Why Fly-Fish For Bass?
by Jim Mengle The deer hair bass bug settled gently on the water amongst a maze of stick-ups, I pulled the slack out of the line, waited a few seconds and made my first retrieve. The bug gurgled on the surface. Then, a second short retrieve, gurgle — and the water exploded as the bug disappeared — kind of like when you flush the toilet on a Boeing 747. The bass jumped in an attempt to throw the fly and then went for the maze of sticks and stumps. The fly rod arced as I put maximum pressure on the fish. Minutes later the bass was at the boat, examined briefly and released. Bass love to eat these bugs. The fish are territorial and have a very predatory nature –just the scenario for top water bugs that pop, shake, shimmy and wiggle. The question was once asked, “Why fly-fish for trout?” The answer was, “Because they are found in such beautiful places.” Because beauty could be defined as ‘in the eye of the beholder’, one could say the same for fly-fishing for bass. I find a magic moment
