Bass fishing questions

[fish4trout]

I have always used my fly rod for trout and steelhead but I am thinking of expanding my horizions and venturing out for some LMB and SMB. I am going to sit down and tie some clousers up. What hook size would you recomend for bass.

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Born to fish forced to work.
Alan

[SkipS]

For bass I like about a sz4 to sz1.I rarely go larger than that,even for most of my saltwater flies.The Mustad 3366 is a good,inexpensive hook for Clousers also.Even though I like Clousers for bass,I do better with wolly buggers,usually in olive or black in szs 6 or 8.

[James Smith]

I agree with Skip in that I very rarely go any larger than a size 1 hook for bass. I do on the other hand often go smaller than a size 4. I've caught plenty of bass in the 4-5 lb range on size 10 or even 12 leech patterns. What makes me move up to a large size is mainly the tying materials taking up so much of the hook gap like when spinning deer hair or making poppers. If I could only have two flies to fish for bass they would be a black mohair leech tied on a size 6 hook and a polar fiber minnow in chartruese over white tied on a size four hook. With these two patterns, I have caught hundreds of bass in all sizes from really tiny dinks upto 9+ pound fish. Keep in mind that I am talking about LM bass. For smallies, I'd want a pattern that more resembles a crayfish/leech cross depending on how you fish it. Good luck.

Jim Smith

[fish4trout]

Thanks Guys.

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Born to fish forced to work.
Alan

[white43]

F4T, if you can tie a Clouser, tie in the weight as usual, then add a zonker strip over the weight. I use black or olive for bass, white for crappie and walleye. Size 6-10 works just fine, although I usually opt for a 8 or 10 dry fly or streamer hook. Wrap the head, come under the weight and wrap thread to just above the hook point, then back again. Finish off the head. Miminalist all the way. What you'll have then is a Gill Buster. For LMB I cast into the edge then bounce it out into deeper water with short, jerky strips. An easy fly to tie, a deadly one to fish. YOu should have a good time with one. JGW

[This message has been edited by white43 (edited 05 June 2006).]

[okflyfisher]

I like to use a 4x long size 4 hook(mustad 79580). We can catch any fish in the lake with this hook even if we are primarily fishing for LM. I even Use this hook for an occasional popper

[fish4trout]

I am used to tying #18 and #20. These things are going to seem huge!

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Born to fish forced to work.
Alan

[white43]

Oh I'm sure. I get some flies in swaps from trout folks that I would never be able to tie. Way too small. I don't know how people do it. JGW

[eshuang]

I agree with the advice on the board. The deadliest fly I've used this spring has been the #6 beadhead wooly bugger, black with some flash. It picks up large bluegill, crappie, and pickerel too but filters out the little guys. It's outperformed the larger stuff I've chucked (but I have not tested the clouser yet this season).

[okflyfisher]

As a trout fisher you will also have to change the way you set the hook or you will lose the bigger fish. Your rod should be on the water and when you set the hook your rod should not come above 9 O'clock. Here in OK we use 12 lb tippet which will also seem huge.