My bass EP & perch fly box

I have lumped the flies that I prefer for Australian Native fish into one group as by in large the species I target are all structure oriented. They tend to frequent areas with structure such as weed, sunken logs, rock bars, under cut banks, holes and drop offs etc. and generally react in much the same way.

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My Dry Fly Box » Dry flies, Wet flies,

Dry flies

If there is a secret to bass fly fishing, and a useful dry fly technique for other native fish species, its got to be putting your fly in the zone and keeping it there for as long as you can. With dry flies that’s fairly easy. Cast it right into the snags or above the margins of the weed beds and hold it there without drag for as long as you can. If nothing happens then just give the fly a little wiggle so that it creates rings on the surface of the water and wait again. Repeat this process a few times until your satisfied that the structure you are covering doesn’t hold an interested fish or until the fly is out of the zone. If fishing static doesn’t work than a great alternative is to position yourself so that you can fish along the structure and then strip the dry flies in using a variety of speeds twitches and pauses.

Bass foam hopper

When I converted my trout foam hopper for use as a bass and tropical fly fishing I added a sparkle chenille under-body and grossed it up dramatically so that it would withstand the aggressive nature of fish like Australian bass and tropical species such as mangrove jack.

Bass stimulator – Chatto’s tie

For a long time I simply sized up my trout stimulator and used them on bass unfortunately they just didn’t offer bass a big enough morsel and even though they were bigger than anything I would use for trout they still landed too softly … not announcing their presence to the bass. A while back I got round to addressing the problems and after a reasonable amount of experimentation came up with this version of a stimulator which ticks all the boxes.

Booby

One of the best search flies in slow moving or still deeper water using a sinking line. If fishing from a fixed position cast it out, let the line sink to the desired depth, and then retrieve the line using a constant stripping motion, a pumping retrieve or a combination of both. The stripping speed should be varied.

Booby beetle – Chatto’s original

Boobies are a fantastic bass fly when fished on the surface but occasionally they hang so low in the water they get a bit hard for me to see. To overcome that when seeing the fly is necessary I added a back of 2mm closed cell foam – works like a dream. This is undoubtedly my favorite bass fly.

Popper – bass foam head

The fist and most obvious is when they are actively feeding. At those times bass can have an appetite for everything from nymphs, yabbies, small fish, shrimp, worms, lizards, frogs, grasshoppers, cicadas, beetles and for that matter almost anything that will fit in their mouth it’s not surprising that a popper dropped in their line of sight and looking like something alive often gets their attention. Bass are binge feeders and are by no way picky when it comes to feeding time.

Rays beetle variant

I have found this variation of Ray’s beetle to be a good representation for a range of these big bugs. It can be used as a general prospecting fly or to “match the hatch”. It lands with a loud plop and floats hook down. I generally fish it on a 2 meter 10lb straight mono tippet. You need fairly heavy tippet to, turn the fly over, pull the fly it out of vegetation when you miscast, and to control bass that are intent in making cover once hooked.

Wiggle frog – Chatto’s original

You can fish this fly on an intermediate or faster sinking line but my preference is to fish it on a floating line so that it swims just below the surface. On a floating line the best technique for fishing the fly is to give it one or two short strips and then rest it for a moment whilst it comes back to the surface. Rest it there for a few more seconds and then repeat the process.

Wet flies

For wet flies its best to either find the fish on a sounder or have an educated guess where the fish are and then to dredge the fly through that zone at various speeds – locking into the speed and depth that works. In my experience if your not hooking up to structure occasionally your not in the hunt.

Booby – Chatto’s bean bag bead variant

Estuary fly – Chatto original

This fly has now accounted for bream, flathead, whiting, trevally, mullet, tailor, flounder, bass and trout. I expect it will be attractive to many other species also. My preferred colour is green but of course other colours work very well also.

Flash Harry variant

This Flash Harry variant is one of those flies I’ll always give a swim particularly if the water is a bit discoloured or if its windy and rough. I like to fish it on a fast sinking line either ripped or with a stop and start jerky retrieve or roly-poly. Chuck in plenty of pauses in your retrieve and make sure you hang the fly before recasting. This fly also fishes well across species and is attractive to Bass, EP’s. I carry smaller versions in red, chartreuse, gold and root with black or olive tails.

Straggle shrimp

I always fish it on a fast sink line with a leader of around 8 or 9 feet. The best retrieve is similar to spinning soft plastics i.e. jerky movements with plenty of pauses to let the fly to settle back on the bottom. Used in this way it’s a good representation of a shrimp or prawn fleeing from its sandy or weedy retreat after being disturbed.