Bass Tactics for Trout.

[gkieser]

Two weekends ago when the WP trialists were up at lakies, i had a very interesting catch that i thought you guys might enjoy.

After the saturday afternoon session a couple of us decided to fish the evening rise from the bank. Matt took his 3 weight down to the water's edge as he "wanted to see it get destroyed by a decent trout". Kev and I went down to watch and Chase also fished a bit further down the way.

Matt had a #6 unweighted black fritz on, and after thrashing the water a bit with no luck, Cox asked for a go and Matt handed over the rod but he had just as much luck. The rod was handed over to me and i sauntered down the way a bit and threw out a cast. I lifted the tip of the rod and started stripping in about 5 inch strips so that the fritz stayed on the surface and zigzagged it's way back to us with a lot of surface action. As the fly approached the side it zigzagged past a bunch of bushes and out of nowhere a trout launched itself at the fly in a splash reminiscent of a bass hitting a crazy crawler and instantly ran for open water! I was on and the 3wt buckled under the pressure. It jumped clear of the water as i tried to gain some sort of control. Matt's little 3wt finally had a decent bend in it and it was seriously working harder than it ever had before. After a few minutes the fish was back in the shallows, and with Matt complaining that his rod was going to snap, Kev suggested I walk a bit backwards to pull the fish into the shallows.

It was a decent fish of about a kilo, and once we grabbed the leader to land it, it snapped off and just sat there. Chase went after it but it gave him enough time to take his shoes off and get his feet wet before moving off into the depths. We at least got to see the fish that had defied it's gentle sipping brethren and showed the instinctive nature that even those gentle trout can be tempted to show on such occasions. 1 cast was enough for me and i gave up while i was ahead.

So next time you're out fishing the evening rise and can see the fish cruising the shallows, instead of sticking on a dry give this non conventional tactic a go - you could be in for some very surprising fun!

[Pierre]

I was fishing for bass at Eikendal one fine morning. With clear water and no wind i had the opportunity to sight cast to bass. I had a big black bass popper on. I cast it out towards the weed beds and waited for a bass to come and inspect it. It did, i popped it but the bass seemed only interested in having a look and heading back for cover. then a number of very large trout came croozing the bank. I worked the popper again only to have the trout turn towards it. It had a look at the popper then turned away just like the bass, but then turned again and hit this popper like it wanted to kill it. I was on my 8WT and this fish gave me a solid rev, taking me into the backing in no time. I landed it after a few minutes. Beautifull fish, strong and in goood condition. there were more large fish cruizing the bank so i moved backwards to stay out of sight and casted the same popper out again. In no time i had another fish showing intrest, only this one didnt have a look first but attacked this popper with the same agression as the previous one. I had two more takes after that but no decent hookups. And to add to this i caught no bass that day.

[Umhlangarox]

Two weekends ago when the WP trialists were up at lakies, i had a very interesting catch that i thought you guys might enjoy.

After the saturday afternoon session a couple of us decided to fish the evening rise from the bank. Matt took his 3 weight down to the water's edge as he "wanted to see it get destroyed by a decent trout". Kev and I went down to watch and Chase also fished a bit further down the way.

Matt had a #6 unweighted black fritz on, and after thrashing the water a bit with no luck, Cox asked for a go and Matt handed over the rod but he had just as much luck. The rod was handed over to me and i sauntered down the way a bit and threw out a cast. I lifted the tip of the rod and started stripping in about 5 inch strips so that the fritz stayed on the surface and zigzagged it's way back to us with a lot of surface action. As the fly approached the side it zigzagged past a bunch of bushes and out of nowhere a trout launched itself at the fly in a splash reminiscent of a bass hitting a crazy crawler and instantly ran for open water! I was on and the 3wt buckled under the pressure. It jumped clear of the water as i tried to gain some sort of control. Matt's little 3wt finally had a decent bend in it and it was seriously working harder than it ever had before. After a few minutes the fish was back in the shallows, and with Matt complaining that his rod was going to snap, Kev suggested I walk a bit backwards to pull the fish into the shallows.

It was a decent fish of about a kilo, and once we grabbed the leader to land it, it snapped off and just sat there. Chase went after it but it gave him enough time to take his shoes off and get his feet wet before moving off into the depths. We at least got to see the fish that had defied it's gentle sipping brethren and showed the instinctive nature that even those gentle trout can be tempted to show on such occasions. 1 cast was enough for me and i gave up while i was ahead.

So next time you're out fishing the evening rise and can see the fish cruising the shallows, instead of sticking on a dry give this non conventional tactic a go - you could be in for some very surprising fun!

