The River Bass Box

The River Bass Box

By Jeff Durniak

The dog days of summer are here.  That means the lengthy rains of spring are long-gone and we simply have to deal with occasional, pop-up thunderstorms.  While those brief storms might muddy-up flowing waters, they usually clear quickly.  That’s great news for our best bet during the dog days: river bassin’!   While a lot of anglers complicate things, river bassin’, at its roots, is really simple and easy.   For new fly fishers, you can enjoy your own Huck Finn days with any old 5,6, or 7-weight fly rod, wading shoes or a canoe/kayak, and a basic bass box.   I’ll tell you the goodies I carry in my box.

That basic box is a simple 3 X 2 concept of water layers and fly patterns.  I’ve got three layers of water to cover (top, middle, and bottom) and two flies per layer, my go-to pattern, and a backup bug.  Only two, you say?  Yep, for a starter box.  Pick the bug size to match your local quarry.  If you need a size to start, buy or tie these on size 4 hooks.  Of course, we can add more bugs and make that box bigger.  That’s what fly fishing is all about, lotsa cool trinkets, right?  But for new fly-flingers, a ton of trinkets isn’t necessary.  Sometimes it’s counterproductive, as noobs spend more time changing flies than casting their first pick into a good spot and working it seductively.  Remember this: Technique trumps Pattern!

Now let’s get to the gotta-have patterns. First, for the surface, I like a white Kent’s Stealth Bomber and a white popper.  They both must have lots of long rubber legs!  Toss the Stealth Bomber into low, clear water along shady banks, and don’t move it. Just let it drift along.  Every now and then, give it a slight twitch to wiggle the legs, then let it drift again for 5-10 feet.  River bass and bream are spooky in summer’s low, clear water, but they’re very hungry and love to hang out under tree limbs, waiting for terrestrial bugs to lose their footing. Fish with patience and you’ll be rewarded.  The backup surface bug is the trusty white popper. Use it to call fish up from deep, fast, or slightly discolored water.  Don’t pop it as much as you did in the spring when the water was cooler.  Pop and drift, then repeat. Use these two surface bugs in the shade and shadows of dawn, dusk, and shaded banks, where your quarry feels safe enough to “look up” for supper and not be a meal for a heron.

When they’re not looking up, go down for the fish.  You can start at mid-column with either the Clouser minnow or the greatest fly of all time, the black woolly bugger.  Fish the Clouser like a nervous minnow.  Cast, let it sink a bit, and retrieve it back to you with erratic strips.  Don’t fall into the bad habit of a constant retrieve.  You’ll catch more fish when they think their lunch is leaving!  You can fish the bugger any way at all: cast upstream and twitch down to you, then twitch slightly as it swings past you and hangs in the current below you, then twitch and strip it back to your rod tip.  One hint: put your rod tip right on the water surface while you’re twitching and stripping.  Striking fish will encounter a tight line and result in more hookups.  Strikes on high rods just pull on a big U-loop of slack – and you’ll have lots of misses.

When your shoalies and smallies are glued to the bottom, especially in the high sun, go knock on den doors and offer them a lobster dinner.  Dens are boulder fields, rock ledges, and logjams, especially the shady side of each.  You can toss Reindeau’s Hairy Fodder upstream and bounce it on the bottom, back to you, to imitate a downstream- fleeing crayfish.  Toss it across the stream, toward the bank, and twitch it while it swings.  As it finally hangs in the current below you, stick that rod tip in the water and short-strip it back upstream.  If you’re greedy like us, tie two feet of 10lb tippet to the fodder’s hook bend and drop the woolly bugger off the back. That dual-dinner menu is hard to resist.

Hopefully, these tips will get you started on some summer fun, while you await the return of trouting in the fall.  Don’t forget a big hat, sunscreen, bug spray, flashlight, plenty of water, and a good fishing buddy (at a distance) for river safety.  Toss one of these six bugs in the right spot, work it like the natural food, and hold on. These river bass have bad attitudes and broad shoulders! And they’ll make you smile in the summer sun.

