[xjguy07]

the colder weather that we are having, what do you use to get down to the fish? any weights? special kinda fly or anything?

[Frank Whiton]

Originally Posted by xjguy07

the colder weather that we are having, what do you use to get down to the fish? any weights? special kinda fly or anything?

Clouser Minnows work for me. Vary the weight of the eyes for different sink rates.

[BigCliff]

Clouser's recommended from me as well. If you're tying your own, putting less bucktail on them will also help them sink faster, all other things equal. (Bucktail is somewhat buoyant and also slows the sinking like the cone on the back of a badmiton shuttlecock does.) Fishing them on lighter and/or fluorocarbon tippet will also help them get down faster. (lighter helps because thinner tippet provides less resistance as the weighted fly is trying to pull it down. fluorocarbon is heavier on its own.)

Popovic's Jiggies and surf candies also will sink fast, but one best use at least a 7wt to cast them.

The sinking polyleaders sold by Airflo and Rio can be a great help also. Sort of turns a line into a sink tip without the need for an extra spool, $40 line, and backing. (hint- they do add weight though, so if you're fishing a 6wt rod, a 5wt line with one of those sinking leaders on it will likely cast better.)

[Jakeway]

I like using a sink tip line or removable mini-sink tips (like the poly leaders, but 6 to 10 feet long instead of 5 ft) on a short (4 to 5 ft) flourocarbon leader. For a fly I use either an unweighted Wooly Bugger or a floating streamer like a Marabou Muddler. The sink tip pulls the fly down, but its bouyancy keeps it suspended a bit of the bottom. A few short strips of the line pulls the fly down, then on the pause the fly slowly rises towards the surface, while th esink tip line sinks back down. It's an action that bass seldom see from other lures, except maybe a floating/diving crankbait (one of my favorite non-flyfishing methods).

When the fish are in the shallows, I like clousers, beadhead wooly buggers, and weighted flies with big feather tails. (I don't know what they call these, but they work very well.)


Oh, and I also use a 7 weight or a stiff 6 weight rod with 7 weight line for short casts. Bass aren't too boat-shy where I fish, and the water isn't terribly clear, so I can get by with 30-40 ft casts.

[Kentucky Boy]

i'm not realy sure what this fly was called but last weekend i caught two smallies on it. Its some sort of jig that has a rattle my girlfriends dad gave it to me it sunk pretty fast. i think he called it burts jig or something like that.