Posted this as a response to a query, but felt it should be a 'tidbit' on it's own.

'Flipping' or Vertical presentation flies...

Flipping, the close quarters precise presentation of a fallingbait for bass is one of the great inovations to hit main stream bass fishing in the later portion of the last century. It's accounted for more large bass for 'average' fisherman than all other techniques combined. It's fun to do, not difficult, the targets are visible, and works when many othe techniques don't.

Falling prey is one of the many 'triggers' that will cause an inactive bass to strike. For this to work, you need a fly that will fall vertically into the strike zone.

Many fly 'patterns' will work for this. The key to it is using a fly with enough weight so that it will fall verically, not 'pendulum' because of the line drag. You also need to modify your cast a bit. You want the fly to land with some slack, so it can begin sinking without any line drag. Immediately after the fly hits the water, you should throw a small 'mend' (I use a very slack roll cast) to put slack in the fly line. Alternately, you can 'colapse' your cast so that the line lands in a 'puddle'. You'll know you've done this correctly if you see your leader/fly line 'follow' the fly.

I use a lot of different flies for this. Clousers that are weighed back on the shank will sink horizontally and work well. 'Buggers tied with on a long shank hook with long tails and heavy dumbbell eyes. Craw patterns. Epoxy baitfish. Control the 'speed' of the drop by the weight and materials. In most cases, a FASTER Drop is better than a slower one.

These need to be short casts. You have to watch the line carefully, as any strike will come on the fall. If you are too far away, you can't see this. Also, if you have too much line out, you'll not get the hook set quick enough. You can use flies that the fish will hold to help you with this.

After the fly gets to the bottom, you can either pick it up and make another cast, or choose to work the fly back with a normal retrieve first.

You do need accurate casts, and you want a strong tippet that is about two feet LONGER than the 'depth' you are targeting (this is a shallow technique, seven feet is about as deep as you'd want to do this in most cases). You should target visible cover like weed lines, brush, tules, grass beds, etc.. This does require weedless flies (unless you like tying lots of flies AND knots...).

Good Luck!

Buddy