Deep Fly Bass

Queensland bass fishing champion Harry Watson explains deep fishing techniques for impoundment bass.

The take felt more like a snag until the fish shook its head and surged away with the full sinking line rooster tailing the surface. The fish (a 48 cm bass) was hooked close to the bottom in about 20 feet of water; it had been one of those days when anything that rattled, wobbled or buzzed was completely ignored.
When things are quiet or the thrill of spinnerbaits, spoons and plastics has worn thin, then there is another less well known option to snare trophy bass on Australia's best stillwaters, the impoundments of South East Queens-land. Fly fishing, reportedly one of the fastest growing fishing methods in Australia, is a very effective fish getter when applied properly to conditions, area, terrain and piscatorial moods.
Although not in its purist form of delicately laying a dry fly on a mirror surface without a ripple, pelting out full sinking lines attached to sinking flies is a deadly bass method which has crept up on the big bass dams of Queensland. Crept up is probably an understatement considering the storm created when deep fly took out the final of the Bass Anglers Sportsfishing Series on Maroon Dam, an impoundment which has everything a bass fly-fisher dreams of . . . lilies, overhanging trees, rock ledges and open shallow bays with intermittent reefs of weed to harbour fish.
Spinnerbaiters, metal-jiggers and jigglers of soft plastics scored poorly against deeply stripped Clousers on shooting head or full sinking lines. When the fish are in a mood for small prey like our firetail gudgeons or shrimps then nothing looks more natural than a Clouser Minnow style fly sliding past a holding station.

BASS TECHNIQUES
Deep water fly fishing was introduced to me by keen fly-man Peter Keidge of Kalbar who used the technique in between the lilies or along the edges of weed beds. Get the fly right in amongst it, count it down and strip back at various speeds and depths till you find what the fish like. This type of deep fly fishing is most effective in the warmer months when bass can be taken around weed beds and in very shallow water.

Open water Bass seem more often to be lipped hooked.

Weed, or any other structure for that matter, is not essential in an area to hold schools of big bass or individuals but most times there will be some type of feeding area close by-a sunken creek bed, ledge, rock or timber formation, weed bed or baitfish school.
Bass in South East Queensland dams often school in open areas and this is where cricket scores of 40+ cm bass can be encountered in a session. By drifting through areas known to hold bass and fly-casting into the wind or past the school, then feeding out line (mending they tell me) to get a vertical sink to the depth desired, you can often target individual fish or schools found on your sounder. Strip rate depends on the mood of the fish but you won't out strip a big bass in agro mode using a one handed technique. I prefer a short fast retrieve as it seems to emulate a shrimp or minnow kicking along-you'll often get taken on the pause.
Marker buoys are very handy for open water fly casting to mark the school of fish and set up your drift; one hint here is not to drop the marker right on the fish, just to one side is sufficient so it doesn't get in your way.
Winter is the ideal time to employ this technique when other lures can be unreliable at best; the deep fly can be the difference between a hot bite and a dud day. In winter though you need to look to deeper water where bass school and hunt. To catch a bass close to the bottom in 35 feet of water is not unusual.

BASS TACKLE
A lot of blokes like light rods and lines for bass fishing, but for big fish around structure, which can be 20 feet down, I like a 7 to 9-weight set-up. I run a Nauticus 8-weight and an 8-9 Mega-both rods will cast the larger flies required and have the muscle to pull the big fellers away from trouble.
When it comes to getting down deep the choices are few and the top choices cost. It often takes a few different essentials to make a technique work well and for this type of fly fishing you really do have to have the right line. Teeny Basic Sinks and TS Series are good lines to start with-they are shooting head styles and get down quick. They sink at about 6 inches per second depending on the type of fly used. Both lines have a forward sinking length: the Basic Sink has 20 feet of sink and the TS has 30 feet.

This 50 cm Bass on fly was too good for young Jack Keidge but Dad didn't mind helping out. The kids find sinking lines hard to cast but love stripping in & feeling the fish on the rod.

The Scientific Anglers Striper IV is another sinking line with the right characteristics for targeting deep bass: it sinks at between 3.5 and 6.5 inches per second, again depending on the fly-a heavy Clouser will get you down a bit quicker whereas a light Deceiver will be slower. This line is a weight forward style and the whole 120 feet sinks-I can tell you it takes a long time to pull a 50 cm bass in with the full line out.
There are other lines around that I have not tried that are advertised as having the right characteristics, just make sure they sink fast.
Tapered sinking leaders, or a two metre length of fluorocarbon line of desired breaking strain (8 kg is average, 10 kg if you're serious about big bass in cover) is as technical as it gets at the business end. Hooks do need to be sharp and strong-the Gamakatsu O'Shaughnessy or B10's are not bad in size 2 or 4 if you roll your own flies.

BASS ELECTRONICS
In my opinion there are two essentials and another item which is a great help on the big waters: they are an electric motor (preferably a bow mount), a sounder (as good as you can afford), and a GPS.
Minn Kota have an excellent range of electric motors, with either foot control or auto pilot being preferable to keep your hands free for casting.

Peter Keidge with an open water 50 cm Bass one of 30 caught in a session.

With sounders look for good screen clarity and definition. Forget about little fishies on the screen-in the big impoundments the schools of bony bream on which the bass feed will have a thousand fish at a time on the screen. My X75 Lowrance is the best sounder I've used in fresh water for finding fish and structure, for telling the difference between plankton, baitfish and bass, and for picking what mood the fish are in. Forget about paying for gimmicks; spend the extra money on quality. You will catch bass by blind casting in open water or targeting structure with this sinking line technique, but by intelligent use of a sounder and setting drifts carefully, big numbers and big fish will come more often.
A GPS, although not essential, is a good way to find hot spots quickly and efficiently. A piece of structure ten metres in diameter in an area of 100 acres of open water takes some finding no matter how good you are with markers.

BASS FLIES
There's not too much a bass won't eat really, but some flies catch more than others so I'll cover the best that I've found so far.
For deep presentations it depends on the type of bait-fish in the dam. If the main food source is bony bream (e.g. Moogerah Dam which holds some of the biggest bass in Australia) then flies like Pink Things, Deceivers, large Clousers and Zonkers are the go. But if shrimps and gudgeons are the food source then go for small Clousers and fry and shrimp patterns. Colours are sometimes important and sometimes not; black is always a good bass colour with mixes of green, red, purple, yellow and white (not all in the same fly).
In a heavily weeded dam I would start with a black base-colour fly but in one of the open water bony bream impoundments white would be the main colour and probably tied using some of the new synthetic fibres as they stand up to big rough mouths better than bucktail and have a real fish attracting pulse in the water.
A pair of quality sunnies is mandatory for protection from flies (the ones with hooks in them) and sun, as well as for spotting weed edges and reefs.
Our bass are pretty hardy fish; a fish bin of water is good if you want to take numerous photos and keep the big fellows in good nick for release. Because most flies are single hooked, damage to the mouth area is minimal.
Average catch rates with fly depend on a number of variables including whether or not you are on the fish, the mood they are in, the technique used, fly and line combination, and which dam you fish-but we often leave bass biting after 30 to 40 over 40 cm in a session.
A few people bag this technique as not real fly fishing, and they could be right, but in winter while they are sitting at home in withdrawal I will be at the dam getting sore arms from pulling trophy bass.

For guided fishing on SE Qld impoundments, Harry Watson can be contacted on 07 5541 2996 or 015 596 814.