There are hundreds, if not thousands, of options to choose from with our fly fishing leaders and tippets. No matter which tippet or leader you choose, it will affect your fly fishing dramatically. Each leader or tippet offers you ways to really improve your fly fishing through the specific qualities they offer.

At the end of this article, you shouldn’t feel confused when looking at the hundreds of different types of tippets and leaders you see online or in fly shops, and you’ll be able to catch a lot more fish because you’ll be able to fool and land these fish much more effectively.

BASICS OF FLY FISHING LEADERS AND TIPPETS

BASIC SETUP

Before we discuss all aspects of fly fishing leaders and tippets, we need to make sure that you understand the basics of leaders and tippets. With every fly fishing setup, you will have possibly 5 different sections, connected with the right fly fishing knots, until you get to the fly: backing, fly line, butt section, leader, and tippet.

WHAT IS A FLY FISHING LEADER?

A complete fly fishing leader is usually the last 3 parts of the 5-part fly fishing setup, connecting to the fly line: the butt section, leader (or midsection), and tippet. Much of the time leaders taper down from large to small diameter line. These are referred to as a “tapered leader.” This allows the fly to land softly while also giving the angler some power in the cast, since the larger the diameter, the more power you have, and the smaller the diameter, the softer the line lands on the water. This is always a balance in fly fishing: what is best for casting, and what is best for presenting the fly to the fish.

WHAT IS FLY FISHING TIPPET?

Fly fishing tippet is the last part of your leader that connects to the fly. Sometimes the tippet is treated as a separate piece of the leader, but really, it’s just one part of the leader. We can think of the butt section as the end that connects to the fly line, and we can think of the tippet as the end that connects to the fly.

Fly anglers will buy extra tippet to connect to their leaders so they do not eat into the taper. Every time you cut a bit from your tapered leader, to replace a fly for example, you lose taper. As you add tippet initially or as your leader gets shorter and shorter, you preserve the taper of your fly fishing leader.

Fly anglers also use tippet to connect multiple flies to their fly fishing rigs, and they will also extend the taper of their leader in certain finesse fly fishing scenarios.

TWO BASIC OPTIONS FOR FLY FISHING LEADERS

BUILD A FLY FISHING LEADER

There are two options for your leader, build your own or buy the leader premade. If you create your own, there are literally endless combinations and designs of these leaders. You can go as basic as using one piece of monofilament with one diameter tied to the fly line and the fly. In this case, the butt section and tippet are the exact same diameter, and there are no knots.

You could also create a leader that has 10 different sections tapering down from large to small, attached with fly fishing knots. You can use any material you want in your leader design as well, so you could incorporate fishing line made by any fishing manufacturer in the world, as long as it gives you the qualities you want for your leader.

This gives you choices for different sections of your leader. For example, you could go stiff and heavy on the butt section and supple and light on the tippet section. Leader design is much too large of a topic for this article, but understand you have man different options.

BUY A FLY FISHING LEADER

Another option, and easier in general, is to buy a premade fly fishing leader. This is as easy as making any purchase you’ve ever made. Many manufacturers have hundreds of premade leaders for saltwater and freshwater. Most of these leaders will not have knots except on the butt section to connect it to the fly line. This allows your leader to slide through the water easily and not gather any debris or vegetation on your leader’s knots. Some premade leaders have been tied by hand, however. These will almost always be a bit more expensive.

You can choose to buy a premade leader and use it as is, or you can add a butt section and a bit of tippet to either end to preserve the taper, since the more you use it, the more you will eat into the taper.

Both options give you choices, but the key to making these choices is to understand the qualities of the materials used and the decisions you’ll make when building or buying your leaders and tippets.

See examples of tippet and premade leaders here.

DIFFERENT MATERIALS OF FLY FISHING LEADERS AND TIPPETS

There are 2 main different materials that tippets and leaders come in: nylon and fluorocarbon. Both are monofilaments, although nylon is referred to as “monofilament” most of the time. Monofilament means that they are one filament extruded out, not a bunch of filaments twisted together like braided fishing lines, which are mainly used in conventional tackle fishing. Both nylon and fluoro have specific qualities that aid in casting, presentation, and landing fish, which we will explore below.

There is also another type of material that anglers use as well, but they use this with toothy fish like sharks, barracuda, pike, musky, and bluefish. These are the different types of wire leader/tippet materials that are available to both conventional and fly anglers alike.

FLY FISHING LEADER AND TIPPET QUALITIES AND HOW THEY AFFECT YOUR FISHING

Each type of fluorocarbon, nylon, or metal wire we choose has unique qualities that will make or break our fishing success in many instances.

There are well over a dozen factors to consider when buying fly fishing tippet or leaders. We can divide our fly fishing leader and tippet uses into two main parts: “the grab” (presenting the fly and fooling the fish into striking) and “the nab” (bringing the fish to hand after it strikes the fly). Let’s explore these two purposes below.

A NOTE ON FLY FISHING LEADERS AND TIPPETS

There are certain features of your leaders and tippets that are important, but are more general or connected to your leader design. Two aspects of leaders and tippets are leader length and leader/tippet durability.

Leader length is connected to your design, which is a whole different topic. Just know that having a long/short leader will affect casting (short = more power; long = less) and presentation. Length affects presentation in many different ways from sink rate to drag put on your line.

Durability is another aspect to consider. Fluorocarbon, for example, is more longer-lasting than most nylon monofilaments. For the most part, durability (not abrasion resistance) is a cherry on top when it comes to other aspects of leaders and tippets.

THE “GRAB” WITH FLY FISHING LEADERS AND TIPPETS

The first consideration when trying to catch a fish is triggering the fish to “grab” the fly. There are at least 5 main leader and tippet characteristics that play a major role in your presentation to a fish: suppleness/stiffness, diameter, sink rate, color, and visibility. We need to consider 2 aspects of presentation along with these 5 factors: 1) presenting the fly in or on the water 2) fly casting.

THE “GRAB”: HOW LEADERS AND TIPPETS AFFECT CASTING

DIAMETER

Two of the factors (suppleness/stiffness and diameter) affect presentation through your casting. First, the diameter is hugely important. Diameter has been so important for fly fishing historically that the use of the “X” system has been the symbol used to buy tippet and designated the final tippet size on tapered leaders for hundreds of years.

UNDERSTANDING THE X SYSTEM OF FLY FISHING TIPPETS

Fly fishing tippet was made from a translucent membrane within the gut of the silkworm, which is about 12 – 18 inches long and is still sold today. The diameter of this membrane was measured in inches in England after the worm’s importation into England from China.

Thus was born the “rule of 11” which means that the tippet size “X” value (3x, 5x, etc.) plus the diameter (in thousands of an inch) must equal 11. In this way, you can determine what the diameter is by subtracting the X-factor from 11. This is why higher X numbers are actually smaller in diameter.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FLY FISHING LEADER AND TIPPET DIAMETER

Because the diameter of your line determines partly the power you can generate during a cast. The diameter of your tapered leader and/or your tippet size determine energy dissipation, that is, how much energy is lost on the cast. Practically speaking, the larger the diameter, the more power you will have when casting. The power in your fly casting is lost when small diameters are attached to the fly line. Also, a larger diameter tippet/leader will have more weight and thus inertia once it gets moving.

The length of your fly fishing leader affects power as well, but this factor is tied up (no pun intended) with leader formulas, which are another article/book entirely. Just know that a shorter leader will have more power, all other factors being equal. For example, in windy conditions, you want a shorter leader for casting purposes.

When we have consistently similar diameters in our leaders, the tapered leader has even energy transfer, and our leaders will lay out with maximum force while still landing softly enough to avoid spooking fish. So, 5 feet of .009 tippet will be infinitely more powerful than 5 feet of .004 diameter tippet. One is better for casting streamers on trout lakes, and the other is better for tiny flies on spring creeks. You can use 1,000 lb. test to try and get more power in your cast, but if your 20 lb. test has a larger diameter (all other factors being equal), the 20-pound test will still cast farther with the same amount of effort. Note it is the diameter, NOT THE BREAKING STRENGTH, that aids the cast.

SUPPLENESS/STIFFNESS

The other factor that affects casting is the suppleness/stiffness of your nylon, fluoro, or braid. A simple rule is, all other factors being equal, the stiffer the line, the easier it will shoot and turn over a fly, unless cold temperatures are so bad that your line will not straighten out.

