Top 5 bass flies

[ted1]

Let's hear it, what are the first flies you tie on this time of year? If you were going out on an 80 deg. afternoon with no wind and slight overcast?

Here's my pond list
1. #1/0 Deer hair mouse
2. #4 Taps bug
3. #6 black popper
4. #2 cart/white clouser
5. #6 Beadhead olive bugger/dragonbugger

[ssy]

What about for the delta? And pictures, please

[BillB]

Hey Ted, mine are as follows:

1. Yellow popper (in bright light)
2. Black popper (in dim light, after the sun is down or shade)
3. Clouser chartreuse over white
4. Pole dancer or Sneaky Pete
5. Shad pattern (an off-take of a clouser I tie)

Most of these are size 4 up to 1/0. I love yellow or frog pattern in bright sun and black in shade or at sun down.

[koffler]

I can only name #1 - a dahlberg style pattern in all chartreuce between size 8 and 2/0 depending on the pond/lake. Deadly - (why am I giving up my info tonight - granted this pattern is not unknown).

Jason

[ted1]

I would probably leave out the small stuff if I were fishing the delta, and throw more big deer hair bugs.

[Fats]

1: Umpqua Swimming Minnow
2: Umpqua Swimming Frog
3: Soggy Head Sliders
4: #2 Bead Chain Buggers
5: Foam Pencil Poppers with ton's of rubber legs.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I was a Leo Gutterres taught "farm pond in a float tube" kind of guy till I met Kevin Doran.

On the way home from our first day in the Delta with KD, Andy Guibord and I decided we didn't know much about bass fishing.

For me pond fishing and Delta fishing is fairly different.

I honestly have no desire to catch LMB underwater.

After fishing with KD we use what he uses, Umpqua Swimming Frogs and Swimming bait fish and a similar Umpqua pike fly.

In ponds I like a medium size black popper or hair-bug best.

[ssy]

1: Umpqua Swimming Minnow
2: Umpqua Swimming Frog
3: Soggy Head Sliders
4: #2 Bead Chain Buggers
5: Foam Pencil Poppers with ton's of rubber legs.

So do you throw them right in the weeds or over mats? Does the mono weedguards work well?

[Spicytuna1]

#1 Pike fly
#2 Rainy's hard bodied popper
#3 Lee Haskins White Slideball Slider
#4 Taps Fruit Cocktail color deer hari popper
#5 Upmqua swimming frog

Here are a few pics from this year with these flies, guess I need to fish the Taps bug and swimming frog more to get pics with those.

[andanb]

1. anything that looks like a frog (dahlburg, pike fly etc size to what the fish want)
2. anything that looks like a wounded bait fish on top (gurgler, white...shiny)
3. there is no #3... if you want to catch them subsurface throw conventional stuff

Bass fishing is about the blow up after a surge or two they are almost dead weight but the blow up...that heart pounding explosion...that's the thrill... that's what it is all about.
I agree with Bill if I want to catch something under the surface, its time to fish for something else.

[ted1]

So do you throw them right in the weeds or over mats? Does the mono weedguards work well?

It all depends where you are fishing, and the type of weeds that are around. The type you want to fish are the type that you can throw a weedless bug on, and slowly snake it over the mat, pop it off the mat, and get a blow up. The kind you do not want to fish are the kind that require regular fly cleaning.

On a 1/0 bug, I use 25 lb mason hard mono, and as long as you don't give a hard pull, it is completely weedless. I prefer to use non-weedless whenever I can, because of the extra hook-setting required. It may not make mush of a difference, especially if you are using a stiffer rod, but I like to throw mine on light rods.

[Darian]

I prefer divers/poppers made from deer hair but include balsa among my favorites. With that in mind:

Dahlberg Diver (weedless)

Frog Slider (weedless)

Red headed, balsa popper

Taps Bug

KD's Mat Rat

There're too many others to name that I've caught Black Bass on. I prefer to fish on top for them and like ted1, throw deep into cover. Love the blow-up. :D

[Jughandle]

It'd be hard to pare it down to five, but any list I'd make would have a Dahlberg Diver and a Whitlock's Mouserat.

[Hairstacker]

When I head out to the Delta this time of year regardless of conditions, I'm almost always tossing one of these:

1. size 2 - 3/0 green and yellow deer hair diver
2. size 2 - 3/0 black and yellow deer hair diver
3. size 2 red and white Tap's Bug