That poor little 3wt will never be the same again

[Herman Jooste]

A buudy and I went to recce a dam that supposedly held a good head of big sm yellows and some trout.
We spoke to the owner before deciding to go and he assured us that the weekend before 1 angler had taken 7 yellows of around 3kg each.
We hit the water in our "boats" and fished Autumn yellow flies.
The result?, My buddy 3 trout 1,2 - 1.8kg.
Me ; 1 trout 2kg

The owner could not believe we had caught trout. Troot fishermen come and complain all they caught were yellows

Predatorial fish are predatorial fish. Sometimes methinks we overcomplicate ( is there such a word ) our passion Maybe we just like being creatine ITO tying

[Chris Shelton]

That poor little 3wt will never be the same again

I've seen it too often, fishing my d@mn heart out without a touch, and along comes young Grant and nonchalantly winkles a trout out from right under my nose, and then proceeds to give me the winning fly! Doesn't he just irritate the shyte out of you sometimes? The man is a machine!

[ShaunF]

Two weekends ago when the WP trialists were up at lakies, i had a very interesting catch that i thought you guys might enjoy.

After the saturday afternoon session a couple of us decided to fish the evening rise from the bank. Matt took his 3 weight down to the water's edge as he "wanted to see it get destroyed by a decent trout". Kev and I went down to watch and Chase also fished a bit further down the way.

Matt had a #6 unweighted black fritz on, and after thrashing the water a bit with no luck, Cox asked for a go and Matt handed over the rod but he had just as much luck. The rod was handed over to me and i sauntered down the way a bit and threw out a cast. I lifted the tip of the rod and started stripping in about 5 inch strips so that the fritz stayed on the surface and zigzagged it's way back to us with a lot of surface action. As the fly approached the side it zigzagged past a bunch of bushes and out of nowhere a trout launched itself at the fly in a splash reminiscent of a bass hitting a crazy crawler and instantly ran for open water! I was on and the 3wt buckled under the pressure. It jumped clear of the water as i tried to gain some sort of control. Matt's little 3wt finally had a decent bend in it and it was seriously working harder than it ever had before. After a few minutes the fish was back in the shallows, and with Matt complaining that his rod was going to snap, Kev suggested I walk a bit backwards to pull the fish into the shallows.

It was a decent fish of about a kilo, and once we grabbed the leader to land it, it snapped off and just sat there. Chase went after it but it gave him enough time to take his shoes off and get his feet wet before moving off into the depths. We at least got to see the fish that had defied it's gentle sipping brethren and showed the instinctive nature that even those gentle trout can be tempted to show on such occasions. 1 cast was enough for me and i gave up while i was ahead.

So next time you're out fishing the evening rise and can see the fish cruising the shallows, instead of sticking on a dry give this non conventional tactic a go - you could be in for some very surprising fun!

Hey Grant !

I remember making a post about this a couple of years back. Awesome way to fish ! Next time try a Black Marabou Muddler and hang on to your rod !
http://www.flytalk.co.za/forum/showp...2&postcount=12

[Korrie]

In England, on still waters, the fly fishers have started fishing with small poppers for trout. With great success.
Marc Petitjean have a plastic cone that fits on the front of the hook that makes extra noise. This have also major success with trout.
If you look at the amount of trout that is caught with spinners, which nowhere near resemble natural food or drag free drift, IN RIVERS, then it is understandable that they will take anything.
In certain parts of Europe, the standard way of fishing spinners for trout is ACROSS and back. Not down and back. The angler will cast across the river/stream and retreive straight back, move a couple of steps back and repeat. I watched a spin fisherman in the Aragon region in Spain doing this, in the space of about 50 meters he pulled about 5 fish.
In Switerland they troll for trout with huge "torpedos"
The trout take it. I am of the opinion that we sometimes forget, only because we most of the times use size 16 and 18 insect imitations. that trout are top end predators that will take huge lures

[Scythe]

I once picked up a big troot (in a stockie jol to boot) on a DH rat fished like you would for bass or LargeMouth on the Vaal.

It's well known that a dark coloured fly (muddler, bugger, strip leach) fished like a demonically posessed baitfish at the surface produces well when the sun starts to go down. I remember my biggest brown (around 3kgs) came to a black and white muddler after the sun had ducked it's face behind the hills

Now the question remains, do the fish see it as a tadpole, a small fish, a rat or just react purely instinctively to something that more or less approximates some live thing that is fleeing for its life and therefore constitutes a meal?

[Korrie]

I once picked up a big troot (in a stockie jol to boot) on a DH rat fished like you would for bass or LargeMouth on the Vaal.

It's well known that a dark coloured fly (muddler, bugger, strip leach) fished like a demonically posessed baitfish at the surface produces well when the sun starts to go down. I remember my biggest brown (around 3kgs) came to a black and white muddler after the sun had ducked it's face behind the hills

Now the question remains, do the fish see it as a tadpole, a small fish, a rat or just react purely instinctively to something that more or less approximates some live thing that is fleeing for its life and therefore constitutes a meal?

The more I fish, the more I start to believe it is a combination of the last paragraph PLUS, a fish don't have hands and for it to inspect something, to see if it is edible, it must mouth it.