Think about a limp spaghetti noodle vs. a piece of monofilament of the same thickness and length. If you tie a nymph on the noodle, bend it back, and let it go, nothing will happen. However, the stiff piece of mono will use its potential energy and spring forward under the same bend. Incidentally, fly line cores are often made from monofilaments, so that fly lines with stiff mono cores shoot much better than lines with limp cores (heat or cold affects this as well).

So, as we design our leaders or choose tippets and other monofilaments, we need to think about the conditions we are fishing in. Do we need maximum power with little concern over our flies smashing the water, for example, while fishing to trout in lakes in an impossible wind, or do we need high dissipation of energy so that our leader lands lightly on the water in front of a big spring creek brown? The stiffness/suppleness and diameter of our leaders will help us cast appropriately to the conditions.

THE “GRAB”: HOW LEADERS AND TIPPETS AFFECT PRESENTATION IN/ON THE WATER

If you can’t get the fly to the fish, then everything else is meaningless. Once the fly is on the water, none of the qualities of the line that aided you with casting will necessarily help you fool the fish. In reality, you choose a line that gives you the best of both worlds, but at this stage in your decision making, you’ve entered the fish’s world where our fly should be most of the time anyway since, as Gary Borger puts it, “We’re not fishing for owls.” The factors important for presentation in or on the water are suppleness/stiffness, diameter, sink rate, color, and visibility.

COLOR

Let’s start with color. There are mainly two reasons for choosing different colors of line: 1) because it blends in better with the fish’s environment and 2) so that you can see the line better during the presentation.

Why would you want to see your fly fishing leader or tippet? The main reason is to detect a strike, whether that means seeing the line jump/move or tracking your fly by watching the tippet/leader. Many Euro nymphing anglers use different colored lines in their fly fishing leader construction as indicators/sighters.

It seems somewhat obvious that a tippet/leader that blends in with the fish’s environment is a more desirable than one that does not. The idea goes that you will catch more fish if your line is more inconspicuous, and thus, you should try to match your line to the conditions. Pretty obvious here.

Anglers prefer to have lines that blend in with the color of the water, depth, and general environment. For example, you can use a slightly olive colored line in greenish water or with water that has lots of vegetation. It’s not clear how much subtle changes in line color affect fishing success, but you can experiment with line color depending on your needs for strike detection and blending into the fish’s environment.

VISIBILITY

Number two, and related to a line being inconspicuous, is line visibility. This explains why most tippets and leaders are clear; they are intended to be as inconspicuous as possible.

A good rule of thumb is to have leaders that meet an acceptable level of invisibility. It is probably impossible to get truly invisible leaders and tippets since fish have excellent eyes underwater, although fish have very different and often less clear eyesight than humans.

Some fly anglers prefer fluorocarbon because it refracts light closer to water than nylon does. I personally have never noticed any difference in fishing success between nylon and fluorocarbon from a visibility standpoint.

The biggest factor that makes leaders and tippets “invisible” to fish is inattentional blindness. Both humans and fish fall prey to this, and it is when our focus is diverted from obvious sights around us onto something else. When fish focus on their prey, the have inattentional blindness to other things around them. Think of a cat that plays with the feather on the string. The string is obviously visible, but the cat engages with the feather anyway.

Line colors and visibility as a deterrent need much more research. The few that have been performed have revealed that bass can see monofilament that is very small in diameter, around .006 (5X), and that they can distinguish between colors quite easily. Bass can also negotiate their environment and catch prey effectively without their eyes. A summary of these studies can be found in O.D. Colin J. Kageyama’s book (159-160).

I tend to agree with Dr. Kageyama’s opinion about anglers going to a smaller diameter to decrease visibility. He states, “It is likely that success is more related to reduced line drag, resulting in greater lure action, sensitivity, and control [not invisibility].”

In the end, it’s probably better to have less visible fly fishing leaders and tippets, but other factors with your presentation and fly are much more important.

MOST ANGLERS CARRY BOTH NYLON AND FLUOROCARBON TIPPETS.

STIFFNESS/SUPPLENESS AND DIAMETER

Stiffness/suppleness and diameter often do not receive enough emphasis. This is where the balancing act takes place, since these two factors are the most important for casting. For fly action, a supple tippet or leader is almost always better than a stiff one, and the smaller the diameter, the more flexible and supple a line can be.

Supple, small-diameter lines allow a dry fly to remain drag-free on the surface and less susceptible to microcurrents. Nymphs move freely and naturally within stillwater environments and the currents of rivers. Streamer patterns achieve their best movement as well, able to dart back and forth or side to side with greater ease. This is only as far as coaxing the fish to “grab” the fly goes. On the flip side, you may want your fly to move less erratically in cold water situations, so you might intentionally go with stiffer line. These are the options you have when you understand leader/tippet material characteristics.

So, with all things being equal, I want the most supple and smallest diameter tippet and leader I can get for presentation purposes with as much action as possible, but a balance must be met for optimal casting and in-water presentation. If you want more of a gliding movement out of your flies, then a stiffer high diameter line will impede the movement of your fly.

This is where paying more for your fly fishing leaders and tippets is legitimately worth it, particularly for line that is over 0x. Super supple line is very valuable for catching fish.

An easy rule of thumb for matching fly to diameter that has been used for years is as follows; divide your fly by three and round up with a 2 remainder to determine the X value. This is, however, just a quick and easy, but also imperfect, method.

SINK RATE

Diameter goes hand in hand with the final factor, sink rate. Essentially the smaller the diameter, the faster a line will sink because of less water resistance, but note that breaking through the surface film can be difficult with micro diameter tippets (5x – 8x) without weight.

Keep diameter in mind when you want flies to sink fast and easily or when you want flies to hover in the mid-depths, resist sinking, or float. Situations such as these are when you are casting over vegetation, when you want your fly to hover in between strips, or you are fishing a popper, etc.

You must be aware of this when choosing tippet or designing a fly fishing leader, since you may have a leader that sinks weirdly if you have all sorts of different diameters and sink rates involved.

The material of your tippet/leader will also effect sink rate slightly, as fluorocarbon sinks at a slightly faster rate than mono, and because of this, fluoro is often use for sinking flies, while nylon mono is used for hovering flies and floating your flies. Exceptions exist, but this is a good rule of thumb.

Your knot will also affect how fast your fly sinks, and a loop knot will allow your fly to have more action and sink faster. You need to put these all together depending on what you want your fly to do.

Your presentation drives your fly fishing leader and tippet selection. You need to think about the casting demands of your fishing environment and then envision exactly what you want your fly to do once it hits the water. After this, you just need to find the tippet and leader that do all of this best.

At this point you haven’t thought about the breaking point of your line yet because you haven’t even set the hook yet. Neglect the “grab” and the “nab” never happens.

THE “NAB” WITH YOUR FLY FISHING LEADERS AND TIPPETS

Once an angler actually fools the fish into taking the fly, the hookset and landing of the fish becomes the focus. I refer to this process as the “nab.” Any aspect of the line (leader or tippet) that was used to present the fly or fool the fish can be treated separately from the aspects you need to drive the hook in and then land the fish. The supple, small-diameter fly fishing tippet you used to make the fly look alive may now be your biggest obstacle to landing the fish. As fly anglers, we always try to get the best of both worlds, but just from the standpoint of setting the hook, what would the ideal line look like?

THE “NAB”: SETTING THE HOOK

HOOKSET AND LINE SENSITIVITY

Sensitivity and control is important before we set the hook, and certain leaders and tippets help the fly angler. However, fly fishing, unlike general tackle, does not put as much emphasis in the sensitivity and control of the leader, since the fly line is usually the first and direct connection between the angler and what the fish is doing. The fly line, along with the rod, acts as the primary means to control the fly and feel the strike during presentation.

With this in mind, it seems as though our fly fishing tippet and leader selection is neutralized somewhat by our fly lines. Although higher memory lines must be stretched for them to have a more direct connection to the fly. Line management to provide a direct connection to our flies is the most important aspect of sensitivity and control.

HOOKSET TECHNIQUE

The most important part of setting the hook is technique, not your fly fishing leaders and tippets. Once you’ve got the hookset down, more or less, you can fine tune the aspects of your gear to make your technique more effective.

For example, when you want to lessen the force or delay its effect of a hookset, a soft rod tip, extra fine wire hook for penetration, a loop of line for shock absorption, or even a spring in the reel (see Einarsson’s Invictus) can aid in properly sinking the hook into the fish without breaking the tippet.

When you want to set the hook with more force, a strip strike ranging from just an even pull of the line to a Mike-Tyson-like, thunderous and explosive yank will do the job. Technique aside, your fly fishing tippet and leader need to have certain qualities to maximize, or minimize, the hookset.

HOOKSET: FLY FISHING LEADERS AND TIPPETS

When we’ve maximized line sensitivity and mastered hookset technique, we can then consider the leader and tippet qualities that will help us accomplish our goal of driving the hook home without breaking our line.

Setting the hook then falls between 1) wanting to lessen the force of the hookset because of a delicate fly fishing tippet and small flies and 2) needing to get as much power behind the hookset as possible to penetrate bony mouths and overcome powerful jaw pressure. Three properties of your line will aid in setting the hook properly: stretch, tensile strength (breaking strength), and knot strength.

LINE STRETCH

Stretch in your fly fishing leaders or tippets determine how much power you can generate on the hookset. A low stretch line (in fly lines, leaders, and tippets) is what you want for maximum hookset power, while a high stretch line is what you might want for softer hooksets.

Once again, diameter affects how stretchable your line is; more or less, the higher the diameter your line is the less stretch your line has in comparison to a given force on the line.

The unique properties of the material and formulation affect stretch greatly as well. Out of the three main line types (braid, fluoro, and nylon), the least stretchable is braid, followed by fluoro, and lastly nylon. There is some debate on the last two, however, since elasticity and plasticity play a role in choosing lines. In addition to this fact, there also exists variance within these respective lines, for example, not all nylon and fluoro monofilaments stretch the same.

Stretch is very much related to suppleness, i.e., the more supple the line is, the more likely it is to have stretch. Therefore, think about what you are trying to do on the hookset and choose your line accordingly.

BREAKING STRENGTH

Both breaking strength and knot strength are extremely easy to generalize: you want the strongest line with the best knot strength around. However, with this type of line (low stretch and high breaking threshold) you may bend hooks or pull the fly out of the fish’s mouth because of so much pressure. Despite this, we almost always want the highest breaking strength possible unless “sport” is an issue, or there is a concern for breaking the fly line.

Notice this is the first time we have considered line breaking strength. Once again, we must balance out all of our needs to arrive at the most appropriate line choice. The “grab” takes priority, so we must make do with what features our line provides us for the hookset in order to fool the fish. Hookset technique can overcome some of the limitations of our line, optimized for the “grab.” In a lot of cases, we can get the best of both worlds though.

THE “NAB”: LANDING FISH

A good hookset is the best way guarantee that you’ll land a fish, particularly in open water. After you’ve hooked the fish, you should land the fish as quickly as possible. To lessen strain on the fish, we must exert as much pressure on the fish as our bodies and equipment will allow. Except in those situations where we risk pulling the fly out (in this case stretch lines come into play), we need the ability to put real pressure on the fish. Three main factors really determine our success in playing a fish when considering our fly fishing leaders and tippet: abrasion resistance, breaking strength, and knot strength, although stretch can play a role at times as well.

ABRASION RESISTANCE

Abrasion resistance can actually come into play on the hookset since toothy critters can bite right through our lines. For example, small to medium sized barracuda can become a real nuisance on the flats, since they can cut through 20 lb. fluorocarbon as if it were not even there. For this reason, straight wire and knottable nylon coated wires are critical with certain species such as bluefish, barracuda, and northern pike. This introduces the first way of increasing the abrasion resistance of your leaders/tippets, choose a material that is nearly impervious to toothy critters.

The other way is to increase the diameter of your “standard” fly fishing tippet and leader. Many musky anglers use straight 100 lb. fluorocarbon for their entire leader, while others use heavy nylon monofilament. Thick leaders are also mandatory for tarpon, snook, trevally, etc.

In some instances, the long powerful fight plays a part in choosing this heavier leader, but the abrasive mouths and gill plates of these fish are more of the reason for these thicker diameter lines, particularly when pursuing the smaller versions of these fish, since you don’t need a high pound test to land them normally, but you do need the abrasion resistance.

Abrasion resistance is not only important for the fish’s mouth but for coral, trees, sharp rocks, etc.

You can also boost your abrasion resistance by choosing fluorocarbon or a particularly abrasion resistant nylon, which is a part of the process of making and extruding the nylon.

FISH LIKE MUSKY HAVE ABRASIVE MOUTHS THAT WILL CUT YOUR TIPPET AND KNUCKLES.

BREAKING STRENGTH AND KNOT STRENGTH

Hopefully by now, it has become apparent that choosing fly fishing tippet and leaders should require some thought and experimenting to fine tune. For most species, there are a host of flies that will work, but match these flies with the right fly fishing tippet and leader (and knot), and it can make all the difference in the world.

There remains the last factor(s) for landing fish: breaking strength and knot strength. Once again, this is simple: the higher the breaking strength and knot strength, the better. I personally do not believe in using small pound test to be more “sporting” and have little desire to go after line class records. To those who do, this will not apply.

Everyone would acknowledge that landing a fish as fast as possible is better for all involved. The shorter the fight, the fewer the variables for losing a fish during the fight. Barracuda, sharks, brush piles, acrobatic jumps, etc., all pose real threats while fighting a fish. In addition, a shorter fight is way better for the fish’s survival. For these reasons, I will buy expensive leaders and tippets that have the best features of presentation but allow me to go as high as possible on breaking strength.

Thus, no good angler or guide should make a decision on what fly fishing tippet or leader to use based off of some predetermined number like 12 lb. test for bonefish. If the leader has the proper characteristics for great presentation but happens to be 18 lb. test, then we should take advantage of these technological advances.

THESE TIPPETS HAVE THE SAME DIAMETER BUT DIFFER BY TEN POUNDS IN BREAKING STRENGTH.

CONCLUSION: FLY FISHING LEADERS AND TIPPETS

The best anglers in the world understand fly fishing leaders and tippets, and how they affect your fishing. They are a critical part of your fishing and arguably make a larger impact on your success than your fly rod, fly reel, and possibly even your fly line. Below is a summary of what we’ve gone over. If you master these aspects of your tippet and leaders, you are guaranteed to catch way more fish.

Fly fishing for bass has become extremely common. This stands to reason because virtually all of the states in the United States and most provinces of Canada have bass species that fly anglers can catch quite easily.

The main species are the sunfish: largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass. There are also the “true bass” species: striped bass, hybrid striped bass, and white bass. Then, you have some rare species like the Guadalupe and yellow bass.

This article will cover the bass species in the two major classes: the sunfish and the true bass, and it is an introduction to fly fishing for bass. You can find individual articles on some of the species within this article.

FLY FISHING FOR BLACK BASS/SUNFISH BASS

The first group of bass comprises the largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, and rock bass. It also includes crappie, bluegill, and the smaller sunfish, like redear, pumpkinseed, etc.

The sunfish family has an incredibly diverse diet. This is largely due to the evolution of this species and the niches within a given body of water that they have inhabited. For example, these bass will encounter frogs, crayfish, snakes, minnows, salamanders, ducklings, insects, leeches, small mammals, and other sunfish regularly.

Their bodies are also fairly wide, and they often use ambush as their preferred method to catch prey. Smallmouth, and to a lesser extent spotted bass, will also move into open-water feeding environments, but they still maintain their tendency to eat everything.

Because of this tendency, they use cover and structure to ambush their prey and will often be found waiting in ambush spots. They will also have no problem feeding during the hottest times of the day, staying true to their namesake.

FLY FISHING FOR LARGEMOUTH BASS

There is no question that the largemouth bass is the most popular game fish in North America, and possibly the world. Almost every state has largemouth bass. Largemouth bass are usually the easiest of all bass species to find because you can find them in any pond, ditch, canal, lake, reservoir, and many slower-moving rivers.

The United States probably has the best largemouth bass fishing in the world. California holds 20 of the top 25 largemouth bass ever caught, while Florida adds one or two here as well. Almost every state has one or two special spots where tons of largemouth bass can be found. Some of these places are for huge numbers of small to medium fish, but some also have the potential to produce humongous bucketmouths.

Largemouth bass fly fishing is also extremely popular, and most people, I would wager, think of largemouth bass when you say “bass fly fishing.” They are my least favorite of all bass species to pursue and catch, perhaps tying with spotted bass, which are similar in a lot of respects.

Largemouth bass are primarily ambush feeders, so they are almost always synonymous with cover. Bass anglers with conventional gear require ultra weedless lures to catch largemouth in many cases, and fly anglers often struggle to match these weedless presentations.

Both fly anglers and conventional anglers can use an unbelievably diverse set of flies and lures because the largemouth bass’s diet is so diverse. That is one thing about largemouth that is quite enjoyable; they eat big flies and huge prey items. That doesn’t mean you have to fish big at all, and in fact, flies in some pressured waters or at certain times of year will catch some big fish on small damsels and even carp flies, like the Backstabber.

Largemouth feed on both topwater and subsurface flies. Larger poppers and divers are good options for summer, while almost any large subsurface flies work at other times. As far as which subsurface patterns you should use and in what situations, it comes down to mainly how aggressive the fish are and how much water you’re covering.

If you’re covering a lot of water, you’ll use a more active fly like a Clouser, Hollow Fleye, Game Changer, Double Deceiver, Swingin’ D, etc. This may also include topwater flies like Umpqua’s Diving Frog, Ron Dong Crease Fly, Pole Dancer, or a Double-Barrel popper.

If the largemouth are negative or you know right where they are, you’ll fish slow and deep normally. Flies like the Bendback, Equalizer, Bottoms Up, thinly-tied, longer Clousers, Chocklett’s Changer Craw, and Ehler’s Grim Reaper are excellent for doing finesse or subsurface fly fishing for largemouth bass.

The best approach to fishing is to watch and read as much on general tackle bass fishing as possible. This is the most advanced and competitive fishing on planet earth. Apply their approaches to your bass fly fishing, and you’ll consistently catch fish.

FLY FISHING FOR SMALLMOUTH BASS

Smallmouth bass are one of my favorite bass species to fly fish for, period. They’re awesome fighters and are about as perfect a species for fly fishing as could be imagined. They even eat bugs if you can’t relinquish the entomology aspect of fly fishing.

All of the top 25 largest smallmouth have come from the United States, and 13 of these have come from Tennessee. If you live in the East or Midwest, or even parts of the South, you’re blessed with a huge abundance of rivers that are filled with smallmouth. The Great Lakes also provide wading opportunities at certain times of the season for some enormous smallmouth. In addition to this, smallmouth will pour into the rivers from the Great Lakes in spring, so you can catch 3 to 6-pound smallmouths while fishing for steelhead.

Fly anglers often ignore reservoirs and lakes in the East and Midwest because of the number of rivers around them. Some do get out and pursue smallmouth bass on the fly in lakes and reservoirs, particularly in Canada, which has incredible fly fishing for smallmouth, particularly in Ontario.

If you live in the West, there are a few rivers that provide a similar experience to the East, particularly in Oregon. However, most of the time, reservoirs and some lakes provide your best shot at catching smallmouth on the fly.

Prespawn, spawn, and fall bring the fish into the shallows, which allows a fly angler with a kayak or pontoon boat to sight-fish to these guys. You can still access these fish during the summer as well in many of these reservoirs, particularly if they have steep drop-offs right along the shore.

Mornings and evenings are your best bet as the fish can adjust vertically quite easily and will feed on the steep rocky banks and/or rocky flats. Note that this is often different from Eastern rivers, particularly small to medium ones, which actually are better as the sun comes up. In the West, any watercraft will help you get in the game for smallmouth.

Smallmouth feeding tactics and smallmouth fly selection are very much like largemouth above. Downsize just a tad for smallmouth, however, and don’t be afraid to go super small in some finesse situations.

If you’re covering a lot of water for smallmouth with flies, again you’ll use a more active fly like a Clouser (particularly in larger bodies of water), Hollow Fleye (craft fur and bucktail), Game Changer (craft fur, feathered), Double Deceiver, Swingin’ D, etc. This may also include topwater flies like Umpqua’s Diving Frog, Ron Dong Crease Fly, or a Double-Barrel popper.

If the smallmouth are negative or you know right where they are, you’ll fish slow and deep normally, often sight-fishing. Flies like the Equalizer, Chocklett’s Changer Craw, small Clousers, and PC Goby are excellent for doing finesse or subsurface fly fishing for smallmouth bass.

Take the same approach as you would with largemouth bass by learning about what conventional tackle anglers are doing, particularly pro bass anglers.

Photo: Lou Uecker

FLY FISHING FOR SPOTTED BASS

Spotted bass are really two species: northern spotted bass (rarely over 5 pounds) and Alabama bass (double digits, mainly in California). They are similar to each other, and most people don’t distinguish them, as scientists for a long time considered them to be the same species. For the purposes of this article, we will consider them the same fish, spotted bass.

These bass are some of the most aggressive and tough bass that you’ll encounter. They are somewhat small in most cases, but in California, you get some absolute monsters—these are actually Alabama bass. Outside of California, you can plan on your average-sized spotted bass being smaller than an average smallmouth in most cases.

Spotted bass behave more like smallmouth than they do largemouth. In fact, spotted bass/Alabama bass will often cause local bass populations to go down because of their voracious nature. Largemouth can often survive this because they move to more highly vegetated areas of the lake or reservoir that spotted bass don’t populate in high numbers. In other words, largemouth bass will sometimes inhabit certain areas that spotted bass will not.

Flies and tactics for spotted bass are primarily the same as you would use for smallmouth and largemouth, but because they are on average a little smaller, you can often use flies you would use for a population of slightly smaller smallmouth bass. This would obviously change if you were pursuing the larger populations of spotted bass (Alabama bass) in California.

FLY FISHING FOR ROCK BASS

A bonus bass is the rock bass. Rock bass are the true transition from the panfish version of sunfish to the bass species. They look exactly like you would expect a bluegill crossed with a smallmouth bass would look. Rock bass inhabit many bodies of water in the East, Midwest, and Southern United states and many of the Eastern Provinces of Canada.

Fly fishing for rock bass isn’t really something I have ever heard anyone doing. Rock bass are almost always bycatch when you’re fly fishing for smallmouth, bluegill, crappie, or largemouth.

If you ever wanted to fly fishing specifically for rock bass, you would use sized-down smallmouth flies or sized-up bluegill flies.

FLY FISHING FOR TEMPERATE BASS/TRUE BASS

Temperate bass, from the family moronidae, portray many differences from the sunfish bass species. There are 4 main tendencies that these bass have that make them unique to the fly angler.

First, they are highly migratory. In fact, striped bass are anadromous moving from fresh water to salt water like salmon do. All of the temperate bass species are anadromous in that they move into rivers to spawn. Besides this, they move extensively in the water systems they inhabit, both throughout the day and throughout the season.

Second, temperate bass have very different feeding tendencies from the sunfish bass species. Because it is the nature of temperate bass to migrate, they follow large schools of minnows regularly. Find the bait, and you’ll find the fish. That means that the temperate bass can be much more inclined to feed in open water. They will use structure and cover to corral bait, but they look for large schools of baitfish and make it a point to follow them, feeding when they have an ideal chance.

Because of this, they also become somewhat selective on the size and appearance of the flies you throw. You often need to match the hatch for these bass since they get in the pattern of munching on large schools of bait.

Third, temperate bass are highly social, living almost exclusively in schools. Fly fishing for these bass does not entail making pinpoint casts to pieces of cover normally. You’re more likely to fan cast trying to cover water attempting to locate a school bass.

Fourth, they are often sensitive to sunlight, and normally prefer lowlight scenarios for feeding, particularly at dusk and dawn. They will feed during the day, specifically white bass, but you can bet that you’ll have great success at these lowlight time periods.

Photo: Captain Chris Newsome

FLY FISHING FOR STRIPED BASS

Fly fishing for striped bass is extremely popular, particularly on both coasts. Stripers are natively an anadromous saltwater species from the Atlantic Ocean, but they have been successfully introduced to the West Coast, where they are extremely popular, specifically in California and the Delta fishery and surrounding area.

Striped bass are also found in tons of freshwater impoundments and lakes, and many high-quality fisheries exist throughout the United States, particularly in the South and Midwest, with a few Western and Eastern fisheries thrown in for good measure.

Because stripers are anadromous, they also show up in many different river systems. This makes them accessible to fly anglers that are actually wading, and this is also the case for many Eastern coastal fisheries, where fly anglers fish from shore. A watercraft of some sort will help a ton in most scenarios, however.

Stripers primarily feed on minnow species, but they also feed on crabs, worms, squid, and shrimp in ocean and estuary environments. Like the other species of temperate bass, they often get somewhat selective on shape and size of fly when they are feeding on a particular minnow species, so having a selection of sizes of minnow patterns is critical to consistently landing stripers on fly.

As far as flies go, there are interesting traditions on both the East and West Coasts, but they all work on both coasts. On the East Coast, Bob Popovics’ flies are extremely popular. These are the Hollow Fleye, Bulkhead, Semper Fleye, Surf Candy, Jiggy Fleye, and Bob’s Banger. Other prominent tyers are Johnny King, Steve Farrar, and Dave Skok.

On the West Coast, Dan Blanton and Charlie Bisharat have contributed greatly to the flies of that region. These include Flashtail Clousers and Flashtail Whistlers. Bisharat’s patterns are the Airhead, Spot-on Baitfish, and the Pole Dancer. Lee Haskin is also another prominent tyer.

Use these patterns, in addition to Clousers tied in different ways, and you’ll be set on fly patterns for striped bass.

FLY FISHING FOR HYBRID STRIPED BASS

Hybrid striped bass (hybrids, wipers) are my favorite species to catch on a fly in fresh water—when you can catch them. They are a mix of a striped bass female and a white bass male and are therefore sterile in the vast majority of cases.

They are the most sensitive to light of any species of bass that I’ve pursued, and you normally catch them at dawn and dusk. Like the other true bass, they are also a highly social species that is almost always in a school. Because of this, it’s often a feast or famine experience.

Hybrid striped bass are insanely powerful fish, the strongest of the bass species. They, like the other true bass, are much more migratory than the sunfish species. Because of this, they have much more stamina and speed. If you have never seen your backing in fresh water, latch into a nice hybrid striped bass in a river, and that will change everything.

When fly fishing for hybrids, you will find them in lakes/reservoirs and in rivers, which makes them a great species for fly anglers. They will use structure and cover to push bait into a corner, and this is an important place to look when pursuing hybrids. Current is also a great way for them to confuse and corral baitfish. For this reason, dams and locks are a great place to look for hybrids.

Hybrid striped bass can become selective as they follow around or corner schools of bait. If the bait is small, they will key on these, which gives fly anglers an advantage if the bait is super small. They will also annihilate larger flies in many cases, and when you get on a school of large fish, over 8 pounds, it is unlike anything you will experience in fresh water.

Good flies are Clousers from 2 to 6 inches and EP Shad flies. They will also take top-water flies, like the Ron Dong Crease Fly, the Pole Dancer, and Double Barrel Poppers.

FLY FISHING FOR WHITE BASS

If you think bluegill are fun, you’ll love white bass. White bass are the smallest of the major bass species we pursue (not including rock bass), but they make up for it with a voracity that is frightening for any minnow species that might encounter a school of ravenous white bass.

You can catch white bass in both stillwaters and rivers, and when they come into rivers in the spring, the action is just plain stupid when you catch it right.

White bass fly fishing is also a great way to introduce a kid to fly fishing with an active retrieve. You can take turns casting and catching, or you can simply fish together, hole hopping up the river.

White bass are very similar to hybrid striped bass, except they are much more active during the sunny times of the day or on sunny days in general. In fact, you’ll often catch white bass in the bright sun, and you’ll also catch white bass and hybrid striped bass in the same areas of the river, catching a hybrid on one cast and a white bass on the next.

Flies are simple, a white Craft Fur Hollow Fleye #4 or a smallish Clouser are often all it takes. Throw in a Wiggle Minnow, and you should be set. White and chartreuse are great color combos for your white bass flies.

Photo: Jeff Liskay

BASICS OF EQUIPMENT

It is very hard to make generalizations about bass equipment because it varies so much. You have stripers on one end, which can weigh over 50 pounds, and rock bass, which normally weigh under a pound. With that in mind, we can put bass equipment into three main classes: 1) stripers, hybrids, and largemouth; 2) smallmouth; and 3) white bass and spotted bass.

ROD WEIGHTS

For stripers, hybrids, and largemouth, you normally use a rod from a 7 to 10 weight, depending on the fly, conditions, and casting distance. You can even use a 6 weight in many cases. For smallmouth, normally we use 6 to 8 weights, but 5 weights are sometimes used. For white bass and spots, we use 5 to 6 weights normally.

LINES

Lines vary tremendously, from floating lines to full sinking lines, depending on the body of water that you’re pursuing the bass on. A full sinking intermediate is a very good all-round fly line, and you need a floating line for poppers. On larger bodies of water, you’ll probably use a shooting head style fly line, like RIO’s Outbound lines. Sink tips are also very good for rivers in particular.

LEADERS AND TIPPETS

Leaders and tippets normally range from 10 lb. to 20 lb., and sometimes heavier for stripers. The size of your fly is the most important thing to consider here. The bigger the fly, the larger the diameter of your leader and tippet.

BASS FLY FISHING: SO MANY OPTIONS

Fly fishing for bass is something that all fly anglers should do. If you live in The United States, you’re living in the world hub of bass fishing. You more than likely have a bass species swimming in a pond, river, or reservoir within ten miles of where you live, and you might just find an incredible fly fishing experience you never knew existed. You might not be ready to give up your ClackaCraft for a Ranger, but you might be missing a new facet of fly fishing that will inform your trout fishing.

Don’t underestimate the rugged beauty and fertility of a bass’s environment as well. I’ve seen smallmouth bass rivers that looked like an ocean reef just teaming with huge schools of minnows.

You also have variety. You can visit pristine wilderness or find a largemouth in the pond across from your house. We all want to fly fish more, make sure your getting in your quota of yearly fly fishing for bass.

Fly fishing for bluegill might seem boring for some. We often assume that a big fish is better than a small fish. It’s surprising, then, how popular bluegill are with both conventional tackle and fly anglers. We recognize the unique perks that these fish provide and rarely get tired of them.

Sunfish, including bluegill/bream in particular, are almost always available from north to south, are beautifully colored, abundant, and great fighters for their small size. In warm conditions, these fish can be almost impossible to keep off of your fly. However, a few guidelines can help you have consistent success, fly fishing for bluegill and the various other species of sunfish.

BLUEGILL NATURE

Bluegill are first and foremost a social species. You will pretty much always find them in groups. This is because they are always a prey species, no matter how big they get. Find one bluegill, and you’ll find a bunch more. In fact, you will probably find other sunfish species as well with them. They will regularly interbreed with these sunfish as well, showing just how social they are.

A bluegill’s social nature also makes it competitive. You snooze, and you lose with bluegill. If one of the school doesn’t eat something, another ten will go after it. Bluegill competition is good for the fly antler.

Bluegill are voracious. They will eat anything that swims if they can get it in their mouth. I have been absolutely blown away by the flies they’ve fit into their mouth, which is not very big I might add. Because of their nature, your flies and presentation can reflect lots of different prey species.

Bluegill are a versatile feeder as well. They will eat at any level of the water column, and eat extremely well throughout the year, even during the winter, as they are a favorite of ice anglers.

BLUEGILL BIOLOGY

BLUEGILL LIFECYCLE

Like all sunfish/bass species, bluegill spawn in the spring. The males create a nest and spawn with the females of the species. Then the males will protect the nest until the little bluegill are able to move into the shallows where they will live until they are around three to five inches, when they can begin to spawn. They will then become more adventurous in their movements throughout the body of water.

BLUEGILL FEEDING HABITS

Bluegill use ram-suction to feed. That means that they can slurp stuff off the bottom or suspended, and they can ram into a larger prey item to gulp it down. Because of this, bluegill feed at all levels of the water column and for really anything they can get in their mouth.

Bluegill are not as adept at catching minnow species like a smallmouth bass for example. They can normally find a large variety of smaller crustaceans, eggs, zooplankton, and insects. Fish fry are also fair game.

Bluegill are very opportunistic and will eat basically anything that they can get in their mouth. Water temperature will determine what and how aggressively the bluegill are eating. They are also incredibly curious and prone to feed with excellent eyesight. In other words, the perfect fish for flies.

BLUEGILL ENVIRONMENTS

My experience fly fishing for bluegill has normally been in water ten feet and shallower, from the Western to Eastern U.S. I just don’t fish for bluegill and sunfish in water that is twenty feet deep unless I’m fishing vegetation or steep inclines right next to this depth of water, so for me, bluegill are synonymous with cover.

They can be found in open-water environments at times in the seasonal cycle, but spring to fall, you almost always find tons of bluegill in vegetation and cover. Besides this generalization, invertebrate and zooplankton activity will determine where you find the fish as long as there is enough oxygen present for them to stay relatively shallow.

The best bluegill water that I have ever seen is normally shallow lakes and larger ponds. These normally have lots of reeds/cattails and have enormous amounts of food. Bluegill are very adaptive, though, and can be found in most types of water. Normally, they do not like current, like smallmouth bass do. In fact, you’ll normally find a few bluegill in slow sections of smallmouth bass rivers.

BLUEGILL FLIES

Because bluegill are smaller fish, they feed on lots of invertebrates. That means that virtually every fly that imitates a bug will work on bluegill. Imitative fly patterns with rubber legs, hackle, marabou, etc., are deadly on bluegill. For more in-depth  information on bluegill flies see this article.

BLUEGILL FLY FISHING EQUIPMENT

BLUEGILL FLY REELS

Absolutely any fly reel will work on bluegill. In fact, I’m not even sure I’ve ever used my reel to land a bluegill. Use anything to hold your line, and hit the water.

BLUEGILL FLY RODS

Because bluegill are almost always in ponds and lakes, I prefer a standard 9 foot rod, or around there. If you’re casting close, you can get away with a shorter rod, but even here, a longer rod allows you to dap flies easier. As to fly rod weight, a 3wt to a 5wt is perfect. If you’re on a larger body of water with cover and big bluegill, go with a 5wt.

BLUEGILL FLY LINES

You can get away with 2 fly lines total for bluegill: a floating line and a clear intermediate. Use the floating line for most applications near the surface or with dries/poppers, and use the clear floating line for times when you want to fish a little deeper/slower with submerged retrieves.

BLUEGILL TIPPETS/LEADERS

Simplicity is the theme, and we don’t stop with bluegill tippets and leaders. For materials, use nylon or fluorocarbon. For the most part, it makes no difference at all. For dries and poppers, you may want to go with nylon monofilament since it floats easier than fluorocarbon.

Leaders should be 6 to 10 feet in length. For floating lines, go shorter if you are casting very close, and if you’re casting out into the open water you can increase the length of your leader. For a clear intermediate, go with a 6- or 7-foot leader. You can use a knotless commercial leader for the most part, or tie your own if you like to do this.

Tippets should match the leader, and in most cases, you’ll only use them to maintain leader length or to fish two flies. 4x to 3x is perfect for the majority of flies and situations you’ll find yourself in when going after bluegill. If you fish some bigger topwater flies, you can bump up to 2x, so your line doesn’t twist. You can even go to 5x if you are fishing super small flies for some reason.

BLUEGILL FLY FISHING PRESENTATIONS

Presentations for bluegill are normally not super complex. However, the more skilled you are at stillwater fly fishing, the more consistently you’ll catch lots of big bluegill.

MOST VERSATILE BLUEGILL FLY FISHING PRESENTATION

The most versatile technique for bluegill is subsurface presentations. Retrieving your fly along weed beds and the outsides of reeds, etc., is the prime place to begin. You can also find fish in vast labyrinths of weeds, tucked back in the open pockets. At times you can’t even see these pockets because they will become grown over with weeds, particularly later in the year.

If you are not finding fish in the shallows within 100 feet of the shore, then try the first large bunch of weeds or brush adjacent from prime locations on the shore. A good way to find these locations is to locate the old spawning beds, particularly if you’re fishing in early summer.

As far as presentation goes, use your intermediate line unless you’re fishing specific hatches like damsels, certain midge hatches, or small ponds. In this case, you can use floating lines. Floating lines can also be used with flies that will sink without a sinking line, like beadheads.

The horizontal orientation of the fly retrieve is quite natural for bluegill, since they have excellent eyesight and often prefer that horizontal orientation.

If you have electronics, you can locate fish, otherwise just cover water near vegetation/cover and stop when you find activity. In ponds, this is almost anywhere.

The other main method is to fish a dropper, but I do this only if I need to plop my fly into small open areas in weed beds or if the fish are sluggish or I’m sight fishing to a lot of fish.

SLUGGISH BLUEGILL ON THE FLY

There are times, particularly after a drop in water temperature or when the water temperature is low to begin with, when bluegill are lethargic and will absolutely not eat anything unless you adjust.

I remember a trip to an amazing bluegill fishery with tons of nine-to-ten-inch bluegill and the occasional fish approaching eleven. I brought along my buddy and his dad, who didn’t fly fish, since in late May hundred-fish days of trophy bluegill per person were expected.

A recent storm had dropped the water temp, and we had to adjust in both location and technique. I ended up catching around thirty on flies, my friend’s dad caught around six on bait, and my buddy, a very competent fly angler, caught zero! The difference between us was presentation speed.

When bluegill get sluggish, the first step, as with all fish, is to locate them. As said above, if you are not finding fish in the shallows, try to find adjacent deeper water with structure, particularly more vegetation or brush piles. Humps and flats can also produce fish depending on the invertebrates that are active. In many ponds, you can reach most parts of it, so try deeper water with weed beds, but in many cases, you don’t have to worry about locating fish, since it’s small enough to have fish in most spots. This all depends on the size of the pond, though.

When you’ve located fish, it is critical that you slow down your presentation. As pointed out, the inherent horizontal presentation of the fly rod allows your fly to sit in a more natural position, and this is great for sluggish bluegill and other sunfish.

Your presentation must be super slow in many cases, so slow, that your fly will hover in one place, with the movement of your materials enticing the fish. Very tiny strips are a way to get the fish’s attention, but pauses often produce a large amount of the takes.

This requires a practiced ability to recognize the very elastic-feeling take of bluegill. You must have constant contact with your fly to feel these subtle takes. I will anchor and cast with the wind, so that I am retrieving into the wind in order to feel these takes. The advice found in this article applies quite well to sluggish bluegill.

FLY FISHING FOR BLUEGILL: TOPWATER

When bluegill are relatively shallow and the water temperature is up, above 60 degrees, bluegill will destroy topwater imitations. When there’s a specific hatch, you can fish specific imitations, for example, damsel adults, mayflies, and terrestrials like ants.

Attractor dries like Chernobyl Ants, smaller Mr. Peanut Hoppers, and Humpies will take fish all day long. However, poppers are what most anglers really enjoy when going after these fish, and it’s a ton of fun when bluegill are really on poppers.

You can use a variety of poppers, but the BoogleBug is about as sure a bet as there is for bluegill and sunfish. Yellow, blue, black, and white are all super effective. Fish these along the weed patches, in open pockets, and through cover when the water temp’s up, and you won’t be disappointed.

Bluegill and sunfish are sometimes neglected because we take them for granted. They do not, however, always destroy poppers at a clip of 100 fish per day. They definitely have their own nuance and adaptive strengths.

BLUEGILL FLY FISHING STILL SO MUCH FUN!

They are a very special fish for many of us and provide a great opportunity for testing flies and techniques, introducing kids to fishing, and just having a blast catching a lot of fish. I have been guilty of taking them for granted, but I never get tired of their beauty and tenacious attitude. Many bass anglers who have caught nine-inch bluegill on a monster bass lure can attest to that. Maybe they are small enough to fit in a pan, but hey, they’re not going there willingly!

Smallmouth bass flies have come a long way over the years. This arose from two main influences: the popularity and innovation in fly fishing streamers and the hundreds of designs and advances in general tackle smallmouth lures. The influence of general tackle would probably be the most important of these influences. In fact, it’s safe to say that virtually all of the top smallmouth bass flies have been inspired by some smallmouth bass lure, and this goes for bass flies and bass fly fishing in general. Innovations in streamers helped fly anglers make new designs, but the designs themselves have almost invariably come from innovative smallmouth bass lures. This makes sense because so many more anglers pursue smallmouth bass with lures than they do with flies, and there are countless bass fishing tournaments with money on the line. Big money means big innovation.

Smallmouth flies still have some limitations, but they’re getting better and better. We have a ton of options. But before you head out and purchase a million smallmouth bass flies to pursue smallmouth bass on the fly, you need to make sure you have you’re bases covered. The best way to do this is to think about how you can buy flies that offer you different options and versatility.

A NOTE ON SMALLMOUTH BASS FLY LINES AND LEADERS

First, different fly lines and leader configurations will dramatically change your smallmouth fly’s action and capabilities. The main fly lines you’ll use are floating, sink tip, and full sinking. You’ll then add leaders to these in various lengths from 10 to 3 feet normally.

Having many different fly lines is important because some flies may have difficulty sinking without sinking lines. You’ll also be able to get to the fish’s zone much quicker.

Different fly lines will affect the action of your fly as well. If you use an intermediate fly line with a jerkbait style fly, for example, you’ll be able to suspend your fly more easily in shallower water on the pause. Another variation on fly action can come from using a weighted fly, like a Clouser, with a long leader and a floating line. This will allow the fly to kick up better in many cases.

The point of this is to experiment with different lines, sink rates, and leader lengths to get your fly where you want it and with the right action you want. So, when you buy or design a fly, the first question should be, “How do you fish it and what line and leader do you use?”

HOW TO SELECT SMALLMOUTH BASS FLIES

The goal of this article is to allow you to choose as few flies as possible to cover all of the needs you have. So, by the end of the article, you should be able to buy or tie flies that cover many different uses. In this light, a great way to organize your smallmouth bass flies is according to features and function.

TYPES OF SMALLMOUTH BASS FLIES

There’s no official list of the types of smallmouth bass flies that exist, but the following classifications will help you to think about the different options you have with smallmouth flies. These are not gospel, so feel free to classify your flies in a different way if it works for you.

TOPWATER

There are many different types of topwater smallmouth bass flies. These are flies that at some point during the retrieve are enticing smallmouth on the surface of the water.

POPPERS

Poppers are floating flies that have a divot in the front of the fly. To make these, you’ll normally buy a “popper head” that has this characteristic divot. They have a famous gulp or plop sound when you retrieve them because water enters into the cavity of the popper. These flies are almost always retrieved with a pause and strip cadence.

FLAT-FACED POPPERS

I classify flies that have no divot in the front but push water to make an auditory disturbance as flat-faced poppers. This class comprises flies like classic deer hair poppers, Blockhead poppers, and Bob’s Bangers.

You can retrieve these just like regular poppers, but at times you can burn them much faster over the water surface because they aren’t necessarily pulled under as much as flies with divots or lips. The big surface area moves tons of water and really makes some noise with the biggest examples like the Bob’s Banger.

OTHER TOP-WATER FLIES

Divot and flat-faced poppers make up a large part of smallmouth bass top-water flies, but there are still many different types of top-water fly options.

Sliders are a topwater fly that slides across the surface of the water with very little water disturbance. Some sliders move basically in a straight line while others can dart around and even slightly under the water. This pattern is useful when smallmouth are in really clear and shallow water or when you want to create tons of movement on the surface without a lot of disturbance. Good examples of slider style flies are the Sneaky Pete, Titanic Slider, and the KDM Rat.

Top-water frog style patterns that don’t really pop as much can be consider sliders, divers, or flat-faced poppers. Either way, they are very similar to sliders/divers but are often very weedless. The Gutless Frog is a great example of these patterns.

Crease flies are poppers of sorts, but they act very differently in the water, depending on the head construction. Crease flies have very tall sides from folded foam. They can have a flat face, a divot, and/or a lip. The action ranges from light splashes to a pronounced walk-the-dog action.

Walk-the-dog flies move in a side-to-side action. These flies are excellent in warmer water or when the fish are a little more aggressive for top-water flies. These flies require a strip and slight pause cadence to generate this action. Ron Dong Crease Flies and Pole Dancers are great versions of these flies.

Gurglers are like a half flat-faced popper. They generate a more subdued sound than a full flat-faced popper. They also generate a splashier sprinkle of water than flat faced poppers. These are a great top-water fly when you want to be a bit more subtle on your sound and splash.

DIVERS

Divers do just as the name implies; they dive under the water but then float to the surface. This is accomplished with a tapered head and normally a large collar. Smallmouth bass love these flies, particularly if they’re on a frog bite. The sound that divers make is awesome for attracting fish and sounds like an exaggerated popper. The Umpqua Frog is a great example of a diver pattern.

TERRESTRIALS

At times, mostly in the fall in clear shallow water, smallmouth will focus on smaller terrestrial patterns. This is because there are a lot of terrestrials around but also because they may have been pounded by larger patterns all season.

A good way to figure out if you should try terrestrials is to see how the fish are responding to your regular sized topwater flies. If you’re getting nothing, they’re not committing, or you can tell you’re spooKing fish, then you can try a terrestrial pattern like the Mr. Peanut Hopper.

MID-DEPTHS

Before looking at mid-depth and bottom flies, think about triggers. The main three triggers for smallmouth bass flies are horizontal, vertical, and both planes (erratic). This means that the primary action of the fly is either along the horizontal (side-to-side), vertical (up and down), or both planes (erratic falls, rises, falls, and turns). Some flies will do two or three of these actions with different retrieves. Mid-depth flies employ these triggers more than any other type of smallmouth bass flies.

HORIZONTAL

The most characteristic action of horizontal is the side-to-side action. This is similar to the action a snake will use. Another incredibly important action is one jerkbait style action. In this case, the movement is more like a “glide bait” in that the fly moves mainly in the horizontal plane, and the pauses are longer. Many flies can have both horizontal and erratic actions, depending on how you fish the fly. Good examples of a horizontal action are the Double Deceiver, Swingin’ D, Bulkhead, and Todd’s Swimming Minnow.

VERTICAL

Vertical actions with smallmouth bass flies are almost always connected to weight. Weight comes in many different forms: lead tied in, bead chain, lead or brass dumbbell eyes, for example. This weight gives your fly that characteristic kick and dive action that fish love. The Clouser fly pattern is the quintessential vertical action fly pattern. Other great smallmouth flies with vertical actions are the Bottoms Up, Half and Half, and Schultz Red Eye Leach.

BOTH PLANES (ERRATIC)

Flies that can cover both planes are some of the absolute best smallmouth bass flies. These flies are normally fished at a moderate to slow speed because you need to pause the fly for at least a moment so the fly can switch directions. Smallmouth almost always hit on the pause. These flies might be termed “jerkbait flies.” Great examples are the CK Baitfish, Craft Fur Hollow Fleye, and Game Changer.

TAIL FLICKER

There are some flies that have very little action except for the tail. These flies travel more or less in a straight line when retrieved, but their tail has quite a bit of action. These flies are more subtle in their movement. They can be fished extremely slowly or extremely fast. Many single-hook trout flies have this action. Examples are the Zonker, Seal Bugger, and Meat Whistle.

BOTTOM/WEIGHTED

Bottom/weighted flies fall into two classes: low motion and flies with triggers. Many of the low motion flies are trying to imitate a particular prey species in appearance. They might also have materials that have inherent motion, that is, motion that the water will bring to life. Examples of these materials are marabou, fox hair, rubber legs, craft fur, and rabbit.

These flies will elicit a strike when the fly is just sitting still on the bottom or when you give the fly subtle shakes. You might also pull the fly along the bottom. These flies are great for sight fishing or fussy fish. A good example is a Potato Chip Goby or a small craft fur Clouser.

Many weighted flies are meant to be fished on or near the bottom. They can also have triggers built into them similarly to mid-depth flies. Flies can have all of the actions that mid-depth flies have, but some flies must be fished slightly off of the bottom to create the action. This is the case with Clousers for example. They can get a nice vertical action just off the bottom.

An Equalizer, on the other hand, will land right on the bottom and move very erratically with a sharp strip of the fly line. A Changer Craw can generate a vertical or erratic movement, depending on how you fish it.

Many weighted flies give you options. Some are excellent low motion flies that have excellent action when stripped.

SMALLMOUTH BASS FLY FEATURES

Besides triggers and different types of smallmouth bass flies, these are some other fly features you should consider: water depth capabilities, optimal speed, size, profile/appearance, color, materials, unique fly action, and sound.

SMALLMOUTH BASS FLY DEPTH CAPABILITIES

We covered depth capabilities somewhat under fly types above, but you need to have all bases covered to get your fly into the strike zone of smallmouth bass when they are in different moods. Sometimes they’ll move ten feet to smash your fly when at others, you’ll have to basically smack them on the nose. Have smallmouth flies that cover all of these situations.

OPTIMAL SPEED OF SMALLMOUTH BASS FLIES

Each fly has an optimal speed and cadence. This is important for a few reasons.

First, you need to consider the mood of the fish. If you fish too fast, when the fish are in a non-aggressive mood, the smallmouth may not even move towards your fly. In this case, you might select a smallmouth fly like the Game Changer that you can strip and then let sit. This will keep the fly in the zone longer.

Second, the fly’s design will have limited speed capabilities. For example, you may need a fly that can move much faster while still maintaining some sort of action. An example might be a Double Deceiver, which has a horizontal serpentine movement even when you strip fast.

This is really apparent with top-water flies. For example, a popper normally requires a pause, but a Ron Dong Crease Fly can walk the dog at a fairly fast pace. The fly’s design allows you to cover water faster when you have aggressive fish and warmer water temps. Have different flies for different speeds.

SMALLMOUTH BASS FLY SIZE

The size of your smallmouth bass flies is hugely important, and many factors determine why you might choose one size over another.

First, the activity level and feeding drive of a smallmouth at a given time will warrant using one size over another. For example, if the smallmouth are in prespawn with a warming water temp, they will crush very large flies like a six-inch Bulkhead. Smaller flies can still work, but the biggest females are often looking for that big prey item.

Second, available prey species and fishing pressure can condition the smallmouth to look for a certain prey item or smaller sized fly. This is really apparent on Lake Michigan in the spring for example when the lake is swarming with gobies. In addition, Lake Michigan receives heavy fishing pressure in spots, and these fish are at times not willing to crush the huge patterns you might fish in rivers.

Third, density of fish population will determine how small you can go and effectively cover water. If you find a bunch of fish stacked up in an area, 2-to-3-inch flies can be deadly. I’ve experienced this many times on almost every type of water from Western reservoirs to Mid-Western rivers. Throw a large Hollow Fleye into them and you may not catch a thing, but hop a small crayfish fly off the bottom, and you may catch everything.

PROFILE AND APPEARANCE OF YOUR SMALLMOUTH BASS FLIES

The overall profile and appearance of smallmouth bass flies can be important at times. I can’t point to a single time that I’ve been fishing for smallmouth bass when the appearance of the fly mattered that much. For example, times that I found fish that were feeding on crayfish, I did not have to use a fly that looked like a crayfish, with claws, etc. However, the fly needed to move similarly to a crayfish or a bit slower in general. Maybe you’ll find a situation where you need to more match the hatch, but impressionistic flies that you can make move right are the rule not the exception.

Profile is more important. Again, I use impressionistic flies that have similar profiles to a bunch of different prey items. My Equalizer fly pattern is the epitome of this. Flies that have the overall profile that you want but that are versatile in their action are highly effective.

Profile can also be important for the fish’s mood. In general, the more neutral to negative a smallmouth bass’s mood is, the smaller in profile I go, unless other factors affect this decision, like the prevalence of prey species.

Profile can also affect the overall aquatic footprint of your fly. A fly that has more bulk pushes more water. Smallmouth can feel this with their lateral line. So, if you’re in a lowlight situation, you need to cover water, the fish are super aggressive, or you’re going after monsters only, a large profile fly pattern like a Hollow Fleye may be what you need.

COLOR AND FLASH OF SMALLMOUTH BASS FLIES

Smallmouth bass flies come in virtually any color imaginable. Smallmouth love almost all of these colors at different times. In general, I find the more inactive smallmouth are, the more I need to use natural colors, and related to this, my smaller flies are almost always natural colors like brown, olive, tan, black, and rusty orange. This is usually the case with most of my flies that I fish near the bottom in clear water.

Jerkbait style flies like Game Changers, Hollow Fleyes, Bulkheads can vary from white and tans to bright pink, orange, and chartreuse. It depends on water clarity and fish activity, and sometimes smallmouth just like brighter colors because of their natural curiosity and aggression.

Poppers and smallmouth flies that I retrieve quickly are often similar to jerkbait flies, but I will get pretty wild with the colors from yellow, chartreuse, and orange to black, silver, and white.

Flash is similar to color in that I normally put flash in most of my mid-depth flies and some of my topwater flies, but less frequently in my finesse and bottom flies. I’ve found smallmouth love flash in most cases where they’re somewhat active.

UNIQUE FLY ACTION AND MATERIALS

Each smallmouth bass fly pattern you choose will share many features with other patterns, but each one will have its own unique fly action capabilities. These unique fly action capabilities can make a huge difference in how many smallmouth bass you’ll catch on a fly on a given day.

You can often modify your fly patterns when you tie them to have different unique fly actions. For example, you can vary the overall size of the fly or the length of the tail. This will cause the rhythm of the fly’s action to be faster, slower, or more/less exaggerated.

For example, a short, stubby Game Changer, say 3 inches, will often move much quicker than a 6-inch gamechanger, which will require a longer pause. This goes for most jerkbait style flies, like Hollow Fleyes and Bulkheads. Really active fish might prefer this quicker movement of the shorter flies.

The materials you use will also affect the action of the fly as well, so you could tie these patterns in different materials to achieve much different actions. For example, craft fur and bucktail have unique buoyancy properties that are different from one another. Your flies will act differently when you use these materials tied with varying degrees of density. Having options for the day’s fishing will make you much more versatile.

See below how Blane Chocklett creates his Game Changers with different materials and designs to have different actions and triggers.

Another example might be adding different amounts of weight in different locations. You really have so many options when it comes to your fly patterns and their unique actions, even when you’re tying many of the same general style.

One final example would be tying a Clouser with large lead eyes, heavy amounts of craft fur, and a flashtail out the back. This fly would push more water, dip more exaggeratedly, and send a ton of movement from the tail for more attracting properties. On the other hand, a thinly-tied bucktail Clouser with light eyes and no flashtail will have much less action but may be exactly what a negative fish prefers on a cold-water spring morning.

Don’t underestimate how you can change smallmouth fly action and how important these unique actions are.

SOUND AND VIBRATIONS WITH SMALLMOUTH BASS FLIES

Finally, sound and vibrations are unbelievably important for smallmouth bass fishing with general tackle. They are also important for smallmouth bass flies, but we cannot achieve the same degree of water disturbance with flies yet, particularly when we’re talking about vibration. Buzzbaits, Whopper Ploppers, rattling crankbaits, and spinnerbaits are just a few options available to general tackle anglers. These baits are extremely effective for smallmouth, who love vibration and sound.

Virtually no fly can emulate these lures in vibration. We have to rely on flies that have big profiles to push a lot of water to the smallmouth bass’s lateral line to even get close to generating as much sound/vibration .

Some smallmouth bass flies have rattles in them, but I personally have noticed zero difference using a relatively tiny rattle buried deep within the fly. The sound/vibration difference is minimal. We’ve got work to do with our fly patterns to achieve similar outputs of vibration to the metal and plastic components of smallmouth bass lures.

We can do fairly well with sound on our topwater flies. Achieving super fast speeds is difficult, but as far as sound goes, we’re pretty close.

So, we can get good sound outputs from our topwater flies, and each of these topwater fly patterns has a unique sound. You should have a variety of different topwater flies with different sounds. For example, a small Bugle Bug or popper with a hard head will have a short blurp and higher pitched tink respectively. This differs from a Blockhead Popper that pushes more water and makes a large deep sound when retrieved. A large Bob’s Banger will push even more water and have a deeper gulp. A Crease Fly will have multiple higher-pitch splashes. Each one of these different topwater flies gives you options for the fish’s mood and preference on a given day and body of water. Have an assortment of these topwater flies to give you options and to fine-tune what the smallmouth are on.

HARD PLASTIC HEAD PRODUCES A HIGH-PITCHED TINK SOUND

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

With this info, you’re much better able to make deliberate decisions on the water about your smallmouth bass flies. Have smallmouth flies that give you different features, so that you can experiment and dial in on what the smallmouth bass want each day and even time of day, etc.

When on the water, watch what your buddies are fishing and how the fish are responding to your and their flies. Ask questions and vary your retrieve. Figure out if they want a fast-moving fly, one that pauses for long periods of time, one that is burning through the water, one that matches the abundant prey species available, one that gives them a huge profile and aquatic footprint, or a smallmouth fly that uses any of the features discussed above. You’ll catch a lot more smallmouth bass on the fly with this mindset.