Several months ago, I was fly fishing in Colorado for trout with an older and very experienced guide. (By the way, I had a great day!) I happened to mention to the guide that it was interesting that big trout can be feasting on small insects quite often, but warm water fish like bass (smallmouth, largemouth, and my personal favorite, guadalupe) in contrast seem to ignore the insects (except terrestrials like grasshoppers) to concentrate on other fish and meaty items like frogs, etc. He said that was not the case, that the bass ate the same stuff as trout. I did not argue with him, but I find it hard to believe. So folks, when I am fishing for smallmouth or guadalupe bass in a small river like we have here in the Texas Hill Country, should I start using a #22 pheasant tail nymph or stick with my wooly buggers, grasshoppers,and etc.? Any professional zoologists out there who can give us an expert opinion?
Many thanks,
George
a fish cant pass a bug that passes by. If you keep any bass open the stomach and see what they are eating
I caught a 16" large mouth on a Black Pennell. Not sure It thought It was a bug or small fish. In any case, one surprised bass when It found a hook in that bug. I have caught several on different wet flies (not plugs). I seem to have better luck with plugs on the smallies.
I don’t remember the pattern but it was tied on a 1/132 oz. jig hook. I caught a 5 1/2 lb. largemouth on it and I have caught several others about the same size on wet flies fished under foam hoppers or something similar. Bass will eat about anything they can get in their mouth.
i think as a general rule bigger fish eat more small fish as a part of their diet but they always have room to eat whatever is most readily available
Sure they do. I’ve caught bass on dry flies, but they’re usually smaller bass under 15 inches. As a rule the larger the bass, the larger the food items it tries to take. It’s a matter of conservation of energy. If it takes the same amount of energy to take a one inch food item as a six inch food item, the fish will go after the larger item because it is more efficient. That said, I’ve seen bass sip mayflies from the surface with about as much ripple as a trout, or pull a duckling down with almost no ripple or splash. That’s part of what makes them fun to catch.
Jim Smith
At dusk, a #12 elk hair caddis can make for a great evening. I’ve caught some nice bass on Damsel Fly nymphs as well. The bigger the fish the more energy they expend to feed. They make it worth their while. Even trout are much the same.
I’ve caught A LOT of LMBs on a size 8 Olive Wooly Bugger. I always assumed that the bass were feeding on Dragonfly larvae. I’ve also caught nice LMBs on nymphs and scuds.
There’s video on youtube of my boss, Ken Collins on the New Fly Fisher show with Bill Spicer and they are catching smallies on hexes (dry).
One of the largest smallies I caught was on a Gold ribbed hare’s ear. Short answer to your question - yes!!
Once caught a 5# bass that “sipped” a #14 popper and have caught largemouth and spotted bass (Kentucky Bass) on #18 nymphs…
Had an old friend, who said that in the 50’s, he and his buddy would catch bass in the 100 degree heat of the summer in north Louisiana bayous by casting #18 dries/midges into the shadows of the still waters and then just wait… sometime 2-4 minutes without moving the fly. Large, largemouth bass would slowly swim to the surface and sip the midge flies…
Yeah, bass eat whats in their waters…
I once had an excellent day fishing largemouth bass when they were feeding on dragonflies. There was a hatch going on and they were rising and jumping out of the water to get at them. All I had to do was cast my woolly bugger to a rise and I had another bass. I ended up catching 32 of all sizes that day.
There is a reason Large mouth are named Micropterus “Salmoides.” I had hard a struggle achieving consistent success with our local large mouths here in BC, Canada, until I stumbled onto trying trout tactics. I had always done well fly fishing bass in Ontario, but struggled in my home province here in BC. I have come to the conclusion that like trout they adapt to their home water and the available food sources. Try the standard stuff published (Hair mouse, Hair frog, large bass poppers, etc) on bass fishing here and you will get skunked. Size 4 hooks are the largest I will use while most common are 8 & 6. In my water the hot patterns are damsel nymphs and adults, Chernobyl Ants, crappie poppers, minnow patterns, leach patterns, and a local trout favorite the pumpkinhead.
Bass will (excuse the pun) eat just about anything. Anytime there’s a post on bass fishing I always have to include my experiences fly casting using poppers. I have had L/M bass explode out of the water and catch the popper in mid-air before it ever reaches the surface of the water. Every time it happens it’s just like I never seen it happen before! Now there may be other species of fish that do the same but all I ever experienced was the L/M bass.
