Delta bass with Captain Kevin Doran yesterday

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Andy Guibord and I received a huge lesson in how to fish top water for bass with Kevin. We did an 'all day deal'.

We learned how to fish weed-less way back in the cover.

Kevin uses his own versions of a spun deer hair fly that swims in the surface. The closest thing you could buy would be the Umpqua Swimming Frog by Dave Whitlock. Kevin says Umpqua uses 20# Mason hard mono for a standard single weed guard but he prefers to use 25#.

We used 7/8 weight rod with a large weight forward #9/10 floating line with 6' of 20# Maxima for a leader to fish those weedless flies back in places I have never fished or would never imagine fishing for bass. We hooked some so far back in the cover we had to pull the boat into it to lift the bass straight up into the boat.

When we saw a pocket back in the tulles we would just cast back over the top of it all and let the fly fall into the pocket. I never thought you could fish those places with anything.

There are 'secrets' that Kevin showed us both on how to pull weedless bass flies right throw all that cover. The basic secret is to pull slow but it really helped use to get a demo from Kevin in the morning.

This top water action is AM and PM from April through October. May through Septembers is the time it will be warm and best though.

May is big as we already knew from early AM now till around 11am. Then again from about 3pm till dark. The bite last night near dark was wild and Andy and I had a 'double' they were so hot.

From noon till 3pm we took a big break and rested on a private island that Kevin has access to with lots of grass, picnic benches and bathrooms.

[Brett]

Wow! The "man" showing you guys how to hook 'em! That is awesome. Kevin truly knows his way around the delta. Sounds great. I fished Decker Lake in austin on Tuesday with Jason Hartwick. I still can't get the skunk stripe off my back! Lots of new water seems to have moved the fish around. Jason caught a couple. I did float a section of the San Marcos a couple of weeks ago. Kind of slow, but I did manage to catch a 5# LMB, plus perch and a smallmouth. I need to spend more time on that river, as well as others.

[Hairstacker]

Fascinating post Bill, thanks for the insight and details, very much appreciated! A lot of food for thought in that one. . . . I know some of the gear guys do just what you're saying -- drop it in a hole WAY back in the cover and winch 'em out. Seems like it might be helpful to have one of those airboats they use in the Everglades on those occasions when you need to go in after 'em.

[Gregg Machel]

I just got back from a trip with KD an hour ago. I didn't do quite as well as Bill and Andy (I think they wore them out yesterday) , but did all the same things. Got a few to hand, and a few grabs. Overall quite a good day, Kevin showed me all the things that Bill mentioned above, and worked with me all day until I got it. Can't wait for the next time. I should have a picture in a little bit to post soon.