# What? - Freshwater Fly 1/5/09



## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

So, apparently some of you all been saying I stink at fly fishing, as indicated here







….Well, I took twenty minutes out of my busy day today, to prove once and for all that….

I TOTALLY ROCK WITH THE LONG ROD!!!!














That is all.


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## Canoeman (Jul 23, 2008)

I guess you do. Very nice bass. [smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif]


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## phishphood (Dec 15, 2006)

Owned them on that trip. Way to go Jeff.


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

Ahhh,..... lets see.......calendar says its Monday. Why am I at work and you are fishing??????


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

_Ok, so I got around to writing the story behind the pictures tonight...enjoy. _


After the tough outing I had yesterday, fly fishing the salt, I have to admit I was feeling pretty low about my long rod prowess.







Although the conditions were difficult and the fish were generally uncooperative, even with conventional gear, I’ve come to expect more of myself.







So with redemption in mind, I opted to seek out some largemouth bass with my 5wt fly rod and hopefully raise my spirits a bit.

The lake I chose for today’s adventure was one I’d never fished before. However, I had quickly surveyed it a few days ago and was astounded to find dozens of quality bass plainly visible in the crystal clear water.







By all accounts, this spot didn’t look to be “fishy”, at least on the surface, but it did provide lots of open shoreline without surrounding vegetation that could hamper a lengthy backcast.







For that reason alone, I had figured it was worth a look.

This afternoon, when I returned with fly rod in hand, I was thrilled to see that conditions hadn’t changed a bit.







From where I stood, I could clearly see two large bass within easy casting distance, not to mention the numerous smaller ones that were keeping well clear of the big girls.







All I had to do was pick the fish I wanted and start casting. Oh man…this had the potential to be fly rod, sight fishing for bass, heaven!









The first two flies I tried were followed by the smaller bass, but the larger fish either watched them with disinterest or ignored them completely, and since I didn’t have a lot of time, I made no more than five or six casts with each fly before making a change. The third fly out of the box was one I’d never used before, but it looked like it would hug the bottom and was similar in size to some of the bait in the water. As I worked this white, rabbit-haired contraption near my target fish, I saw immediate interest from the bass, but it failed to strike the moving fly.







On the second cast the fish actually mouthed the fly briefly, but I attempted to set the hook too fast.







Heart pounding, I cast again and slowed it down even more, letting the lure settle in the grass once near my prey. This time, the bass moved to within inches of the fly and nosed down slightly…so close, then closer, then even closer.







I was holding my breath and my hands were shaking, yet the bass just hung there.







I gave the line just the tiniest tug I could muster, causing the fly to twitch ever so slightly and the bass inhaled it!









What a fight on the 5wt and what incredible, exciting, sight fishing!







I didn’t even notice how bad my hands were shaking until I tried to take a picture and kept knocking the camera over.

















Now that I had the presentation down, the next even bigger fish was much quicker to hook up.







It was only after the fight started, that I realized hooking her was going to be the easy part of this battle.







Landing her earned me a little burn across the knuckle, but the trade off was well worth it!

















Since you’ve already seen the pictures, I’ll just conclude by telling you that I caught a couple more “smaller” bass as well.







Given that this lake was much larger than my regular “private” pond, I relocated two of these bass to help restock some of the fish that ended up as table fare.







My friend Bob came by the pond to help document the release.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

> I guess you do. Very nice bass. [smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif]


Thank you sir!  



> Owned them on that trip. Way to go Jeff.


And I sooo needed to own them! ;D It's not very often that you'll see me so stoked that I can't wait to write the report before posting the pics!  



> Ahhh,..... lets see.......calendar says its Monday. Why am I at work and you are fishing??????


[smiley=1-lmao.gif] You've got my number.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

Went back today at lunch, but all I got was this little guy. I did see a few brutes, but visibility was low due to the wind.


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

This thread has inspired me to try my luck again with my 5wt. First time out, it broke. So I found another rod section that fit and I'm going to give it a shot. Looks ghetto (half burgendy, half silver rod) but I need something meanwhile until I can get a 8wt.


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## roto_77777s_son (Nov 17, 2008)

Very nice!


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

After reading all your bass on fly threads, I decided to give it a go yesterday. I got out to a local lake and the wind was ripping. It took me a while to get the hang of the casting, but I got it down packed (at least good enough to fish...lol). Since it was really windy, I couldn't see too far out, so I was pretty much blind casting into fishy areas. On about my 4th cast, a large shadow comes out and follows my fly. It was a bass that had to be at least 4lbs. I stopped the fly and let it sink. The bass just stayed starring at it. I stripped a bit anticipating a reaction strike, but it was a no go. I casted again and it still just watched. It slowly lost interest and swam away. I will try my luck again today at sun up.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

> After reading all your bass on fly threads, I decided to give it a go yesterday.


I gotta say, there is not a cooler feeling than to hear someone say that you motivated them to try or do something new!  :-[ Just remember that I'm only a novice with the fly rod too. 



> I got out to a local lake and the wind was ripping. It took me a while to get the hang of the casting, but I got it down packed (at least good enough to fish...lol). Since it was really windy, I couldn't see too far out, so I was pretty much blind casting into fishy areas. On about my 4th cast, a large shadow comes out and follows my fly. It was a bass that had to be at least 4lbs. I stopped the fly and let it sink. The bass just stayed starring at it. I stripped a bit anticipating a reaction strike, but it was a no go. I casted again and it still just watched. It slowly lost interest and swam away. I will try my luck again today at sun up.


That's awesome man!  If you're getting follows like that, then you're just one minor adjustment away from getting the strike!  I don't plan on trying again for a couple days, until the wind dies down. Looks like maybe saturday will be the first sight-fishable bass day. Be sure to post up a pic of you're first bass on fly, and don't you catch a lot of peacocks too? You gotta target some of those as well.


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

> > After reading all your bass on fly threads, I decided to give it a go yesterday.
> 
> 
> I gotta say, there is not a cooler feeling than to hear someone say that you motivated them to try or do something new!  :-[ Just remember that I'm only a novice with the fly rod too.
> ...



I just got back. There was too much wind, and no fish in sight. I guess the cold weather sent them deep. I'm going to try again over the weekend. Most likely Sunday. I'llsee if I can manage to fly cast at some pea's, but it's a pain in the ass cause we fish for them under bridges. lol I'm going to have to figure out a way to pitch a fly with a fly rod while ducking a bit under a bridge. lol


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

nice bass Jeff.


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## Un-shore (Sep 27, 2007)

> nice bass Jeff.


Yer back!


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