Big Bass, Small Fry

I had an odd experience while flyfishing during lunch yesterday. Saw a nice swirl, and then noticed a small pod of tiny fry swimming near the surface. A decent bass sort of rolled on them a couple times. The water clarity was poor...maybe 12" at the most. I fished a 1/80 oz microjig under and indicator in the area where the bass had rolled on the fry, and came up with a 20.25" Largemouth Bass. Its the biggest I've caught on a fly rod so far, and also qualifies for an Iowa Master Angler Award. I am pretty happy about it. I was surprised a bass that size would even bother trying to eat a few tiny fry! Those things were only maybe 1/8" long! Also caught some crappies that were also rolling on the fry.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...ps9e973bac.jpg

Dave that is one heck of a bass! Congrats.....

Wow! Nice fish!!!!

Very nice bass, especially for one of the northern states. I am also a bit surprised to hear that a fish that large would go after tiny fry. Is there any chance that a small bass or bream was chasing the fry and the bass went after the other predator? Just a thought... Jim Smith

Little fish attract bigger fish which attract even bigger fish. Probably he was lurking around the edges to see if anything bigger would attack the fry and he could attack it. Having said all that they eat fry as well. Kind of like us eating peanuts. Call it a snack.

I think in small ponds they will eat the fly, becasue there is so much competition for food.
But July 1 you will not really find any fry.

Rick

Double wow!

Nice bass!!

Awesome!! I saw similar groups of fry yesterday; keep casting in and around them as I was sure something would be stalking them, but no luck. What a fish!!

I can understand why a big bass would bother with small fry. They are small, safe to eat, easy to catch, abundant and come in nice big schools so it would be possible to inhale several at once.

Another possibility is that the bass was protecting its fry. I know it is a little late in the season but a bass will protect its fry for a length of time after they hatch.
caribe

Congrats on all the fish caught, especially the bass, a nice one for sure.

That thing looks big enough to talk!