5 Top Tips for Bass Fly Fishing

When the weather is hot the bass fishing usually is too; here’s 5 top tips for bass fly fishing.  Water Time Outfitters guides smallmouth bass fishing trips in Western Oregon near Portland.  Here are some of our favorite tips to help you find more bass this summer.

5 Top Tips for Bass Fly Fishing- Match the Hatch

Bass feed on a wide variety of food sources and those can change from day to day or through the season.  Top favorites are minnows, crawfish, dragon fly/damselfly larvae and frogs.  Bass are opportunistic eaters and will hammer a frog even though there are not many around.  However, dialing in the most common food source will help you get on the fast track to bass success.

How to find what bass are eating? Look in the water, check the edges and around structure like submerged logs and root wads.  These are areas that smaller bait fish often pile up.  How long are they and what profile do they have?  These are things that can help you dial in the fly pattern you choose.

When you are landing a fish they will often spit up the last meal they had.  Watch the water closely as you are fighting a fish for regurgitated food.  You’ll often see chunks of baitfish or crawfish spit up during the battle.  This gives you a clue to what the preferred food source is.

5 Top Tips for Bass Fly Fishing – Use the Right Fly Line

Bass will be active different times of the day in different feeding zones.  Having the right fly line to match the layer of water depth the fish are actively feeding in can really help your success.  During the day we use sink tips in varying densities to get the fly deep for the water we fish as most of the feeding activity during the day is near the bottom or around structure.

Try different sink tips and sinking rates to get the fly down where you are.  From slow sink 10′ length to 24′ super fast sinking heads try to match the water you fish with the right sink tip.

When casting poppers, frogs or other bulky bass meals with a floating line be sure to use a heavy enough line/taper for delivering these flies.  We like the RIO Mainstream Bass Line or the Scientific Anglers Master Bass Bug Fly Line.  These lines are made for casting wind resistant big bugs like a deer hair frog.  Add in a stiff mono leader and you are well on your way to a more productive session on the surface.

5 Top Tips for Bass Fly Fishing – Vary your Retrieve

Bass seem to respond to a variety of retrieves.  Try to move your fly in a way that would most closely resemble the natural.  A fleeing minnow might be moving very fast.  Crawfish patterns often work best in short pulses with a pause in between.  Often times bass like the fly to drop down in front of them.  Try retrieving then letting the fly settle back down close to the bottom, then start retrieving again.

5 Top Tips for Bass Fly Fishing – The Eyes Have It – Watch the Water & Your Fly

Polarized glasses are a must for summer time bass fishing.  Not only are they good for eye protection but they are also a difference maker for hookup success.  We love to fish white minnow patterns.  One of the main reasons we love them so much is they are highly visible in the water.  Spotting your fly as you fish it can lead to more and bigger fish hooked.

Watch your fly as you retrieve it.  A high vantage point is helpful here.  Elevated on the bank or up in a boat can really help you see what is going on with your fly.  You can often see how bass are responding to your fly.  Do they like the speed ups or are they always eating the fly on the drop?

Keeping a close eye on your fly can really help.  Often bass will inhale your fly with the slightest tick on the line.  If you can see it happen you’ll hook more fish!

5 Top Tips for Bass Fly Fishing – Watch the Fish You are Fighting

If you are fishing with a buddy, always watch the fish he is reeling in.  Often times the biggest fish will be following the hooked fish.  It’s very common for a hooked fish to try to expel the hook and spit up what it has just eaten.  This is an easy meal for other fish!

By standing at the ready when other fish are being caught you can often cast right next to the fighting fish and catch a real lunker.

Water Time Outfitters, Inc. offers guided fly fishing trips for smallmouth bass less than 1 hour from Portland Oregon.  We do single day jet boat trips for bass as well as our special SUMMER BASS CAMPS.

You can see more about Water Time Outfitters here.  Would you like to get more tips and tactics on fly fishing year-round in Oregon?  Get our NEWSLETTER. 

Best of luck on big bass this summer!