I got a cabelas brand fly fishing setup for Christmas a year ago, it's a wind river 9' #5, not sure what kind of line it came with. Anyways, I'm headed to the deer cabin this weekend to do some work and I know I'll have some down time to fish and was thinking about breaking it out to see what I could catch on a stock tank. Mostly bass and perch, any thoughts on Flys to use or techniques would be appreciated. This will be my first real opportunity to try fly fishing, so any tips will be helpful.

Where are you located?

For perch, a small (size 16 or smaller) dry fly on top. We have a pond on our place where I literally can not land a fly without a perch taking it. Sometimes they are so small that I yank them right out of the water when I set the hook, but it is fun as heck anyway.

For bass, I usually go with something wet like a wooly booger, or something shiny or sparkly. There are also some good dry grasshopper flys that work well for bass. Just like with lures, you don't really have to make a bass hungry, you just have to piss him off...

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Where are you located?

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Central Texas

I have good luck with perch on a princess bead head nymph this time of year on our place in Kerr

Wooly Bugger in olive, black, and rusty (#8,#10,#12)
Olive and white Clouser minnow (#2)
Sneaky Pete
Panfish poppers

Those will get you started.
If you're fishing a river, find structure or where fast current plunges into slow current.
In a lake, wade out and cast back to the bank.

Wolly Bugger

Clouser minnow

Vary colors and and sizes. Learn to strip with varying speeds.

For bass, try a Miss Prissy in size 4 or 6.

Just a heads up, it will be difficult to impossible throw many "bass" flies on a 5wt, especially as a beginner. That said there are plenty of flies you can use to catch bass, just don't go buy big deer hair poppers or 1/0 meat whistles.

Small poppers, Clousers, wolly buggers will catch plenty of bass and some sunfish as well. Look for sizes in the 10-6 range for a 5wt. Those little pan fish poppers can be a blast for bream. Chartreuse, olive, white, black are good starting colors.

Not sure how much you know so I'll start pretty basic. Once you make a cast, you won't retrieve the fly with the reel. Instead you will strip the fly in with your non-casting hand. I'm sure Google can produce some videos. Vary the speed/cadence until you find something they like. Work the same areas yiu would with a similar lure. For bream poppers I usually just mostly let them sit and the rubber legs will do the work.

When you feel a bass hit your fly, don't try to set the hook like a spinning rod. Instead, firmly grip the line in your non-casting hand and elbow the guy behind you hard. This is known as a strip set.

Let's us know how it goes, and be ware that it is very addicting.

Make sure they can not see you.

Any bead head nymph will be deadly on bream. Small hemostats sure help unhook deep hook sets.

Woolyboggers and Clouser Minnows would be great for bass. If you like fishing on the film, pin a few small foam frogs in you fly box.

To piggyback:

What size/length Leader & Tippet for Bass on a 5WT?

Deer hair popper, then try another....
Deer hair popper, then Tie on a different.....
Deer hair popper


Try all the terestrial patters you have.

Stimulators work great.

If that doesn't work, your leader is too heavy or you aint doing it right.

Then branch out after that to a few wet fly patters.

If you really wana get dirty on them, tie a wet fly one foot behind a terestrial pattern. Thats money.

I say go dry patters first because its way more fun smashing bass on top water flies. Wooly buggers are cheating cuz they work too darn well.

Catch a perch and play him out in he pond for a while. Thats a good way to get a largemouth. But Landing said largemouh is a trick.

There are fly fisherman, then there are dry fly fisherman.

Have fun!! Im jealous. Deer lease pond bass are the best.

0X for largemouth. If you are just fishing a little stock tank with 12" fish or a hill country creek you can probably go smaller, but if there's a chance something half decent size might hit your little popper, bigger is good. I usually use a 9 foot leader, but you can probably go shorter most of the time.

