bass fishing

[shakespeare7 0]

Hey everybody i need to know which ties work best for catching bass in ohio

[Guest]

smallmouth or largemouth? I personally use completely different flies for each one.

[British mike 0]

As the Brit and never having seen an american bass................ I would be interested in this reply from you experienced bass fishermen out there. Im sure at some point I will be fishing for both large and smallmouth so lets have some killing patterns.

 

Mike........................

[maty31373 0]

I have found that an Olive Green Wooly Bugger works wonders on bass wherever I fish.

[deeky 0]

If you are in the weeds, I like a very simple tie. Long, darker Angel Hair fibers (up to six inches) tied just at the front of the hook with a cone head and a weed gaurd. Work the weeds and let it dance.

[down2earthlv 0]

mouse patterns are effective, so are poppers. Crawdad-colored Clousers (Add rattles!) are good for sight fishing spawning beds in the spring. Try this.... Tie on some bright saddle feathers as a tail, maybe a few rubber legs, then a big deer hair head to match the tail.....proven tried and true producer!

[down2earthlv 0]

OOOO! HOW COULD I FORGET ONE OF MY FAVORITES!!!!

 

Muddler minnows!

[dafack01 0]

For effective fly patterns, look at the most effective lures for spinning and casting gear and go from there.

 

Here are some of the most effective lures and the fly-fishing equivalent (IMO, at least). Try rattles with all of these, too. Sometimes the rattles outproduce the patterns without rattles:

 

Tube Jig- Woolly Bugger (bigger sizes like #2-#8; for 1/0 and up, maybe try a deciever type pattern with a marabou tail to create more bulk? :dunno: )

 

Grubs- Woolly Buggers, Sparkleminnows, Deceivers possibly too

 

Jig 'n Pig- Clouser tied fat and buggy with soft hair (Craft Fur or Red Fox fur for example). Add rubber legs or a rabbit strip out back for the "pig" part.

 

Sluggo/soft plastic jerkbaits- Woolly Bugger in baitfish colors, streamers (Clousers, Deceivers, Whitlock's Sheep Minnow series, etc...), Sparkleminnows, Seaducer, Zonkers, etc... The Saltwater fly fishing crowd comes up with some of the coolest streamer patterns that are easily adapted for freshwater use

 

Jerkbaits and crankbaits- see above

 

Poppers/chuggers/spitters- Poppers, deer hair bass bugs, Sneaky Pete

 

Floating Rapalas- Sneaky Pete, gurglers

 

 

A lot of trout streamers can be used for Bass, too. Anything in the Muddler family (Zoo Cougars, Woolly Sculpins, Madonnas, etc...), Leech Patterns, Stacked Blonde, etc...

 

 

The 3 most important patterns for bass fishing are Clousers, Deceivers, and Woolly Buggers. Just use your imagination and adapt and tweak as necessary. Deer hair bugs and other topwaters are a must. You think it's exciting watching a trout sip a dry? Watch a Smallmouth nail a bass bug.

 

And like I said, keep an eye on saltwater patterns and methods of tying. The saltwater guys have some killer patterns too.

[Irish 0]

A good variety of flies for Bass (both smallies and largemouth) are the flies that were tired for the tier of the Year contests over the past 3 years.

 

They make an excellant assortment of flies that would work anywhere.

 

Especially the Hair Bugs.

 

Irish

[bly65 0]

I would have to agree and say any baithfish paterns ( Angel Hair is my favorite flash material). Deff have some buggers (black, white, green, brown) they work good for imitating just about anything that swims. Also take some deer hair poppers and some frogs/mice. Also take along a couple of zug bugs and hares ears. Some times they will do the trick. Good Luck. My bass season doesn't start untill april/june when all of the ponds become unfrozen.

 

Tightlines,

bly65

[British mike 0]

Thanks guys for all the suggestions and patterns.................... :yahoo:

 

Mike.....................

[vtflyhack 0]

Hey Fellow vermont member,

You can't beat the wooly bugger. Make the tail slightly longer. I like to follow the old rule of dark patterns on the light days and brighter colors on the more over cast days Depending on the conditions I tend to give mine a lot of weight. I have also found that the bass like a more bushier body. Try to experiment with the colors and material, the combos are endless, also check out the orvis bugger hackle packs.

john

[Guest]

sight fishing spawning beds in the spring Did you know that although this practice may be legal, the early spawning fish like crappies and rock bass will invade the nest while the male guarding it is on your line and eat the fresh young? So it may be fun, but your actions are helping to reduce the resource. Fish elsewhere during the spawning period.

[Guest]

The patterns are all good. Bass feed on the top and on the bottom, so either cast a normal lure or add weight like eyes or lead. Smallmouth prefer crawfish, but also like minnows and frogs & leeches. Largemouth like mice, minnows and frogs & leeches. Smallmouth prefer bait that is 2.5 inches long while largemouth prefer bait 3.5 inches long. So hook size is important. Most of the time they are in less than 8ft of water, so a floating line and 9 - 12 ft leader is good. There are times when the fish are at 12 feet though and so a sink-tip line in the arsenal is a good idea. Bass are also very fond of structure and will not be found often in the middle of open water. The one exception is at sunset when they chase young-of-the-year minnows near the surface (where the warm water and plankton are). So in this case a size 110 or 14 white minnow works well.

[TerryLee 0]

sight fishing spawning beds in the spring Did you know that although this practice may be legal, the early spawning fish like crappies and rock bass will invade the nest while the male guarding it is on your line and eat the fresh young? So it may be fun, but your actions are helping to reduce the resource. Fish elsewhere during the spawning period.

 

I'm no biologist, but I don't think there is quite the devastating effect on "the resource" as you claim. There are likely several hundred or even thousands of female bass in a lake. Each one lays thousands of eggs, a large portion of these spawners doing so and not being harrassed at all. When you consider these things I think it becomes obvious that catching a few male bass off of beds and releasing them back promptly will not likely have a significant impact on the success of the spawn. I have done this for many years on several gin-clear ponds and lakes and have only witnessed other fish raiding the bed when the male is removed one time that I recall. As long as the male is promptly returned to the water, there shouldn't be a problem.

 

If you're keeping them, that may be a different story. I still think the ratio of eggs to anglers falls in favor of the fish, though.