Dave Whitlock reveals off a high-quality largemouth from a 1985 story. Photograph by way of Fly Fisherman
Forty years in the past, writing within the June 1985 challenge of Fly Fisherman journal, Dave Whitlock recommended a novel method to catching largemouth bass. On the time, streamers and topwater flies have been considered one of the simplest ways 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 measurement 12 caddis pupa I used to be swimming throughout a giant mattress of bluegill and redear nests on a small municipal lake close to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The bass got here like a giant automobile 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 might. With a chill operating 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 couple of nervous give-and-cake exchanges, the largemouth got here up for a thrashing, head-shaking floor vault.
These techniques clearly nonetheless work right now, and you could discover that fish which have change into cautious of larger flies will nonetheless eat a nymph.
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