I can't imagine fly-fishing for bass without a few diving bugs in my
arsenal. This is one tremendous bass fly pattern. It floats on the
surface like any good popper should, but instead of skipping on the
surface when the line is tugged, it dives under the surface with a gurgle
and a swoosh.
Bass are notorious for keying in on sounds. I think that's why poppers
are so popular in bass country. But, sometimes something a little more
subtle is needed to attract their attention. Maybe a gurgle or a swoosh
is what they want instead of a pop. If you add the visual sensation of a
fly that dives and then floats back to the surface, you have a winning
combination.
Larry Dahlberg gets the credit for designing this fly. In fact, most
folks call this fly the Dahlberg Diver. Being a Wisconsin native, he
spent much of his youth and young adult life guiding fishermen for bass,
especially smallmouth bass, on his native waters. Since he was a fly
fisherman too, he spent many hours and days working on better fly designs
that would catch more and larger bass than anything he could find in the
fly shops.
Somewhere during that time, he developed a fly that would dive when
tugged and slide back to the surface when the line was allowed to go
slack. If you've watched a frog trying to swim away from you, you know
that is exactly how a frog reacts when it swims. And, big bass love
frogs.
I haven't figured out why this fly works so well in colors that don't
come close to frog colors, but it does. Although I tie and fish a lot of
divers in frog colors, I also have good success with wild colors like red
and white or purple. Since I haven't observed red and white frogs, I
must assume the occasional odd color is just enough to trigger a strike
when bass are tired of the same old diet of green and brown frogs. Hmmm,
maybe a red and white or purple frog might taste better? I've asked the
fish, but they haven't issued a formal reply yet.
This is another fly that can be dropped into pockets in the weeds with
good success. Plop, dive, rise, dive, slam is the usual routine. Let
those hardware guys chase little bass in the open water, I like big bass
in and near the weeds where hardware is afraid to go.
Diving bugs are especially effective in and near weed beds and lily pads
where frogs like to swim and hide. They are also good open water
searching patterns when everything else you've tried has failed. If
you're a serious bass fisherman, you'll do well to make this a standard
pattern in your fly box.
I'll be using a new material this time. Ronn Lucas Sr. sent me a
synthetic material that breathes like marabou but doesn't retain water
like marabou does. I placed this around and over the Widows Web material
I used for the inner tail. Using synthetics results in flies that are
lighter to cast than the originals, and they usually breath as good or
better than the natural materials. If you want some of this material and
a look at the other unusual stuff Ronn sells,
contact him.
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