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Welcome back to the new NEFF. Take a break from Twitter and Facebook. You don't go to Dicks for your fly fishing gear, you go to your local fly fishing store. Enjoy!

largemouth bass fishing

I've done it for many years. lots of topwater spun deer hair flies. Quite often during the summer when waters are much too warm for trout fishing, I'll head off to some of the lakes and ponds at night. Years ago I had permission to fish one of the boy scout camp lakes in N Jersey. It held some really nice fish. I also have permission to fish some of the local golf course ponds in N Jersey but did not take advantage of that last year.

What I have not done is fished anything larger than a few acrea in size. Mostly smaller lakes and ponds, fishing the weeds.
 
yes jim, it is how i've introduced some of my friends kids(boys and girls) to fly fishing. there is nothing like seeing a kids face light up when a bass knocks the snot out of a popper! mostly small farm ponds.
 
Yeah, I do, just not always with a fly rod. :rolleyes:

Lots of times I actually tie a trailer on with a jig, a top secret flypattern of mine which works pretty good - It looks sort of like a big ass maribou wooley bugger with a long saddle tail, any color you want as long as it's black.

Seriously though for fly gear one thing that works good for bedding bass is a grey ghost in a size 6 or 8. I fish it with a short (3-4') leader using 10 or 14 lb test flurocarbon line on a sink tip line. Use a full sink or a fast sink tip for smallies, the beds tend to be deeper.

The other flies I posted in another bass post - the Gulley work & craw, work good too with the same leader/ line combo.

All said and done though, I love power fishing & chucking hardware for bass. It's won me a buck or two as well, which fly fishing hasn't done for me, and I hope never does.

I love fishing bass tournaments, but I fly fish just for me.
 
I started fly fishing for LM last summer as an alternative to trout in the summer. I fly fished so far Cranberry Lake, Aeroflex, Roun Valley and Little Swartswood. As I go out there with my float tube, I prefer lakes without boats with outborder. Haven't gotten the hang of it yet, typically I switched after a couple of hours not hooking up with bass to panfish and crappies. I also want to try this spring fly fishing for pike again (Spruce Run). As I said, I still have to figure it out - it is certainly different from trout!

If anyone has any pointers, tips, questions or invites to go fishing, let me know!
 
Rond Valley

Over the summer I go to Round Valley for bass. If you have a boat go near the grass and weeds, on the far side of the lake and cast to the edge of them. I use a 7 wt. with a olive wolley bugger and I strip it near the edge. You get some nice bass that come out for it. Also in the spring a popper works great.
If you want to go deep, your going to need sinking line, I dont have one, yet.
 
Karel:
If outboards give you a problem, try the smaller ponds and lakes, where a motorboat is impractical (or even prohibited). Just about every pond in NJ that doesn't freeze solid in winter or dry up in summer, contains largemouths, including a few "lunkers".
 
Unfortunately I do not own a boat, just a float tube. I guess it's a bad idea to cross RV just with finns on my feet, paddling backwards... but thanks for the tip! Maybe I should just hike around the lake to get there. Tight lines!
 
During the week it is not as bad, and on the weekends I do try the smaller lakes and ponds which prohibit outborders. There is a webpage - http://njbassanglers.com/places.php - with a list of NJ lakes with regulations, fish present and quality of fish present. I used that quiet a bit last year when I was about to fly fish for bass. I also tried to find out more about fly fishing for bass on that web-sites community, however, they are almost all bait/spin-fisher man. Tight lines!
 
Here's a good small lake/pond to flyfish with a float tube: White Lake. It's near Blairstown, towards Swartswood Lake. Bass and trout in there, I friend of mine was chucking spinners for trout from his kayak up there and was hooking up with respectable LMB. I will make no guarantees, but it might be worth a try.
 
Scott,
thanks for the pointer! I will certainly put White Lake on my list "to fish" this year. Will keep you (and the thread) posted how I have done!
 
Bass Fishing Nj

I have Warmwater Fly Fished about 100 times in 2005. I often target bass and it is a blast. Many of my trout buddies live in PA and only target trout...oh well more LMB for me! HAHHAHHHAHAHHHahah

One problem I do have with some Bass Fishing sites ( one is actually mentioned earlier in this thread) is the super specific information they give. Such as: location of lake (name/address) and telling where in the lake they caught the fish. I think this needs to be more broad of a description in order to reduce the pressure on the fish. Plus as far as I know there are not many conservation oriented groups towards warmwater.....for trout you have TU just for starters and then there are so many little organizations that are coldwater oriented.. The bass fishing seems to more focus on Tournaments, Photos, and giving location info so exact that I can plan trips off of it. I am not really sure what your thoughts on this are, but I thought I would throw this out there.

