East Metro Bass Fishing

I haven’t been out on my favorite East Metro Bass lake for almost a month so this trip was over due. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The calendar says September but it feels like July. The water temperature was 75 degrees, the air temp about 65 at 5AM. As usual I started off throwing topwater Flies with my trusty 8 weight Fly Rod. It didn’t take long for the first fish to come to the boat, a chunky healthy 18 incher. The action was slow but steady. A fish here, a fish there. Eventually the tally would be 14 fish with 6 of them exceeding 18 inches long.

The location of these fish might surprise a few people. We’ve all been watching exciting videos of big fish jigged up off of deep rock piles, a great late summer/early fall pattern. That’s not the only game in town, however. Most of today’s fish and all of the bigger ones came from inside weedlines. The “recipe” called for overhanging trees, a solid section of weedbed, and a little shade. I’d throw over the weedbed right up to shore and slowly work the bug across the surface back towards me. It was tremendously exciting to see the wake of another big Bass heading towards the fly! The water in these places was only a couple of feet deep. When you set the hook the fish would just explode and of course it was a real circus trying to horse a good fish over the weedbed before they buried themselves and pulled off.

No pictures today. Note to self: Charge the camera battery!

Rootski

Wow thats alot of 18 inch bass in one area! Very nice! Bummer your camera wasnt working

sounds like fun ‘ski!

Way Cool

I haven’t fly fished since I was a kid, I can imagine how fun bassinet on a fly rod must be though. Sounds like you had a blast!!

I can only imagine what it would be like to fight a big smallie in on a fly rod!

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I can only imagine what it would be like to fight a big smallie in on a fly rod!

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Big Smallies are great! But this was a shallow weedy lake that is home to many big Largemouth. Still lots of fun. I wish I could find bigger Smallies more consistently on Pool 2 but they elude me.

I have to point out that there are fly rods, and then there are fly rods. Just because I’m using a fly rod doesn’t mean I’m fishing “ultralight”. People routinely land 100 pound Tarpon with fly rods! They come in different “weights”. The smaller the number, the more delicately you can drop a fly on the water. The bigger number, the better you can punch a big fly a long distance through the wind. Hand in hand with that is the fact that you can fight bigger fish easier with heavier fly rods. Now if you’re small stream trout fish, a 4 weight is about perfect. It drops the fly down like a snow flake, it’s still big enough to throw a decent sized streamer fly, and you can land a pretty good fish with it if your patient. Think of it like an ultralight spinning rod. On the other hand, I do most of my Bass fishing with an 8 weight. This is the same rod I used in Alaska to land 15 pound Salmon. I wouldn’t be afraid of any Bass in Minnesota with this rod. It will get a Bass to the side of the boat faster than a heavy spinning rod can because of the extra length and all that leverage.

Last Saturday I had the boat positioned over the outside edge of the weedbed in deeper water, and was casting over the weeds up to shore. Then I’d work back towards the inside weed edge. That meant when I did hook up, I’d have to get that Bass back over the heavy weedbed without letting him bore down into the mess and pull off. That takes some power, and an 8 weight fly rod can do that.

Jeez now I’m all fired up and can’t wait to get back out there!

Rootski