Why Fly Fish for Bass and What Do You Need?

“Every new species or technique presents an opportunity for new gear.” The ambitious fly fisher.

Largemouth bass are popular and well distributed throughout Illinois’ waters. Here, we’ll address some of the advantages and gear of fly fishing for them. Keep in mind the difference between fly fishing, and what we’ll call “conventional” tackle, is that a weighted lure does not deliver your lure. It’s the fly line that carries out the fly.

Fly fishing gives you the advantage of being able to splash in a heavy fly or a nearly silent, similar sized, light fly. Weedless is optional. When fishing small pockets along a bank or small openings in cover such as lily pads or weeds, this can make all the difference. Sure, you might hit those pockets using conventional tackle and prove a bass was in there as it bolts away. Then you can drag your lure and hooks(s) back through, or with, all the weeds.

When fly fishing in cover, you can simply pick up and recast the fly as it reaches the end of the open water, instead of dragging your lure and hook(s) through all the weeds between you and your target. That minimizes the disturbance to the nearby fish as well as the need to clear weeds off your lure. This gives you more undisturbed targets in a given area and allows you to cover more water.

If you have cast your fly to one spot and a fish rises in another, you don’t have to frantically reel in your lure hoping the sighted fish is still in the neighborhood. You simply lift the fly from the water and cast it to your new target.

You don’t have to set the hook like a tournament angler on TV. A well-practiced “strip strike” can be best accomplished with the rod tip down and generally pointed at strike, when pulling fly line back and away from striking fish. When the weight of the fish is felt, the rod can be lifted to fight the fish to your side. Should you miss the fish, do not raise the tip of the rod. The fly is in the perfect spot for a second strike or another fish to consider.

With a little practice you can make a right or left curve cast to make your fly follow right along the edge of a drop off or weed bed.

If your fly gets stuck on an object you can often retrieve it with a roll cast, which re-directs it away from the angle at which it became lodged.

What You Need to Effectively Fly Fish for Largemouth

Remember the fishing guide’s lament “Why can’t they cast!” No matter what you are fishing for, knowing how to cast is essential for an effective, pleasure-filled experience. Learning how to cast from someone who can teach, as well as cast, is your best investment. The most challenging fly-casting student is the one who has the most reinforced mistakes. Proper instruction will put you years ahead.

• Rods – First rule: Don’t buy a rod before you’ve cast it. Waving it around indoors won’t do. Your ability to select a rod depends on your current ability to cast. Your fishing buddy’s ability isn’t much help. For bigger largemouth bass, bigger flies, or windy conditions, a 9-foot, 8-weight rod is ideal. It will deliver the larger wind-resistant, heavier flies and give you an easier and greater range of distance. It’s the tool to turn a big fish or bring one out of cover. It also works nicely for other large fish. Eight-weights come with “fighting butts” to help you fight all those big fish.
• Lines – In most instances, your first fly line should be a weight-forward floating line, ideally one designed for bass. These will deliver bass flies or other large flies with the least effort. Later you may want sinking or sink tip lines for getting down deeper. Put backing on your reel to attach it to your line. In effect it creates a larger spool to rapidly retrieve your line helps reduce coils in your fly line, and of course adds 100 yards or more of reserve line.
• Reels – Not just for line storage, reels need the capacity to hold your line and backing, and have an adjustable drag. Any decent one will display the line sizes it is for and the backing capacity. There are a number of good, affordable large arbor reels available from established fly fishing companies. Good fly fishing reels come with easily removed line spools and can easily be converted for left- or right-handed anglers. The larger diameter the spool (not the width) the faster the line can be wound back on. That gets the slack line away from tangles and engages your reel’s drag system. Spring-loaded “automatic” reels have none of the good qualities noted above.
• Leaders – Largemouth aren’t usually leader-shy. You can start with a 7 1/2 foot “0X” or “2X” labeled, tapered leader. Buy a spool of “tippet” to replace the smaller end of the leader as it gets shorter from tying on flies and breakage. Later you can make your own leaders to the length you prefer.
• Flies – Essentially, carry flies for various depths as well as imitations of available bass prey. Poppers, divers, clousers, deceivers and crayfish in sizes 6 to 2/0 are a good start.

Finally, you may want to get a bigger net.