by Elliott Deighton
Part 1. Casting & Fishing
I fly fish for bass with an 8 wgt. rod with a 9 or even a 10 wgt. forward floating line and a short heavy leader with a 10 to 15lb. tippet. This over lining of the rod makes for better control of the larger and heavier than normal bass flies. Most bass bugging is done at short casting distances and the heavier line also aids in loading the rod correctly on short casts. Get into the habit of casting with a more open loop and slowing your casting stroke down if you have trouble handling the bigger flies. Also get into the habit of fishing with a tight line. As your final delivery is still in the air, point the rod at the fly and lower the tip to the water. Aim for a direct straight line between you and the bass bug. It’s amazing how many fish will hit your fly the instant the bug touches the water and you have got to be ready to quickly get its head out of the weeds. I have even had bass jump and take the bug in the air before it hits the water!
I find that bass bugs are best fished very slowly. Don’t be afraid to fish them in the heaviest of cover, that’s where the big ones are. I like to fish the shoreline from a canoe or float tube and after casting to a likely spot I let the fly sit still letting the legs, skirt and rubber hackle twitch and pulse in the water. If you haven’t had a hit after a few minutes (yes it can seem like hours) very slowly and gently twitch the fly ONCE and only for a very short distance; bass will not move very far from their cover. After covering one likely spot in this manner, I usually try it again before moving to a new spot. I have found that each successive cast reduces the likelihood of a strike so I have found it is best to cover the water slowly and thoroughly as apposed to random repeated fast casting and fishing. I treat bass like trout, that is, fish them slowly and quietly; they are a wary fish and can be put down by too aggressive fishing.
If you would like to see Elliot Deighton's foam bass flys click here. There are three distinct patterns the:
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