I may have a chance to do some bass fishing which I have never done with a fly rod:oops: …at a local golf course pond…so I’m wondering something rather specific…I want to tie up some surface flies…
STP frog …and Jay “Fishy” Fullum’s…The Pinhead Popper…Fishy’s Foam Frog
Has anyone fished them all [or some] and have a recommendation as to the best…
Yes…I will probably tie all but just wondering:confused:.
While I admit that surface fishing for bass is the most exciting way to fish for them, I have much more luck with subsurface patterns. My top producers are polar fiber minnow chratruese over olive over white, and an all black leech tied on a size 2 hook. As far as topwater flies, all black Gurglers and floating minnow patterns have worked fairly well for me.
While maybe not the purists choice for a fly, I am liking the “Todd’s Wiggle Minnow” alot. Fished with a sink tip to pull it under the surface a few inches. Retreival is totally unpredictable. I have done both very slow and very fast retrieval and they seem to work very well both ways.
If you look at The Strike Indicator For Bass and Bluegill under Bob Boese articles you will see what I use 99% of the time.
Bass poppers can be anywhere from size 6 to size 2/0 and bass have been known to take frogs, ducks and shad almost their own size. Mainly the size of the popper depends on the available prey in the water you are fishing.
Droppers can be as small as a 10, but my usual is an 8.
to answer the original question…I have only used the STP frog and have found it to be exciting when they strike. The same, though, could probably be said for all large surface flies that I’ve caught bass on. I would do exactly what you said: tie them all
With me, alot depends on what else is in the water. If the water I’m fishing contains good sized bluegills, I’ll usually use a simple #10 foam spider. Bass seem to hit it just fine, and I catch gills between the bass. If the water is loaded with small bluegills, I’ll use something considerably larger to discourage the smaller fish.
Of course, I’m fishing northern waters, so a good sized bass runs maybe 3lbs, a 5 lber is a monster. I realize some of the southern guys consider that bait.