I’ve been experimenting with soft baits. I used a small “creme” worm to catch this bass.
Bill
Nice! Good job on breaking the mold and experimenting! 
Good job Bill! I’ve done similar and now with Crazy Glue and hoks with bent shanks you can get that combo to work for a good while as long as you take care with the casts. Years back my favorite bait for big bass was the old Uncle Josh’s Pork Eel and to simulate that for the fly rod, I use a Black maribou Wooley Worm tiped with a five inch or longer strip of Chamois colored black with a magic marker. In fact I carry a pack of these Chamois eels in various lengths in my Bass flies along with a couple of markers and can mix and match with flies such as a Clouser, or Wooley!
Chuck, I haven’t bought a pork rind, other than the crunchy kind, in many years, but I seem to remember they had some little skin eel strips you could just hang on a hook. Have you tried that, of course you don’t have to lug around a jar when using chamois.
Nice job!!!
Bill–
See if you can find a copy of Jack Ellis’s book, Bassin’ with a Fly Rod. Lot’s of good info on techniques that utilize conventional baits, especially soft plastics.
Very nice! I’m headed up in several weeks to the Wolf River in beautiful Fremont Wisconsin. It’s been a traditional minnow deal on lots of running white bass. Now due to my new found love of the fly rod I’m bringing some things to see how fly fishing for them will work. I’ve been making this trip for many years and have never seen a fly rod on the river. Hey, who knows, maybe i can discover something new. I’ll report on the good, the bad or the ugly later.
… or “Fly Tying and Fly Fishing for Bass and Panfish” by Tom Nixon. Ellis pays homage to Nixon as the pioneer of this method in his book. Both books are very good resources.
Found “Bassn with a Fly Rod” by Jack Ellis. It’s ordered and on the way. Isn’t Amazon.com great!
Attention Oregonians. This bait would be considered illegal in most Oregon streams.
Tim
Panman, just for curiosity’s sake, would tying a piece of rubber band on a hook count as a fly?
Ed
Ed
Whether or not it is a fly doesn’t matter. Most streams in Oregon prohibit the use of bait. Here is a portion of the Oregon fishing regulation definitions of bait. “Molded soft plastic or rubber worms, eggs, or other imitation baits are considered bait”.
Tim
By that any Egg sucking leeches, or egg flies, or a San Juan Worm, etc would be considered bait I suppose. How do they define bait in Oregon? Sounds almost as bad as wyoming outlawing having any corn with you when near any fishing water!!!
I just read a rather ridiculous reply in another fishing forum from the guy in charge of this kind of reg with Oregons Fishing Department and here’s what another in that string of posts had to say: “That’s the most absurd thing I’ve seen in the regs so far. Good gawd. Artificial is artificial.” He nailed it!!! Wyoming’s corn fear is likely a throwback to earler days and someone fearing that hatchery trout or some such thing would be too easily taken using it.??? There are always a reg or two in most states hunting and fishing regs that should and would be scrap pile material it the folks in charge woulod just put their thinking caps on!
So by that definition, any attempt to imitate an insect, other invertebrate, or baitfish would be prohibited. Kind of puts a damper on “Matching the Hatch” or nymphing…
There are a lot of REALLY poorly worded regulations out there, but that has to be one of the worst.
I talked to an Oregon fish guy some years back about this and he said the key word is “molded”. A Molded plastic worm is a no no but a regular san juan worm is OK. Also if you used a molded grasshopper that would a no no but a regular fly tied as a grasshopper would be OK even if tied with rubber legs, etc. Hope this clarifys things.
Bill-B’klyn: Sorry for hi-jacking your post. That is a nice looking bass.
Tim
Bill, the creme worm with the propeller and beads and two snelled hooks is one of the best and casts Ok. Neat rod you have there, what rod is it?
It’s been a traditional minnow deal on lots of running white bass. Now due to my new found love of the fly rod I’m bringing some things to see how fly fishing for them will work
White bass dearly love chartruese and white Clouser minnows! I’ve also had several good days using olive wooly buggers with lead eyes too.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
the rod is a Beulah switch rod, 10’6" 4 pc, 7/8 wt
Bill