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0X for largemouth. If you are just fishing a little stock tank with 12" fish or a hill country creek you can probably go smaller, but if there's a chance something half decent size might hit your little popper, bigger is good. I usually use a 9 foot leader, but you can probably go shorter most of the time.

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Fishing a 2 acre pond. Most fish in it are <1lb

What about Tippet? I have seen some recommendations of only fishing with tapered leader? Thoughts?
I am a novice. Have been slammed with work and grad school so am resorting to fishing on the back yard pond as it requires much less time then going to one of the local rivers to fish for Trout.

In that case, I'd probably go 2x or 3x, 7.5 foot if stained, 9 ft if its real clear.

As far as tippet, I mainly use it as a way to get more life out of a tapered leader. So I'll start with a fresh leader and tie the fly straight to that. After a handful of flies, I'll notice it getting a little thicker and i'll tie on a few feet of tippet and then to that over again. As a general rule, you ca go 2 diameter changes with a double/triple surgeons knot before things start refusing to cooperate (i.e. you can tie 4x tippet to a section of leader that has the diameter of 2x).

check out this podcast for some good leader info

link

San Juan worm will catch a lot of fish. Wooly bugger if you get bored with the small fish.

Where's 87Flyfisher?

He's only one of the premier guides in the country when it comes to bass on the fly.

These guys do some good bass and terrestrial flies. I've had good success with them. The foam spider is a lot of fun.

What's the difference in a dry fly vs a wet fly? And as far as deer hair poppers go, I think I found some but there is a huge variation of images when I searched for them on Google. What do those look like?

dry flys/poppers float and wet flies/streamers/nymphs sink.

This is a deer hair popper from orvis:



If you get some of these go small maybe a 6 or an 8. Many of these are large and wind resistant and hard for a beginner to throw on a 5wt. Poppers made out of foam or wood also work.

I have found san juan worms, any form of hopper imitation dry fly and any mouse pattern to work really well on stock tank bass. The brem will hit the worms and hoppers.

The hopper is most effective in spring & summer.

Betts cork poppers have worked well for me in the past. It's about the only piece of fly gear you can buy at Walmart. Bass and sunfish aren't picky.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Betts-Panfish-Popper-Value-Pack/35259410

How do you fish those? I've tried and tried and never seemed to get a fish to do more than inspect them

Thanks ccard, one more question and I think I will finally have some more of the fly lingo, what do the numbers mean? Someone posted 6-10, is that size hook or a weight?

Yes hook size.

Just think of it this way. You are trying to mimic something in the fish's native habatat that they want to eat. A dry fly is almost always the adult version of some type of bug. A wer fly usually immulates the larva stage. But that is one of the awesome things about largemouth and perch and fly fishing. These fish often strike before they think so to speak.

Try and match what ever bug you are seeing the most around the pond. If your fishing and there are bugs flying around and or on top of the water, match them as closely as possible. Literally catch one and put it in your box and match it up. To be able to do this consistently you have to have a large selection of flies in the box. A large selection takes most people a long time to accumulate. As flies are hand made and pricey.

Thanks, I hope I remember how to post a picture come Sunday evening, although it may be a 2" perch, I might get it mounted.

Yep, hook size. The smaller the number, the bigger the hook, until they start being x/0 then they get bigger. So from smaller to larger:

... 20...12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1, 1/0,2/0...8/0...

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How do you fish those? I've tried and tried and never seemed to get a fish to do more than inspect them

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For panfish, I mainly just let them sit. I'll usually cast, let is sit for about 30 seconds, give it a twitch, let it sit some more, a couple strips to move it if no luck then repeat. Sometimes if I see them just looking at it, I'll give it a few strips to get them chasing it then stop it and let it sit.

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Where's 87Flyfisher?

He's only one of the premier guides in the country when it comes to bass on the fly.

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I'm betting the Orvis guide rendezvous. Jenny posted a pic from Montana today.

When its hot outside, the bass and perch bite best when the shadows are long.