The other night I was reading in old issue of Warm Water Fly Fisherman magazine an aricle about tying flies to use for both bass and larger bluegills. The author mentioned tying SMPs and a few other patterns on a #6 Mustad 3366.
Looking in my fly boxes, it seems that I tie my bluegill flys on hooks ranging from #8 down to #12 and bass flys on #4 and above. About the only fly that I tie in a #6 long shank streamer hook are Clousers. Even my beloved Woolly Buggers seem to be shy in a #6.
So are any of you tying any tranistion type flys? And if so, what? Also, how have they performed?
At the end of last year I tied a fly just for the h**l of it out of boredom one day. Didn’t use it until the beginning of this spring. I caught tons of fish this season on poppers and my “shiny thing”. I found something that looks similar to it until I get a good close-up digital to post. And, I mean LMB, crappie, bluegill, pickerel (responsible for more ties, never remember to use heavier tippett)yellow perch. A lot of them BIG critters that shouldn’t bother with a #6 fly…
Go figure. Regards, Jim
[This message has been edited by jsentell (edited 23 October 2005).]
I use size 6 on Muddler Minnows and catch bream and LMB for a transition fly. Another is the yellow foam pusher in size 8 Aberdeen I used all last season and caught Bluegill, LMB, Shellcrackers (Redear Sunfish), Stumpknockers (Spotted Sunfish), Red-Breasted Sunfish, Warmouth, Gar, Pickerel, and even a Cichlid. Some of which were pretty big. Natural imitations like Dragonfly and Damselfly nymphs have also been good transition flies for me as well as size 8 Deer Hair Caddis. You already mentioned the Wooly Bugger in a size 6 that’s a good transition for me too. Other streamers like Clousers or Squirrel Tails or Black Nosed Daces that imitate baitfish have been good transition flies for me also. Pretty good list to choose from .
Jack Ellis in “The Sunfishes” makes this same observation. He refers to fishing #6’s as “riding the fence” for bass and bluegills. He thought that #6 was small enough for bluegills but enough of a mouthful to tempt bass.
At a small lake I used to fish routinely, I caught both bass and bream (and a grass carp) on a #10 variation of a bead chain eyed wooly bugger. Some of the bream were large enough to hold by the lip to remove the hook and the bass ranged from 1/2 to 5 pounds. I’m convinced that the size of the fly isn’t the determining factor in the size of the fish you catch (imho). I’ve also caught the bass on #2 and #4 flies tied Rangely style (8XL hooks) in the same lake but didn’t catch the bream on those.
I’ve used unweighted size 6 or even size 4 nymphs in creeks and caught bluegills as small as 3 1/2". Then again one pond I fished had a dieoff last summer from low water levels and high heat. I had to use a size 18 nymph to catch the same sized fish effectively.
I use Sneaky Pete style sliders tied on size 6 and size 4 hooks and also poppers tied on the same size hooks. I also use baitfish patterns tied on size 2-6 Gamakatsu’s SC15 that work well for both bass and sunfish. The baitfish patterns are 1 1/2 to 3 inches long.
For many years I’ve fished poppers,
originally commercial ones and now my own.
As I recall, the early poppers were a #6.
Of course at the time, they were tied in
the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana and
Florida. No one else used them.G They
caught many bream and bass over the years.
As warmwater flyfishing spread to other
parts of the country, the commercial boys
came up with thier own transition fly. It
was simply a smaller version of the originals in a #8 or #10 that would still
work here in the South but be small enough
for the bream in the rest of the country.G
Warm regards, Jim
I guess you could call most of my flys “transition flys” as I usually tie on hooks between #6 and #10. My goto flies are similar to what Jim posted in these sizes, as well as soft hackles, mini clousers, nymphs, and foam sliders/gurglers all between #6 and #10. I fish these 100% of the time for both Bass and Panfish on a variety of off beat rods, from a 5ft 6wt glass to a 6.5ft 2wt. I really don’t differentiate between bass and BG fishing as I just fish and catch both on these flys.
I have mixed feelings about transitional flies. I believe those midrange flies may be OK for brim and other sunnies. In fact, they may be a time saver because you aren’t catching and continuously unhooking “runts”. They may also be OK for SMALL bass in the half pound to one pound range.
The place where they really fall short is in catching big LM bass. I’m not saying that you won’t get an occasional big bass on medium or even small flies but if you consistently want large bass, you need large flies or lures. Most of my good bass are caught on 2/0 Crease Flies, 1/0 Gurgle Pops, 1/0 Clousers and big, heavy Wooly Buggers. The bass pros have said for years that big bass go for big lures. I agree. When I’m after big bass, I fish big flies 85% of the time. My situation may be different from others because I fish a large deep lake almost exclusively. 8T
You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it’s a real short camping season.
I have to agree with 8T on this one. Going after the big boys the heavy gear comes out, but then again I have caught a few gills with the 8wt and large flies size 2 flies. The bigger flies seem to chase away all the tiny gills that can actually be a nussance.
My favorite transition fly is a dragon fly nymph size 4, just right.
Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick
This is very interesting. I find myself considering transition flies to be sizes between 8 and 10. Most of my bluegill nymphs are #12-14, and bass flies run as large as 5-6/0, smallmouth flies are usually #2-8, so that leaves me with #8-10 for transitions. Interesting question…
The two largest bass that I have caught were on a size 10 Spook. These bass were in the 10-14in range. I have fished larger flies for bass but never caught any.
If your larger bass are running in the
14 inch range, you need not concern
yourself with transitional flies.G But
as RG said, if you want to catch bigger
fish, larger flies are often the way to
go. It may be that your waters are over
fished, out of balance, or the big bass
just have lockjaw. Make an effort to get
on the water at first or last light and
fish something that creates a little
ruckus. Might do the trick. Warm regards, Jim
.