Weedless topwater fly....

[swsmith]

Afternoon gents....looking for some help from the guys who target bass.Im looking for a weedless fly i can throw into the thick stuff without getting hooked up....I use the soft rubber frogs with the 2 hooks when im fishing conventional,they work a treat.any suggestions?

[Shamwari]

Afternoon gents....looking for some help from the guys who target bass.Im looking for a weedless fly i can throw into the thick stuff without getting hooked up....I use the soft rubber frogs with the 2 hooks when im fishing conventional,they work a treat.any suggestions?

I saw a frog pattern tied out of bulsar once, the cool thing is that the hooks ride up, just like a spro frog or the like. That thing is super weedless

[E.T.]

Stephen

I use a size 10 Streamer hook with Orange Tungsten Bead, Orange Marabou tail and White Marabou palmered as body.
This fly retrieves about 5-10cm below the surface. It works a charm, snags are minimal over weed beds and should you snag you just strip the line and it comes loose. This is my Goto fly for Bass these days. If the Bass are around they will slam it right on the surface as it lands.

I know #10 is small, but the hook-ups are clean....



Same fish see what I mean about hook-ups...





With this fly all the hook-ups are inside the mouth, so when it goes down into the weeds for cover, you can bring it in without any worries.

[MR.GT]

Hi Stephen.
If you tie your own bass flies maybe tie this into your flies.
I use these when tying my poppers and sub surface flies. I prefer the one that looks like a teardrop that bends back. It is not foolproof, still catches the odd snag, but it helps. I have found that the teardrop does not hamper hookups as much as the standard loop because it pushes off the hook shaft exposing the point easier.

WP_20131118_001.jpg

Hope this helps

Just to mention, i did find that it helps with those pesky little fingerlings that keep smashing the fly before Dad/Mom gets there, the teardrop tends to keep pushing it away from their mouths, but the odd vicious little bugger still get hooked. But i don`t see this as a flaw, as from personal experience I`ve seen big bass only smashing the fly after a little one tried to nail it.

O just a tip. Use superglue/tiny amount of epoxy with tread to secure the nylon to the hook shank else the nylon tends to turn when you bend it back and will eventually pull out of the thread entirely.

[Bryan]

There is a conventional bass lure called Captain Ken's Designer Bass Frog (http://www.bass-frog.com/) that is absolutely deadly and the same concept could easily be adopted for a Bass fly by some innovative fly tyer. Whose up for a challenge???

The frogs look like this...



And the hooks used like this....




Looks odd but it really works. One day when I have some time I will give this a bash, put my mountain of rigid buoyant foam to work....

[firephish]

i've experimented with a number of different weed guards, but now pretty much stick to the below. Hardly ever hang up, no matter what you throw it into:

[Shamwari]

I tied this fly as a mess around fly the other day, not my best attempt, ha ha, but I think it is weedless enough to present into or near structure..

[Gerrit Viljoen]

What about some bendbacks Mr Smith?

[swsmith]

thanks for the replies guys...i will be throwing this into lilys mostly.....i had success with a dahlberg diver casting it into the gaps but i want something i can throw into pods of these and not get hooked up...i fished a 6w last trip and got buggered up a few times...ill be back with the 8w and 25lb tippet

[Shamwari]

I would really recommend that frog pattern with the hooks riding up, it will never snap on weeds or lilly and you could present it perfectly into the lillies.