Author’s Note:  Jeff Durniak recently retired as DNR’s Regional Fisheries Biologist for North Georgia.  He now spends his time terrorizing fish and working his hobby job at Unicoi Outfitters. 

How to Become an Expert

Our good friend Craig Riendeau is one of the best river bass fly anglers we know.  He also happens to be one of the most innovative bass fly designers in the country; a talent he has parlayed into some notoriety via Rainy's Flies.  He's written for Fly Tyer Magazine and is a member of the FlyWranglersTV.com team.  When I received this email from Craig yesterday, my immediate thought was  to get this information on our blog.  So, if you've ever wondered how the experts actually become an expert, take note; it's the power of observation!

Craig's 4 lb. 13 oz. Shoal Bass

"Jimmy, I found a new way to catch shoal bass, dry fly fish for them.  OK, it's not your usual dry fly fishing but the principles are the same.  I fished one of my favorite rivers yesterday and the water was extremely low and clear.  You could actually see the bass if you looked hard enough (and they weren't under a ledge).  It was tough going till I accidentally drop a popper in the river.  As I watched it float away, a good bass came up and ate it.  The power of observation!  OK, so I put on another popper and cast it out there and just let it drift, bang, fish on.  I ended the day with a dozen bass, half over two pounds plus a bonus 4 lb. 13 oz. pig , all caught this way.  So you're going to have to start stocking #4 chartreuse rubber legged poppers with the dry flies.  Funny thing is that two years ago I caught a 4 lb. 12 oz. shoalie by accident dead drifting a popper but just took it as a fluke.  I was standing on a rock surveying the river ahead with the popper trailing behind me when he hit.  New technique?  I'm going to look into it for sure."

Shoalies on the Hooch

The heat we've been having lately has been pretty uncomfortable but it also flips a switch in those of us who don't have to be trout fishing every time we pick up a fly rod. For me, the logical choice is our native shoal bass which are found naturally only in the Chattahoochee River watershed. These feisty critters are a blast to catch. First, you're fishing moving water and I would rather fish a river or creek over a reservoir any day, even if the fishing is better in the pond. But, that's just me. Secondly, shoal bass, while more closely related to spotted bass, resemble smallmouth in their appearance and their reaction once hooked. The bars and stripes on a shoal bass can range from almost non-existent to brilliantly colored depending upon their localized habitat. Regardless of coloration, they are quick to attack their prey in and around swift water and rocky structure, they'll hit topwater as readily as streamers and they're just as likely to take off tail-walking as they are to bulldog you on the bottom. Superb gamefish for warm weather outings.

Afternoon temperatures have been as muggy and humid as a high school gymnasium locker room for the past week. With this in mind, I crawled out of bed this Saturday morning and hopped in the car for a quick ride over to the river for a couple of hours of fun. What a beautiful day this was. Very mild, steady breeze all morning, solitude and willing fish. In a couple of hours, I brought seven shoalies to hand, with at least four of them between 1 1/2 and 2 pounds. The big fish of the morning was a shoalie that would have gone 3 pounds or better but she long distance released me before I really had much chance to say anything about it. I'll remember where she was though.

My fishing tactics had to keep changing all morning. I started out with Craig Reindau's Harry Fodder in crawdad colors and that got me the first nice fish. When I moved into some shallow shoals, I switched to a white popper and continued to hook up with nice fish as well as some small guys with big attitudes. Finally, as I began my walk back downstream to the car, I switched to a small white Clouser in the deeper water. One of my best fish actually took the fly as it lay motionless on the bottom. Just when I think I may know a little about shoalies, something like this happens. Oh well, guess I'll have to spend more time on the river figuring them out.

Shoal bass are now found in the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta, the Flint River and the Ocmulgee River between Lake Jackson and Macon. If you're looking for an alternative to trout fishing in the summer, this would be my suggestion to you. And please practice catch and release with these guys. They're way too special to only catch once.