Well, as the weather is turning colder (and my favourite steelhead rivers are blown out for the weekend due to heavy rains and high winds) I thought I’d get a jump on my bass flies for next season. I have a few “oldies but goodies” in my fly box, but I’m looking to expand my bass fly selection. Here’s what I normally use:
Sparkle Grubs (I love this fly - used it for the first time this season and caught a number of smallies 18"+ with the largest being 21.5")
Murray’s Hellgramite
Michigan Wigglers
Crayfish (a mix of several patterns)
Gurgle Pop - I haven’t tried this yet, but it looks cool (saw it on this site), and I’ve been tying them for the last hour.
Well, ladies and gentlement, what should I add to my list? Pics or tying instructions are always appreciated.
When I fish for Bass I often use wooly buggers, hornbergs, mickey finns and poppers. I’ve also had some nice success with a beadhead Gold Ribbed Hares Ear.
Add some Crease Flies, wide and narrow profiles for Shiner and Minnow imitations. Look in the Fly Tying Forum for the “Crease Fly help” thread or just go to this link:
Leeches like the Boa Yarn Leech might be another good one. Boa Yarn Bugger similar to a Wooly Bugger is another. These can be found in the Fly Archive. I’m trying to think of some that might work better on rivers since you mentioned rivers. If you were fishing lakes and canals, I might suggest some others also. At least these will give you a few more :).
Andrew, a fly I really like is a Gill Buster tied with a black zonker. Any color will do, but for LMB the black is a very good color. A minimalist tie, simply thread down an hourglass weight a third of the way back on the hook shank Clouser style, then lay the zonker over the top and tie it down. Leave about a half to 3/4 inch tail past the end of the hook. Typically, wrap the thread to to just above the hook point and back to the weight, then create a head and tie it off. Fishes upside down like a Clouser. Speaking of which, another great bass fly. JGW
I’ll second the Crease flies. They’ve worked well for me when I fished with some friends near Huntsville. I fish a pattern I call an Estaz Bug. It may be the same as a Sparkle Grub, may not be, that’s produced some nice smallmouths for me.
Got to have some Sneaky Pete’s. You asked for pictures. Here’s some I tie up.
They seem to work well throughout the Northeast and in Ontario.
Two other flies that have worked well for me on a lake in northern Ontario, are a Spey Fleye(half Sparkle Bugger, half Semper Fleye). I wrap Spey Hackle instead of wooly bugger hackle. A couple of pictures.
The top two are Spey Fleyes tied weedless.
Here’s another one along with a Crease Fly
The other is a basic minnow pattern tied with either Fuzzy Fiber or Mirror Image that I’ve preblended with flash material. Head is coated with either Silicone, Epoxy or Plasti-dip.
Here’s a couple of different styles.
If you find any of them interesting I can send you tying instructions.
White43 - the gill buster of which you speak…do you have a photo or link? I think I understand it from your instructions, but I’m a little confused near the end - is the Zonker strip tied down in three places (in front of the hourglass, behind the hourglass, and at the hook bend?) - thanks
Philly - do you have a link to the crease fly - I’ve seen it in a magazine, but was a little confused by the explanation (there was a step that didn’t seem to make sense) Anyways, more info. would be appreciated.
I wrap it down continuously from the weight to the point of the hook, bring the thread back and under the weight to create the head. When laying the zonker down, I snip a triangle on the front tip of the zonker to help create a smooth looking head. You can tie them with any size weight you want, including bead chains. Still works the same. Go as light as it takes to get the fly into the depth you want. This is a chuck and duck deal. Vary your stripping action depending on water temperature and time of year. And of course, species. That black creature has captured LMB, smallies, bluegill, flathead and channel catfish, crappies (though white and yellow are more effective), walleye (white is much, much more effective) and green sunfish. I’m sure there are others over the years, but I didn’t set my clock and have been awake since 4:30 a.m. It was 5:30 to me.
Here’s one link on how to tie a Crease fly. It should give you the basic idea of how to tie one.
I do mine a bit differently, but the basics are the same.
There’s another site, but I think it’s in the favorites on my work computer, that ties it for warm water as opposed to salt water. I’ll take a look tomorrow and post it up if I find it.
A guide showed me this fly - he called it a Wilds Hammer. All you need is a hook and some Squirrel (definitely the first choice) or Rabbit Zonker (the rabbit is a little long until you go to bigger hooks). Using a shorter shank hook, like a size 1 or 1/0 baitholder, cut a piece of Zonker and tie it as a tail. The tail should be the length of the hook. Then starting at the tail wrap the Zonker around and around the shank just like you would wrap chenille for a bugger. A little glue now and then helps. Tie off the Zonker up front and you have it. It is a subsurface fly. I have made them in naturals, greens, and white/grays. I have played with split tails, adding weight, and larger hooks. They all seem to work. I made one with a size 3/0 hook out of green rabbit, added a bead at the bend of the hook for a little weight, and tied on a split-tail. It looks remarkedly like a swimming frog. I even tied one on a size 6 and caught panfish.
You need to have a selection of the incredible Hard-Hackle Worm, designed by Richard Komar. They are the most deadly thing I’ve used on LG Bass, even better than a plastic worm. I’d recommend purple, purple/black, brown, black, brown/black and all black. And the all white version is fantastic for sand (white) bass and stripers!
My next recommendation is for several of the Puglisis-style minnows in vaious colors and sizes.
And no fly box is complete without a selection of Clouser Minnows.
My warmwater fishery offers a lot of shallow structure and is well suited for topwater. Love to
see those bucketmouths bust on a topwater pattern.G
Guaranteed to produce an excellent adreneline rush.
Here are some of my favorite topwater pencil poppers.
I tie them on extended crappie hooks from Walmart. http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/051957-big.JPG
Easy to tie and very productive for me. Lots of
room for pattern experimentation. I find they cast
well on lighter rods and I often fish them on 3 and
4 weight rods. Warm regards, Jim
The water is just starting to turn colder here in upstate South Carolina (about 64 degrees). I’ve been doing very well on the surface with both Crease Flies and Gurgle Pops tied large, 3-5 inches long. My best colors for both have to be white, dark green and chartreuse. Even the smaller bass seem to want large mouthfulls at this time of year. I know that you said you wanted something new in your arsenal but don’t give up on the large Gurgle Pops. Tight Lines, 8T
Well, as the weather is turning colder (and my favourite steelhead rivers are blown out for the weekend due to heavy rains and high winds) I thought I’d get a jump on my bass flies for next season. I have a few “oldies but goodies” in my fly box, but I’m looking to expand my bass fly selection. Here’s what I normally use:
