First bass on fly

[KD]

Went fishing out near NPD this morning and caught this lovely 34cm bass, my first ever on fly. Thanks Norm!

[madmullet]

congrats on the first.... healthy looking bugga to.....

[KD]

Thanks mate. It was a very fat fish! Bass would have to be one of the prettiest fish.

[eg_vtec]

well done on the first mate

[keen_as]

Nice one mate, was thinking of having a crack at Hinze with my fly rod.

[dan25]

Thats awesome, congratz.

[sweresy]

gratz, that's a lovely photo too mate...

[Hfisho77]

well done mate thats on my to do list some day

[Guest]

truely great effort mate! congrats on your first fish on fly!

[Luc53]

They're good fun on the fly.

I should do more of it!!

What weight fly line are you using?

Luc

[Carter]

Awesome, I'll never forget my first Bass on fly

[Orca]

Congratulations. Fly fishing is another one of those things i hope to try one day!

[Jords]

Nice one mate! I'm planning on arming myself with a fly rod sometime this season - should be interesting!

[KD]

Thanks for all the great comments everyone. There is something hugely satisfying about putting in all the effort to tie your own flies and put in all the hours on the water to finally come up with the goods. I can't wait for my first saratoga!

[Nog]

Top stuff Ken. There is a certain pleasure to catching Bass on fly in my opinion. Now go tie some Toga flies!!!!

Norm

"The man who coined the phrase "Money can't buy happiness", never bought himself a good fly rod!"

[KD]

Hi Norm, I couldn't work out how to put photos into a message, so here they are on the post. I went to Jones Tackle today to talk about zonker strips, and the strips I used seem to be very old and brittle; in fact they broke just by tugging on them. So there is probably a good chance that that was my problem. I have now got some nice strong zonker, so we'll see what happens.

[KD]

G'day Luc, I was using an 8 weight floating line with a flouro pink zonker bug tied with hour glass eyes to get down deeper.

[batman]

KD

You have me intrigued!

I know diddly squat about fly fishing so I apologise if this is a stupid question.

In your opinion do you catch more fish fly fishing or with conventional rods and reel combo's/lures?

Is it a case that you find yourself casting all day and catching bugger all?

The answer to my own dumb question would be that I would take both options and experiment with different conditions.

But if you could give us an insight into some of the differences you have found?

It seems like such a noble way to fish!

Cheers

Baty

[Guest]

Sweet Bro

Cheers

Darren

[KD]

Baty, I used to fish mainly bait however I have become totally addicted to fly. I don't catch as many fish on fly as I did on bait or lure although I think the fish caught have been a better quality. However, the satisfaction of each fish caught has become much greater for me. My biggest flathead (68cm) has been on fly. I've caught mack tuna, trout, bream, garfish, mullet and pike on fly. Tying flies, experimenting with flies until I find the pattern that works, is all great fun. There is also a greater connnection with the fish as most times you fight the fish by hand without the reel. You certainly wouldn't fish fly if you were looking for a feed. Horses for courses I guess.

[batman]

KD

Thanks for the insight!

I have to admit that I have been doing my research and have my sights set on a Sage Bluegill 230 outfit. Short enough to use side saddle on the hobie somewhere up the Brissy river?! maybe!

Here is a blurb from the SAGE Website:

Bass on a fly rod? Absolutely, and it's all thanks to the gang of geeky fly rod designers at Sage! Jerry Siem was the mastermind behind the development of Sage's rough and ready trio of 7'1" tournament legal Bass Series Fly Rods. These short sticks are precision-tuned rocket launchers that can land a whopper of a hair frog on the glassiest water without disturbing a single lily pad. These rods are specially designed to sling big bugs, battle heavy wind, and rip giant fish from structure. Each rod in the series includes a carrying case and a specially matched Sage Bass Fly Line to optimize the performance loading of the rod. These bad boys aren't only for bass lovers, though. Use 'em in the mangroves for snook and baby tarpon or take 'em pike or muskie fishing!

[Nog]

Batman

If you are after a cheaper but just as able kayak rod, look at the Redington Predator series. Remember with these smaller rods you need a shooting head style flyline, a standard weight forward line like a Rio Gold/Bonefish/Redfish won't load the rod with only a little bit of the head out.

We have fly fishing nights at the club every third Thursday and encourage you to come along. Years of experience there will give you some good advice.

Regarding whether fly is better than lure/bait, the main reason fly fishing started (Mesopotania in the dark ages) was that you couldn't get a mayfly to stay on a hook and sit on the surface of the water to catch a trout. Fly fishing vastly out performs other types in the right situations, i.e. an insect hatch and the fish are targeting only one type of bait.

Also in the Bay when the Mac or Longtail Tuna are zeroed in on tiny baitfish, the slug chuckers dont stand a chance, but fly fishers have not problems.

Me, I just like fly-fishing.

Sorry to steal your thread KD

Norm

[KD]

Go right ahead Norm, the more the merrier. Went to the dam this morning; no fish but the new zonker worked a treat. Batman, I would love to own a Sage, but the budget doesnt't stretch that far! I'm lucky to have a mate in the industry who gave me great prices on a couple of Loomis rods - a 4wt Xperience and an 8wt GL2, both 9ft. Flycasting out of a yak would be a blast! I see quite a few guys in yaks at Young's Crossing chasing bass...mmm, maybe I'll update the Xmas wish list?

With rods, I made my kids a 5' practice rod for the back yard by cutting the but off the old 6' solid glass rod I had as a kid (won't say how long ago that was!!) and putting on cheap snake guides. To my amazement it actually works a treat throwing a short line with a 6wt line; it even throws reasonable loops. I could probably use it for short range stuff, up to probably 30 feet; just would have to watch getting flies in the back of the head!!