The traveling fly fisherman and Springtime Bass

Posted on March 21, 2023 by troyleebasso

Seems like every year I yearn for warm days and large bass eating bass poppers. The reality of the situation is that if we wait in warm days, we are missing some of the more aggressive fishing of the year. Going though pictures of years long gone shows lots of good fish but, we are wearing sock hats and coats in most of them, the trees have no leaves either. So even though we want those 70-degree days the facts are the fish start the pre spawn when the days are still cold and miserable.

Today was that day as it was cold and windy. I couldn’t pass on the invite from a friend to fish his lake in southern Louisiana. The first hour was pretty much a casting exercise but, then the sun came out. It wasn’t 15 minutes before I started seeing wakes in the shallowest areas of the lake. Another 15 minutes and I started catching fish. First it was a 2-pound crappie that ate my Double-Barreled popper. Then a few smallish bass decided to give me a little love.

Right before the sun set the bigger fish decided it was time to play. The evening ended with a couple more bass at 3+ pounds and a few more lost in structure. A couple key take away were that the fish were holding very tight to shallow water cover. Also, to get into the bigger fish I had to swap to a noisier fly. They were not interested in anything that was not both moving and making some noise. The fly that cracked the code was a “Basso’s Blockhead Popper” in yellow with a chartreuse tail.

The moral of the story is, don’t wait for “Nice weather” get out now and enjoy the early spring weather. The other moral of the story is to never leave home with a fly rod and a box of flies!