Last week I was able to pick up quite a few bass on the fly rod, in various sections of Black Creek in and around Churchville. It seems to be heating up quite a bit, despite the cooler weather.
The technique is pretty simple, as they are aggressive right now.
Two flies doing the most damage are a crayfish pattern I sort of put together myself (photos and instructions later this week), and the two variations of the Muddler Minnow. One being the classic Muddler Minnow pattern, and the second being one I tie with a red feather tail as opposed to the classic turkey tail.
Most of the smallies in Black Creek that I encountered were hugging the banks, and truthfully, most were in the sun (pictured right). The one exception would be the biggest of the smallmouth I caught that day. He was in a very deep pool just after a sizable deadfall. It was a tough spot to cast, and I was very lucky to catch him.
I was actually adjusting my waders when that big one hit (no picture). I had a ball of fly line in the water next to me, and the fly (crayfish pattern) was drifting, unattended, 10 feet to my right. I heard a small slurp, but felt nothing since my line was very slack. I quickly reeled up, and the fight was on. He went deep, then tried to run up the narrow chute of water behind me. Probably took about 2 minutes to bring him in. I didn’t horse that one, since I hadn’t seen him really, and wasn’t sure what I was dealing with.
As I mentioned, the smallies have been aggressive, and although they were liking the crayfish patterns, they were actually hitting it on or near the surface. Though I haven’t seen any evidence of nesting yet, so I don’t think it’s that kind of aggression. Most of the spots I would expect to see nests, I saw carp. So either the smallies in this section wait for the carp to move out, or I have to re think where I’m going to find them sitting on their nests. Should know more in the next few weeks.
Tags:
Fly Fishing for Bass 
It’s about a 4 or 5 acre impoundment, kept a decent temperature all year since it’s spring fed. In it were some of the healthiest largemouth I’ve seen in Western New York. Brightly colored, and in fighting shape. They were still a little sluggish on the fight (then again, I’ve been dealing with river smallmouth for two weeks, so a comparison is unfair).