I believe warmwater fly fishing is just beginning to pick up steam and will eventually become much more popular. PEACE !
 

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fluid said:
One problem I do have with some Bass Fishing sites (one is actually mentioned earlier in this thread) is the super specific information they give. Such as: location of lake (name/address) and telling where in the lake they caught the fish.

And you BELIEVE them? I know for a fact that some of those posts are made a week or a day or whatever before a tournament - and there are lots of them - and they are often made by people trying to steer you away from the fish. People who have done this have told me so.

My bass fishing friends & I - who all fish tournaments (some more seriously than others) - lie about what we used and where we caught fish to each other, even when we're just "fun fishing". Sometimes we'll call each other on our cell phones during a tournament and lie about what we're catching fish with just to mess with each other.

And then when we fess up that we were bs-ing later on we all have a good laugh about it.

Don't believe everything you read!
 
SPOTS--Giving away the names of water bodies.

The posting of specific lakes and just catching fish is one of the issues I have. Especially on smaller bodies of water. Also, do you ever see how many hits those reports get. I know from firsthand experience that some of those reports can put you on some good fishing locations.

I would be more inclined to just post the type of lake or county than the exact lake.

Some of the super specific reports are not even for lakes they have T's (tournaments) on them.

I do agree with you about tricking people out...b/c on occasion i will let my line go slack while fighting a fish, and letting it slip off the barbless hook...... so others do not know I have a fish. Or even sometimes if someone ask me how well I did I will just say that I got no fish.....when in fact I actually caught some fish.

The other problem is that some people lurk these sites and go out and KEEP fish that are legal, but the lakes cannot handle the pressure.

The internet is so new that is going to take a while before the impact is fully uinderstood.

Oh well...just trying to get people to dicuss it from this angle...nah pun intended.

DRINK SELTZER WATER.
 

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So I guess there's no point in anyone ever posting again that they fished River X and they noticed A,B,C, species of aquatic invertabrates hatching. and caught some fish on pattern M.

It sort of defeats the purpose of stream reports.

It's all public water, all of it publicised with fishing quality ranked on the DF&W website. And hey, maybe I was lying too... How would you know?
 
Large Mouth Bass

i USE A SCADDON POONTOON BOAT AT ROUND VALLEY JUST FIND THE GRASS AND YOU FIND THE BASS USE A COUPLE OF VARIATIONS OF A WOLLY BUGGER TIE IT WITH CURLY TAIL I KNOW SHANNONS HAVE THEM BLACK AND BLUR AND WHITE W GREEN SEEMS TO WORK BEST
MIKE
 
I don't have a problem helping beginners, even with specific places. New Jersey, needs more fishermen/women to advance fishing issues. The "tree huggers" help, but many of them have a slightly different agenda (some are actually against sport fishing).

A sucessful beginner is more likely to become an avid fisherman. Each new fisher is another voice (or vote).

In deference to some trout purists, I seldom post the name of an unlisted trout production stream in the open forum, but am willing to share via PM.

As to Bass:
Almost every pond and lake in NJ, that doesn't freeze solid in winter or dry up in summer, contains Largemouth Bass (including lunkers), and the "meat fishers" are perfectly capable of finding them. I have no problem with posting any information, including so called "secret spots", for Bass.
 
Karol Try Joining Cjtu Mike Pilles Is Me I Bass Fish Alot In Round Valley Spruce Run And The D On A Pontoon Boat
 
Less than 10 seconds on the NJ DF&W website gets you to this page:

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/fishing_fresh.htm

And with a few more clicks you get to this page:

http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/pdf/2003/plcpnds03.pdf

And this one:

http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/fishstrm.htm

And with a little more poking around you can find this page:

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/lakemaps.htm

So the info is all out there, it's all available for free, and it's open to the entire internet surfing population of the planet.

And none of it will help anyone catch any fish, regardless of what anyone says they are biting. Nothing will help with that other than obsevation, practice, and experience.
 
Hello Everyone:

I just found this site today.

Good Stuff! I have been warm water flyfishing for LMB for over 8 years with a floattube. I have about 3 or 4 great locations that I can get to from my home with in 15 minutes. Some locations hold 1 to 2 pounders, some hold 4 pounders. I work with a 4 or 5 weight, mostly streamers and some popers. You don't need a large variety of flies to get into quality fish.

I fish larger waters with a ponton boat, including Budd Lake. Some good Pike in there but hard to release when you have sharp teeth and a rubber float next to each other.
 
Sure, I do it all the time. Other than saltwater fishing, there ain't much use in fly fishing down where I live... ;) Might as well go after them SJ bucketmouths :dizzy:
 
Could anyone tell me about some small ponds in n,j. I'll go anywhere.

Thanks,
Mike
 
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