[jonathan creason]

For you warm water guys, what size rod/line are you using for throwing bigger poppers for bass? Right now I'm limited to a Phlueger Medalist combo rated as a 5/6 weight. The line that came on it is a 5wt floating line, and I seem to have trouble turning over some of the bigger flies. Could uplining this rod to a 6wt line help with that, or will I need to consider a 7 or 8wt?

 

[danattherock]

You can get by fine with the 5/6 wt. sure there are better, but you can fish what you got. Invest in some bass tapered leaders, that will help some. You should avoid the biggest poppers as well. Truthfully, I catch more fish on mid sized offerings anyway. I have a wide variety of fly rods and my go to pond/lake set up is a stout six wt. I enjoy casting it better than an 8 wt and the smaller bass and bream are lots more fun. Reading up more about techniques and timing will catch more fish than gear and flies. I speak from experience.



Dan

 

[Chiefly Fly'n]

You could certainly up-line to a 6 or even a 7 wt. I use to have an 8 wt Pfleuger that I uplined with a 10 wt fly line. Folks thought it was a nice casting combo. From a financial perspective, going with a heavier line is cheaper than a whole new outfit. I routinely use an a 8 wt for efficient casting of #4 bugs. If you choosing to throw bigger....then you may want to think about a heavier outfit. The bigger and more wind resistant the fly...the bigger the line needs to be to drag it efficiently thru the air. The bigger/heavier the line...the stiffer the rod needs to be. I typically find that less expensive rods are actually stiffer than their rating states...and often a heavier line make an inexpensive rod perform better. Even on more expensive rods, uplining often produces better results. Most rods can handle 1 or 2 line wts heavier...sometimes even 3 wts heavier.

I have different wt lines spooled and you are welcome to test cast and see what you think....

 

[RouseD]

Great learning from these 2 guys Jonathan.

 

[jonathan creason]

I agree, much appreciated guys. I may start with a little heavier leader and see if that helps and then possibly up line.

 

[danattherock]

Downsizing the popper will be easiest. A 5-6 wt rod is perfect for medium sized poppers. Just so happens, that same size popper will fit into the mouth of a big bream also. Certainly has big enough hook to snag a big bass too. You toss the biggest bass poppers, you take 80% of the fish in the pond out of the game. There are several reasons I use a 6 wt for most my warm water fishing. Toss huge flies and poppers on an 8 wt will make for some very long, tiring, and unproductive days on the water in my experience. Trial and error is of course part of the fun. Try it your way first then perhaps try it another. Good luck. Will be some great fly fishing real soon.

Whatever your method, be sure to try some Boogle Bugs!!!

Dan

 

[jonathan creason]

Thanks Dan, I appreciate it. I'm not throwing anything huge right now, mainly noticed the difficulty with some bushy wooly buggers. I'm all for snagging bull gills/crappie/whateverelse in the process. Hooked one yesterday on a small foam popper, but lost him when he dove under a log.

 

[danattherock]

But you did hook him

 

[jonathan creason]

One of my goals over the next few months is to scrape up enough odd jobs to upgrade my rod and get a vessel of some sort. I'd really like to go give Richard some more money and get one of those TFO's. I also want a yak in a real bad awful sort of way, but am leaning more towards a canoe now. Got 2 young boys that I'd like to take along from time to time.

 

[crabman00]

One thing I've found when trying to cut down resistance with larger bugs is to try different styles. A sneaky pete design seems much easier to cast than a cup faced design in the same size. Ya won't get that classic ker-plunk sound, but you don't always need it. Or ya can even go half way and use something like what Boogle Bug calls Amnesia bugs.

Good luck.

 

[danattherock]

A canoe would open up tons of opportunity. I have a 17 month old son and another due in nov. We got two whitwater rafts, five kayaks, an Ally pack canoe, and will be adding a drift boat soon. You got to pay to play, but with non motorized craft, it only stings once. Canoe would be great on any lake and pond. There are lots of rivers near the mountains suitable for one as well, the New River being the most obvious. Beautiful place.


Dan

 

[Chiefly Fly'n]

leaning more towards a canoe

You are hard pressed to beat a good, well-designed canoe as a versatile craft...especially when you are wanting to transport a couple of kids. I purchased an Old Town Tripper (17') in 1975 and used it for the wife and 2 kids in rivers, lakes and saltwater in New Hampshire, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina etc. And I used it as a solo boat for fishing and paddling. It is still going strong today and gets regular use on the New River in Ashe and Allegheny county, when there are 2 (or more folks) being transported. There are several good threads on here about canoes.

A good new canoe in the 16-17 foot range will probably run you $800....more if you opt to get a Royalex canoe (while they are still being made????) Some good deals to be found in the used market, as posted on some previous threads, and some friends have made some good buys ($300-600).

 

[5wtflyrod]

Downsizing the popper will be easiest. A 5-6 wt rod is perfect for medium sized poppers. Just so happens, that same size popper will fit into the mouth of a big bream also. Certainly has big enough hook to snag a big bass too. You toss the biggest bass poppers, you take 80% of the fish in the pond out of the game. There are several reasons I use a 6 wt for most my warm water fishing. Toss huge flies and poppers on an 8 wt will make for some very long, tiring, and unproductive days on the water in my experience. Trial and error is of course part of the fun. Try it your way first then perhaps try it another. Good luck. Will be some great fly fishing real soon.

Whatever your method, be sure to try some Boogle Bugs!!!

Dan

What size is a medium size popper? #8, #6, #4?

 

[BronzeBackWanderer]

I use a 7WT with Rio bass to throw larger poppers when the flows are normal. A 6WT with Rio Bass anything good at turning over flies would work. These bigger lines will spook bass when the water is low though.