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Since we started talking bass on another thread about spring, I thought I would throw up a few pics of some of the fly rod bass I have taken over the last few years. It's likely that I will be catching bass before trout this spring, but of course you never know...anyway, here's some fat bass-terds of my recent past to dream about while the snow melts.

Jonathon

Micropterus on the Troutnut forum? Bassphemy!

Just kidding, I couldn't resist the pun... nice fish! Some beautiful smallies there.

Nice pics Jonathon, I love anything caught on a fly rod. I hope spring is finally on the way.
mike.

Jonathan-

The smallmouth should be just as good to eat as the perch you catch. The largemouth, well at least they were fun to catch.

Mark

Very nice, Jonathan! Warmwater fishing is neat too.

I've got few bass FF images. I've done much less FF for bass than conventional. However here's one, and with a story behind it:

A few years back now, while I was an instructor at a FF camp, someone spotted a "big bass" under a bridge that spanned the narrows of the pond. "I know how to catch her" I boasted, and I borrowed a 9wt rod from the saltwater instructor along with an "eelworm" streamer -a striper fly tied with lead eyes and long black saddle hackles streaming behind. It was essentially a feathered version of a plastic worm. While the class watched, I pitched the fly well past the bass so as not to spook it, swum the worm to the bass, then killed the fly, letting the "worm" fall into the green depths. The bass followed it down. I layed the floating line onto the surface, drew it slightly taut, and watched. Shortly the line twitched, and I set the hook. She put on quite a show, even leaping clear. She taped 19" and the pond owner said she was "the lake record". Yes, that's a smug look on my face.



And here's another satisfied look; My son and I do an annual "bluegill hunt" during the spawn. Some ponds produce numbers of eating-sized 'gills. Others we have to search and stalk. Here's my son with his first solo stalked and caught 'gilly:

Yes, Jason, I have "basstardized" the site, but obviously I am not alone...

Paul, that pic of your son above reminds me rather quite a bit of my buddy Joe holding his very first fly-caught sunfish from Clark's Marsh last year! In spite of a 40+ year age difference, the smile is almost exactly the same, as is the size of the fish. Oh yes, I also look forward to those ever-larger (if inedible due to contamination) sunnies at Clark's Marsh, who are most fond of an all-black #10 WB and a #10 wet fly called a Firefly (all black with a bright contrasting butt of yellow, orange, chartreuse, etc.). And slab-sized black crappies downstate who like silver/grey KBFs and chartreuse WBs. We are melting fast right now, small ponds are forming in my backyard, so it won't be long now.

Bear in mind that most of the fish above were caught with a 7 or 7 1/2 foot 3-weight, the rest being on an 8 1/2 foot 5 weight. And my two biggest bass ever never got photographed: a 20" 5 1/2 lb. largemouth in Texas (5-weight, #6 silver/grey KBF) and a 19 1/2" smallie (~5 lbs.) downstate in MI (3-weight, #10 KBF). Some fine specimens but no one had a camera...

Jonathon

70 degrees outside today in the Detroit area! Hang on to your hats spring is trying to bust its way in!

Nice pics Jonathon!

Spence