October Largemouth

Autumn bass ain’t like summer bass. The water levels have all dropped as well as the water temperatures—and the bass metabolism. With the cold snaps and cool nights we have seen an end to the thick beds of aquatic vegetation crawling with bug life…no more crazy summer nights with damsels zipping about every which way and young largemouth popping out of the water after them. No more making love in the green grass behind the stadium—sorry Van Morrison. The cattail’s are more gold than green, the lily pads have died and the grass is brown. But the bass are still there…just not as gung-ho as they were a couple months ago. Cold water hits these fish like a prison sentence or combat tour hits a 19-year-old…kinda sucks out the piss and vinegar. So fish slow and deep and choose your flies accordingly. Pick bass flies that have the best, life-like action even “on the drop” or when crawled painfully slow on the bottom or through the last remaining weed lines. I have been using a black Texas Ringworm on some of my local ponds recently. I use a long, but stout leader (9ft 1x) most times. Tie the fly on using some sort of loop knot, as this greatly increases the back and forth “walk-the-dog” action of the fly…even when fished slow. I tie the Rapala knot because my go-to has always been the clinch (or improved clinch) so making the transition is simple. Look up the two knots online and you will see. The Texas Ringworm is technically an articulated streamer, so the action is borderline schizophrenic and the hook rides up and is buried so the worm is virtually snag free and weedless…so toss it into all the nasty slop!