reading the lmb large fly thread responses has added to my curiosity about tournament or professional fly fishing for bass. the new sage rods touted being less than 8 ft i believe, making them tournament legal, something i was not aware of. this made me wonder if bass pros or tournament anglers use fly rods, and if so, why. i love fly fishing for bass and anything else i can snag but feel that i am at a disadvantage using fly tackle for bass when my compadres have level winds and several pounds of lures to choose from. this does not deter me from flinging a fly, just curious.
Having been a tournament bass fisherman for 30+ years before the crowds, jet skis and cheaters got in the way, I see no advantage in a bass tournament. The only place that I can see any advantage would be fishing a “rat” over the “slop”. The person with the fly rod would be able to make more casts than the person with the casting or spinning rod. Once the “rat” has cleared the “slop” the casting/spinning person will have to crank it back to the boat before making the next cast where the fly rod person can just pick the “rat” up when it clears the “slop” and send it back. That is the only advantage I see. I really do not think you will see a lot of tournament bass fishermen using the fly rods. I left the tournaments about 14-15 years ago and picked up the fly rod and found the enjoyment of fishing again. I use the fly rod for every species of fish just for the sheer enjoyment of the fight. Lets face it, a fly stays in the strike zone 3 times longer than a crank/spinner does. I own, thanks to FAOL’s monthly drawing and Sage, the Sage Smallmouth fly rod and I think it is a fantastic rod. It will handle the heavier bass poppers with no problems and it has the backbone to pull heavier fish out of the “slop”, weeds,etc. I have read reports of it being used for red fish and snook. The Sage Smallmouth/Bass fly rods will work very well with larger flies/poppers in shallow water areas. There is no way anyone would consider using it for worm fishing or crankbaits. I think everyone got the opinion that they were created for bass tournaments when Sage stated they were 7’11" long which would allow them to fit in the rod locker of a bass boat. If I still owned my bass boat, I would use my Sage Smallmouth rod for a lot of my fishing. It would be a ton of fun using surface baits back in the bays for bass, stripers, etc. Right now I own a pair of waders and a NuCanoe and fish the rivers, but, if this winter I decide to put the NuCanoe in one of my local lakes after the crowds leave, I will carry the Sage Smallmouth fly rod with me.
You will not find many fly fishermen who will have any good words to use with these 2 rods, but, there are a few of us that are open minded enough to see that they do have a place with fly fishing. If my local trout rivers had large populations of 5 pound plus trout and were large deep rivers, I would probably use the one I have more on them.
Sorry for the long post…all of the above are just my opinions and nothing more…
PS…I am not sure, but, you may be able to use one of the Sage Bass rods on Land-A-Lakes and just have a ball!! I know I would.
%%%###a typical ND bass fly rodder###%%%
There was a post on another BB by someone in California who was involved in the testing of the prototype Sage Bass rods that they had seen some action in tourneys, and there was recently a fly only bass tournament in Stockton California.
The bass rods seem to be popular out here for fresh and saltwater angling. I use my Largemouth model for largemouth bass fishing as well as fishing topwater flies for various species along our coastal kelp beds. The short length is great for tossing very tight loops and I love the rod for casting gurglers, crease flies, and other topwater patterns in into and across stiff coastal winds. The rods have been employed elsewhere for baby tarpon, stripers, pike, false albacore, snook, and other species.
As Warren said, for the typical bass tournament situation, there are only a few special circumstances where fly tackle has an advantage over others. I haven’t fished a bass tournament since I was a teenager (30 yrs ago), but If I did today, there are some waters where I would have a fly rod just in case, and many were I would not.
When I first heard about the Sage bass rods my first thought was not about a new bass fishing tool, but rather that this was the rod that would fit the bill for a number of fishing situations where a longer rod may not be ideal.