[Troutwhisperer]

Hi everybody,

I'll be goin fishin for bass and bluegil this coming weekend or so and would like to know any fly suggestions for bass. Please keep them simple for i will be tying them all between noon and two tommorow and i'm not the best streamer guy, i am good at tying the heck out of drys, no streamers.

Thanks for your help i'll try to post pictures.

[Frank Whiton]

Hi Troutwhisperer,

You should tie some white and chartreuse Clowers Minnows for a start. Any top water bug that has rubber legs. The bigger the better. Poppers are always a good choice.

Frank

[peregrines]

Frank had some good suggestions- tough to beat a chartreuse clouser.

If you have some marabou around you could use that to tie up some quick and dirty stuff:

damsel fly nymph (if you're fishing still water they should be active)
long shank hook 10 or 12
tail- short tuft of olive marabou (1/2 length of shank). bind it down good with a couple of wraps but don't cut. Twist and use the rest for body
body- twisted rope of excess marabou leftover from tail.
rib- wire or mono
weight- some turn of lead wire or bead.

Bugger- black if you're fishing moving water instead of the damsel. It's good in still water too.

Black marabou streamer-or white, yellow etc.
streamer hook size 6 or 4
you can do the muddler head thing, or not.
body of tinsel mylar or chenille or just thread
lead wrap - a little on some, heavier on others
peacock herl topping and some Krystal flash if you want to get fancy.
black marabou wing, a little past bend, no tail

bucktail deceiver
streamer hook if you're throwing bigger stuff 1, 1/0, 2/0
instead of hackle, use BT for the tail
body, can just be thread, it'll be covered by the collar, or chenille, tinsel whatever.
collar- tie in 4 clumps of bucktail each about the thickness of a kitchen match. One on the bottom, one on each side, one on top (top can be a different darker color). Mush around each clump as you tie on, so it all ends up 360. Add some flash if you want to the sides.
The collar should extend to about a 1/3 of the tail for a good fish shape, but keep it sparse for easy casting and good action in the water.
Top with 4-6 strands of peacock herl if you want a deluxe version. leave these unweighted so you can cover the water column.

if you have some big dries- stimis, hoppers, salmonflies etc. i would try skittering them around on the surface if you don't have poppers. Gills will whack most any dry you already have. You might want to use something that floats high- Wulff, Humpy whatever in larger sizes 10 or 12 so they don't swallow the hook.

Hope you catch!

peregrines

[HuronRiverDan]

Tye some big foam spiders, 6's and 8's, extra long legs, smallies love them. Poppers are always an option.

Dan

[Rip Tide]

This Ghost Minnow has become one of my go-to flies for smallies
I haven't tried it for LMB, but I'd bet that they like it too.
Obviously it's very easy to tie

[jcl]

Are you going for smallies or largemouth? That might make some difference for what people suggest.

For bluegill and smallmouth, I've always had good luck fishing either a popper or wildly bushy dry fly with either a wet fly or a really buggy nymph of the back. I've often seen fish come up to look at the popper, hesitate, and then nab the subsurface fly as it comes by. Something like a soft hackle hare's ear in a larger size might do the trick.

[Troutwhisperer]

I'm goin for largemouth bass

[jcl]

Originally Posted by Troutwhisperer

I'm goin for largemouth bass

I'm a little less confident in that area. The largemouths I've mostly flyfished for have generally been smaller, and I could use one rig for both bluegill and bass. If you specifically want to target just the bass, you might want to use bigger poppers and flies than the bluegill will go after (although you could always get some bull bluegill hitting anything). Mid-size fly choices give you a better look for both species (esp. if you're more interested in numbers), and there's always the chance that a lunker bass will take a smaller popper.

Peregrines's suggestions are good, and you'll especially want these sorts of flies if the topwater bite cools.

[packfancjh]

Poppers, Clousers, decievers, v worms. That should cover about every Bass situation you come across. Tie them in as many colors as you can- char and white, red and white, pink and white, red and black, etc.

[Troutwhisperer]

thanks everyone,

I'll get to tying.