OK–i have never fished for LMB or bluegill on a fly before. i am going to give it a shot this weekend, considering my trout waters are flowing 2X above normal and the fishing basically stinks.
ill be fishing small ponds where large mouth, bluegill and trout are all present. the trout must be cutoff if hooked, but the warmwater species are not regulated. there is large amounts of coverage above and below the surface. the bass range from dinkers to 5 lbers (according to some local lore ) my question is what do i use, and how do i use it??
i already have some marabou style streamers tied up, and one spun-deer mouse that im dying to give a try. what else would guys recomend? i hear alot about poppers, but frankly, i dont know what that is.
I would fish your standard trout nymphs (hare’s ear, pheasant tail, ect) for the bream and your standard trout streamers (buggers, clousers, black nose dace) for the bass. You might wanna take along a sinking line or leader if the pond is very deep.
For the bass and many times the bluegill, this is THE popper in my opinion, the Accardo Spook or Miss Priss, found often at Wal-Mart or from Accardo Tackle Co., Baton Rouge:
[This message has been edited by RStouff (edited 15 April 2005).]
“T”,
See Rick’s quote for 4/15.
Our favorite early search bugs are a
1 1/2" surfcandie (minnow immi?) and a #10 very dark woolybugger (bug immi?) in tandem. And that really is of no importance…
I would only suggest that you concentrate your efforts on the first 10’ from the shore, go quietly, work parallel to the shore, AND go quietly…whatever you decide to use. Did we mention to go quietly?
I would stick with what I had but also add the flies (Jitterbee and poppers) Roger listed. Having some poppers, pushers, sliders, Spongy Spiders, and mini-jig flies can really pay off at times for both bream and LMB. Try your dry and wet flies for bream also in addition to your nymphs and streamers for bream and LMB. Subsurface attractor flies like Gill Getters, Bream Killers, Bully Spiders, and Dixie Bugs also work well at times. I would fish the flies very slowly.
Ty,
The advice about poppers is good but poppers are very season specific in climates that have distinct changes of seasons. I see you live in California and I don’t know a thing about California or its weather but if the season you’re in now is cool you may be wasting your time on poppers. Normally top water season is after the spawn and after the spawning fish have healed up and in most places after the water has warmed up. If in doubt, go with a streamer, bugger or slider or something subsurface. A subsurface fly may not always be the best choice but you are rarely dead wrong with one.
tyflier,
I am a lousy, newbie tier, but I have been very successful with a rabbit strip I tied for bass last year. Simply a 4"-6" black strip & a short red strip tied off by the hook bend, then I palmered the red up to the head…I did add some flash. The thing may sound stupid, but got 6 bass in the 2-3 lb class on 1st trip with it. Oops…I lightly weighted it with just a few turns of wire…just enough to get a slow sink, then work it with a strip & short rod tip twitch.
Mike
[This message has been edited by ohiotuber (edited 16 April 2005).]
It may a little early for poppers. My personal favorites for bass this time year in the midwest are white Clousers or white buggers. I’ve also had great success with a 1/64 oz jig head tied up with chenille and rabbit fur (looks similar to a plastic worm in the water). Good luck and let us know how you do.
I have had some pretty good day’s on the water with a wieghted or un-wieghted bunny leech in purple or chartruese!Quick tie with angora dubbed body and the zonker lashed down matuka style with copper wire on Your choice of hook
G
thanks for the input, guys. i went out with a bunch of hair wings and marabou style streamers…but, alas, i forgot my float tube (uhh…actually, i dont have one ). so i didnt get any bass. very little shore casting available at this pond.
however, i had my little 3 wt in the truck, and after tying on a bright, shiny nymph, i caught blue gill after blue gill. at least 2 dozen 'gills in the 2 hours i was there…and this was from one spot. every cast for awhile, than theyd slow down, so id change nymphs, and WHAM!! every cast til they got sick of that one. 4 nymphs (copper john style ties) caught 2 dozen gills. that had to be the most fun ive had on still water, ever.
next time, i rent a float tube and go for the bass…
I?m glad you had fun. Often when I am coaching a newbie I recommend a 'gill pond because the learning curve really accelerates when you are catching. You received good advice on flies (and caught fish) but I saw no mention of presentation. IMHO the colour of the lure for those species is less important than movement. Since you are used to fishing for trout in streams I suggest that you pay good attention to manipulating the fly in ponds so that it does the 3 T’s (tremble, tingle and twitch). I believe that if the fly (bug or streamer) can be made to dance and quiver you can CALL the bass to the fly. Good Luck.
Oh, how to start on warm water fish. First of all gills will hit anything that is the right size (think #14 to #8) and color (almost any color, red, yellow, black, white, green)and moves. Impart some action to make it look like a fleeing insect, bait fish or worm. Finally, make a noise when you present the fly in the water (falling food announces it’s arrival)
Bass on the other hand like all the same things gills do but they like it bigger flashier, louder and faster. When you are the top predator you have the chose of food. You can pick and choose what you want for dinner. So for bass you need top water, just below the surface and deep flies.
This is why we have poppers (top water) Streamers (just below the surface) and Clousers (Deep Water).
) my question is what do i use, and how do i use it??
.