Most bass that are caught are under 5 lbs. (most are under 3 lbs. if we are honest). I do most of my fishing with a 5 wt. it will handle anything up to 5 lbs or so. One thing that I have experienced when fishing for bass (and I have been at it for 30+ years) is, the bigger the fish - the less they fight. I vividly remember my largest to date. An 11 lb. 2 oz. native Texas largemouth. I actually thought I was dragging in a tree branch until I saw the line move to the side. Even then I figured it to be a small fish covered in coontail moss.
I only go to a heavy rod when I am fishing heavy cover. Even on smaller fish, a heavy rod is helpful to "horse" them out of the snags. My 8 wt. is quite up to the task of jerking a fish out of a stick-up or moss bed.
As far as the Gulley Worm, the recipe is on the Orvis website. Here's the URL.
http://www.orvis.com/store/product_choice.asp?pf_id=20LX&feature_id=&dir_id=1236&group_id=1269&cat_id=401&subcat_id=2&shop_id=
Hope you find some of this info useful.
- Gary
BTW, don't get caught up in the "Big Flies = Big Fish" nonsense. In my experience, when it comes to bass, it isn't necessarily so. Even when I want to use "Big Flies" I find that smaller flies that "fish big" are quite adequate. By that I mean, small flies with lots of fluff can appear to be bigger than they really are. With regards to "worm flies", go with smaller sizes. 4" - 6" worms have put many double digit fish in the boat.
- g~
At 09:13 PM 06/26/2003, you wrote:
I know that a bunch of you go fly fishing for largemouth bass.
I am just curious about what weight equipment that you use. Do you go as heavy
as a 9wt for the big deerhair bugs? Or do you keep it in the 6-8 weight
range?
My other question was regarding how to tye the Gulley Worm, but I see Orvis has put the pattern up on their site: http://www.orvis.com/store/product_choice.asp?pf_id=20LX&feature_id=&dir_id=1236&group_id=1269&cat_id=401&subcat_id=2&shop_id= Has any tried tying one of these, and are there any tips for the neophyte?
Rob --
In my family there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. Norman Maclean
