Do you ever find yourself fishing with the wrong flies? It’s a common mistake, but some simple steps can help you choose the right fly fishing for your next bass fishing trip. Keep reading to learn more!
Best Flies For Bass Fishing
Bass fishing is one of the most common freshwater sports practiced worldwide. The biggest bass species commonly found in North American rivers are the largemouth and smallmouth species. They exclusively live in freshwater, can grow up to 100 pounds (45 kilos), and are real predators who feed mostly on smaller fish like mosquitofish, crayfish, frogs, and even rodents.
The Largemouth Bass is the most common of them all, found in lakes and ponds throughout North America. It has a large mouth with several rows of strong teeth. Often it swallows its prey whole because its throat can expand to accommodate a fish three times larger than its head! A true eating machine that lives close to the bottom where it feeds on smaller fish.
The Smallmouth Bass has a more oval-shaped mouth, with only one row of teeth. It is not as voracious as its cousin and prefers feeding on smaller invertebrates found in the water’s surface. While they are smaller than their cousins, even reaching up to 50 pounds (22 kilos), they are extremely fast and able to jump over obstacles when pursued by fishermen.
Bass fishing is a popular sport in which fishermen use live bait or artificial lures while trying to catch the bass fish. It requires skill, patience, and time, but it’s also one of the most rewarding experiences you can have if you are fishing for your dinner.
Today, we are here to tell you some of the best flies for bass fishing. We will be covering the size, color, and type of main fly patterns used by fishermen around the world. Remember that this list is based on personal experience, trial, and error; thus it might not reflect the top-rated bass fishing flies by other people.
The top bass fishing flies as per our research and experience:
1. The Clouser Minnow: A World-Class Bass Fishing Fly
This fly is a favorite with professional bass anglers since the ’90s, and it has been so over the past two decades. At first, they were very difficult to tie but nowadays there are many variations of the Clouser Minnow that make it easy to tie even for beginners.
This fly is quite popular thanks to its versatility, function, and effectiveness in catching big bass fish. It can be fished at both shallow and deep waters, but you have to be very careful when using it in murky waters or hard-to-see locations. The Clouser Minnow can be used for many different types of bass, including the largemouth and smallmouth varieties we described above.
The standard color is a combination of white and pink, but it might vary depending on local availability. To make it more effective, you could make it using UV clear hooks and add a silver prism tape to increase the flash and visibility of the fly.
It is a favorite because it imitates an injured baitfish, making it perfect for drawing attention from big predatory fish like bass. Moreover, you could use it with various size jigs (1/8 or 1/2), depending on how deep you are fishing.
The Clouser Minnow can be tied using different kinds of materials such as rubber legs or yarn, adding a more realistic touch to the fly pattern.
2. The Bunny Fly: An Angler’s Best Friend
The Bunny Fly is among the most popular bass fishing flies used worldwide by both beginner and professional fishermen. It imitates a variety of aquatic prey that bass feeds on, such as small crustaceans and larvae.
This fly is known for its ability to catch large numbers of fish because it does not resemble a specific species but rather a whole category of water invertebrates. It has a soft body made out of rabbit zonker strips so it can be fished at all depths; however, it does not float on the surface like a popper.
The Bunny Fly works best during the spring and summer seasons when the bass are more aggressive. You can fish it using bucktail jigs with furry bodies or you could use hair jigs with smaller flies. Just remember to be patient because this is one of those flies that will take time to get used to.
For the best results, you could use natural colors with some flash added in order to attract bass and other predatory fish. The Bunny Fly is tied using many different color combinations, so you should do some research before buying one or tying one by yourself.
3. The Rooster Tail: The Usual Suspects
During the summertime, many fishermen prefer to use this classic bass fishing fly because it’s easy-to-use and very effective. It is ideal for catching largemouth bass but also smallmouth varieties.
The Rooster Tail imitates insects like dragonflies or damselflies, which are popular among predatory fish all-around the world. This fly can be fished at any depth, but you have to take it slow and use a steady retrieve in order to imitate real aquatic insects.
This is one of those bass fishing flies that will not tire you because it does all the work for you; thus many bass anglers tend to use it quite often. It is tied using rubber legs, which are extremely durable and help the fly to sit properly on the water surface.
The standard color for this fly is green or black because it imitates a dying dragonfly that resembles these colors. Try fishing it under trees or docks, where bass could be lurking around waiting for easy prey.
4. The Clouser Deep Minnow: Meet Mr. Jackpot
The Clouser Deep Minnow is another great bass fishing fly that has been used for decades because it’s very effective and versatile. This fly imitates various baitfish such as shad or other types of prey bass feed on during the colder seasons when they are in deeper waters.
This fly can be fished at any depth and it does not require a skilled fisherman to work properly; you just have to cast and retrieve. When fishing with live bait, shad is one of the most popular choices for bass so imitating it using a fly will definitely increase your chances of scoring a trophy fish.
The Clouser Deep Minnow is tied using bucktails that increase the fly’s durability and catchability. You can use this fly with lead head jigs, which are very popular among bass anglers worldwide, or you could fish it without the weight if you want to get more depth on your cast.
5. The Mouse Fly: A Cold-Water Predator
The Mouse Fly is a great bass fishing fly for both beginners and professionals, which imitates small mice that are common during the coldest months of the year. This pattern can be fished at any depth using different kinds of jigging tactics in order to imitate an injured rodent trying to escape from predatory fish.
This fly has a small body made out of thin deer or elk hair, which is very durable and easy to work with. You can use it with lead head jigs in order to increase the fly’s sinking speed, but you could also fish it without the weight if you prefer this technique.
The standard Mouse Fly color is brown because that imitates a common rodent, but you could also experiment and use different shades or add some flash to attract more bass.
Conclusion
I hope that this article has helped you understand the basics of fishing for bass. There are many great artificial topwater, subsurface, and bottom-level baits out there. The greatest one is highly debated. Whenever someone asks the question about which choice will work in their area, you have to give the party line answer – “It depends.” Whatever lure or technique they choose should be simple, effective, and full of action. They are much more prone to bite something they can chase down instead of a motionless lure. It’s important not to overwhelm yourself with too many choices when it comes time to make your decision because if flies were easy then everyone would do it! Good luck on catching them all!
