluegill), crawdads, worms/leeches or frogs. So things like clousers, woolly buggers, poppers, baby bluegill streamers, gurgles, etc. will work.

 

When fishing top water, bass often hit when the fly is not moving. So be sure to include some long pauses between strips.

[utyer 0]

Early in the day, you can fish surface poppers, and floating frogs. Later in the day, sinking patterns become more successful. You already know about 2 patterns that will work fine for bass. For a floating pattern, try some olive and yellow gurglers, I have done well with them. Later in the day, a Clouser, in chartreuse and olive should get it done. I tie both these patterns on the same stinger hooks.

 

Fish close to cover and weeds. Always try and locate drop offs, and other submerged structure.

 

During spawn, bass are shallow, and will protect their nests. Letting a woolly bugger drift down into a nest will usually get a hit.

 

Smaller "school" bass will chase minnows, and you can spot this activity. Almost any lightly weighted minnow pattern will work if you get the fly into the feeding area.

[mikechell 0]

I have spent my entire life saltwater fishing and trout fishing in a few local rivers.

What did you use for these fishing situations?

Keep the salt water flies for bass fishing, especially if you have top water presentations. Big bass will hit big lures.

Use the trout flies for bluegill and other sunfishes.

Depending on where you end up, there are Pike in them there waters, too.

[josephcsylvia 0]

Honestly, alot of your striped bass flies will work. Alot of your larger trout flies will work too.

 

Things will change day to day, things that always produce for me are woolly bugger, large un weighted soft hackles allowed to drop slowly, hoppers and frogs.

 

Baitfish patterns wont always produce as bass can get quite lethargic when water temps are down.

 

If the water is cold fish smaller and slow.

 

Summer action can be sped up quite a bit.

 

 

Fish structure!!! This is key if you feel like your probably going to loose your fly thats exactly where you should be casting. Lol

[Dave G. 0]

Just for your information, and you might have to travel a bit, but Virginia does have trout fishing according to this page : http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/trout/

[Dave G. 0]

Big bass will be in the shallows in the morning ( like first light on till early daytime). Around here it's very typical to cast from a boat , canoe, kayak towards shore and not unusual for a good sized fish to grab your offering right up against the shore even . The lighter it gets out and as the sun gets higher the more they move off shore or just under cover.

 

The rods I use for bass in general are 7 and 8 wt but I've taken 3lb bass on my 3 wt casting a mudder minnow. I've caught some when trout fishing ponds with woolly buggers too , to which in ponds I use either 5 or 6 wt rods generally speaking while trout fishing ( our ponds can hold 20" rainbows and some ponds have big browns in them, though the average fish tends to run more like 14-15"). Just sayin, that's here on Cape Cod in Ma. We fish pretty exclusively for trout in the winter up till late April then some bass start cruising. It may or may not be that way in Virginia.

[goofnoff 0]

The Dahlberg Diver is my favorite for surface fishing.. I tie my own with weed guard of Mason hard nylon. I fish the lure very slowly unless the fish are really hot.

 

Hook setting tip: Keep your rod tip low and pointed directly at the bug you are using. On the hit, lift your rod tip hard and keep your line hand stationary.

[mojokayak 0]

Lynch's White Bellied Mouse is a killer top water fly for me.

[Kentuckysteve 0]

I love to target bass especially in the springtime.Early morning or late evening works best for me but they can be caught just about anytime.Sight fishing when they are nesting in the spring is amazing.I use a 5wt or a 7wt most time with floating line.Any frog pattern is great as is the gurglers.I have had great luck with both.Color doesnt seem to matter for me it usually the noise that gets there attention and draws them to it on top water.A grasshopper fly like this one has been good for me also.

 

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Subsurface i like the wooly buggers in olive or black or yellow and zonkers work good for me.Also like this conehead madonna fly because it gets deep pretty quick.White/chartreuse or white/pink.Also solid black.

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[Philly 0]

Everybody's pretty well covered it. Stay calm and don't panic. My salt water and fresh water patterns are interchangeable. Not sure where you're moving from. Let's do a bit of translation.

If you tie flies that imitate silversides, bay anchovies, rain bait or white bait. Same patterns will work as minnow patterns

If you tie peanut bunker, bunker or butter fish patterns. They'll work if there are shad in the lakes

If you tie shrimp flies, they'll pass for crayfish

Crease flies depending on their profile will work as minnow or shad imitations, change the coloring and the wide body one will pass for sunfish. You can fish them either top water or off sinking lines

Gurglers will work. I like them in white and yellow. Smaller sizes for pan fish, larger sizes for bass and stripers

I'm not a big fan of using trout flies for pan fish. Most of the ones I use are too small. Woolly buggers size 1 to size 8 yes.

I'm in SE PA. Figure Virginia is 4 weeks ahead of us weather wise. Depending on how warm the spring is the big bass could still be on their beds and in shallow water in April down there. Just check the regs, some states don't allow fishing for bass during the spawning period. They should still be in shallow water feeding up after spawning.

Also in April and May the sunfish and bluegills should be on their beds. Perch(either white or yellow)spawn earlier and are probably cruising in schools.

Another thing to consider is the lake's orientation and bottom type. The north side of the lake warms up quicker than the south side, a dark muddy bottom will warm up quicker than a lighter sandy bottom.

[vicente 0]

I've had a lot of luck on this guy usually I just use a floating line, I've had good luck on poppers and black rabbit hair streamers.

[vicente 0]

oh yea I'm using an 8 weight with scientific anglers titan taper works great for throwing big flys without much room for a backswing.

[skeet3t 0]

Go for the grass carp and hang on. Besides they will be bigger than LMB and maybe even the stripers. Look at www.carpanglersgroup.com for info on grassies and common carp. There is a specific fly fishing section on the forum for carp. BTW, that is about all I fish for now.

[Cold 0]

You've gotten a lot of good advice already.

 

Bass are easy. At least...they're no more difficult than any other freshwater fish (excepting the panfishes, which are the definition of easy). That said, it doesn't mean you'll catch them all the time, just that if they're in the mood to eat, they can be convinced to eat a wide variety of offerings.

 

Absolute essentials for LMB, for me, are clousers in a variety of colors and sizes, same with woolly buggers, some zonkers, and something for topwater. Sizes from #8 up to #2/0.

 

Largemouth are among the more aggressive and inquisitive freshwater fish, and where a trout might key in on a bug type to the exclusion of all others, a bass seems to have a tough time turning down anything that might be food.