Lake Fishing

[WDRookie]

I want to fish mainly in the East Texas lakes this year and am looking to catch mainly bream, crappie, and bass. Cliff, I know you fish a lot of the same waters that I will be fishing. What types of flies and what colors do you recommend for these species in and around East texas.

 

[Cliff Hilbert]

For bass fishing the fly that I catch more bass on than all my others combined is a Size #1 Peck's Popping Bug in chartreuse and frog colors. I also use dahlsberg divers, clousers, wooly buggers, pistol petes and an assortment of other flies.

For bream fishing I use almost exclusively trout nymphs is sizes 10 & 12. See my article on bream fishing on this website.

For crappie I catch most of them on black and olive wooly buggers and clousers.

 

[fshfanatic]

I am primarily a Lake and Reservoir kinda guy as well. I carry numerous fly boxes & they hold numerous colors of the same type patterns. I am generally fishing out of my pontoon boat, so I have plenty of space for my boxes. Keeping like patterns together, they are easy to locate.

1: Leeches & Buggers
2: Nymphs & Emergers (yes Bass like them too)
3: Zonkers & Buggers
4: Softhackle Streamers
5: Poppers & Sliders

But, when it comes to color, it is really hard to say what is going to work. You must be prepared. So, I like to carry as wide an assortment as I possibly can. Granted there are a few color combo's that have never been wet, but you never know.

 

[BigCliff]

WDR, If I had to recommend one fly for what you're doing, it would be a olive beadhead wooly bugger in a 10 or 12.

 

[Cliff Hilbert]

Wooly buggers do catch crappie and sometimes largemouth bass. It is rare when I have caught bream on them, although admittedly I don't use them much when bass and bream fishing because I catch so many bream on nymphs, which is what makes up the major part of breams' diets. Yellow bass, aka barfish, like wooly buggers when I've fished for them at Caddo and Lake Holbrook. White bass don't hit buggers much, they like clousers better.

 

[WDRookie]

Y'all post up some pictures of these flies. I'm not to good at identifying them yet. I'm still a rookie at this as my user name implies. By the way, what is this attachment on my post. I don't remember putting this on there. Somebody let me in on the secret.

 

[fshfanatic]

Y'all post up some pictures of these flies. I'm not to good at identifying them yet. I'm still a rookie at this as my user name implies. By the way, what is this attachment on my post. I don't remember putting this on there. Somebody let me in on the secret.

Here are some of my must have flies:

Black Simi-Seal Leech

Brown Simi-Seal Leech

The River Witch

The Clouser


These are my most productive flies.

 

[fshfanatic]

purple Seal Bugger

 

[Cliff Hilbert]

Hey WD go over to Backcountry in Tyler and see Jim Green. Ask him for some trout nymphs for bream - i.e., prince nymphs, copper johns, pheasant tails & red squirrel nymphs in the largest sizes he has, probably #12, and preferably conehead or beadhead. In another month or so when the bream began to come shallow we'll go fishing at one of the nearby lakes and I'll show you how to fish them.

 

[Fish Bones]

Great looking flies fanatic!!!

 

[WDRookie]

fshfanatic, thanks for the pictures. Those look nice. I want to begin tieing my own flies as well as learn to fish them.

Cliff, I may have to take you up on that. I'm working on my casting several times a week at lunch and I am improving a lot. I may have to go and learn from a record holder though on how to fish. HaHa. I've seen the records from TPWD.