Dave Whitlock on Nymphing for Largemouth Bass

Forty years in the past, writing within the June 1985 difficulty of Fly Fisherman journal, Dave Whitlock instructed a novel strategy to catching largemouth bass. On the time, streamers and topwater flies have been regarded as the easiest way to catch bucketmouths, however Whitlock found that the nymphs he fished for panfish have been additionally hooking bass.

One of many largest bass I ever hooked took a barbless dimension 12 caddis pupa I used to be swimming throughout an enormous mattress of bluegill and redear nests on a small municipal lake close to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The bass got here like an enormous automotive out of nowhere, scattering panfish like a covey of quail. Then it stopped and sipped within the tiny nymph extra delicately than any hand-size bluegill may. With a chill working up my again and neck, I set the hook. The fragile motion stopped instantly and a severe battle started. First, the massive bass rushed off the shallow nest pocket-cover to deep water. After a number of nervous give-and-cake exchanges, the largemouth got here up for a thrashing, head-shaking floor vault.

These techniques clearly nonetheless work at the moment, and you could discover that fish which have change into cautious of larger flies will nonetheless eat a nymph.

Click on right here to learn the total story at Fly Fisherman