Trinity lake bass

[Bruce Slightom]

Does any one have any information on fishing Trinity Lake bass with a fly? I have friends that do very well with jerk and crank, but they just laugh at me when I talk about fishing with flies.

[David Lee]

Hi Bruce .
When I fished Trinity in the early 80s , I didn't use a flyrod . The Smallmouth did not seem to take surface lures/flies much , so if I was going to chase them w/ a fly , I'd use LC-13 on a mono running line and COVER THE WATER - pretty much the same way that the basspro guys do it ..... long casts to the shallows , sink a bit , and mix-up the strips . For flies , I'd go with Whitlocks Sheep Shad , #2 Clousers , and big (#4) Zonkers .... anything big and bulkey .
The Bowerman (???) boat ramp and the dredger tailings were both good spots for big Smallies (my best was a little over 5 lbs.) , just cover the water from 5 to 20 feet deep and you should find something .
I've heard that Largemouth have pretty much taken-over the lake , population wise . David