I went into my local fly shop here in the UK and said to them I want to start fishing for perch on a fly rod and you should have seen the look they gave me! I agree with the stigma!
Dude, Largemouth have been a very common species on the fly since for ever, man. If you keep doing fly videos, then you'll have earned my viewership. I'm a huge fly guy and I'd love to watch you guys learn more.
@@SlabDynasty looking forward to it! I own a video production company and I must say, you guys have a pretty good production value brewing. Keep at it.
Nice, dooods! I dig it...as a transplanted saltwater angler / New Englander in the south, I've really enjoyed flyfishing for bass...trophies don't matter...the experience does! Catching bass & panfish on the fly is a real blast, & very meditative. Cheers!
Love the fly content and how much you enjoy it! I mostly fly fish myself but it feels like most of the fly anglers on TH-cam are trying to teach me something not just out there enjoying it, love to see you get amped up by a catch.
Great video! My son in law got me started fly fishing 7 yrs ago now and that is how I fish 98% of the time now. I live in Kentucky now since I retired. So, from March through October and November the streams and rivers that Kentucky has to offer is where I can be found! Many thanks for sharing!
@@SlabDynasty , Yes, I mainly fish for smallmouth. I live very near Elkhorn Creek near Frankfort, KY. It’s a fantastic wading/kayaking creek that’s full of smallmouth and rock bass. I also fish the Green River, Benson Creek, Cumberland River and several others. The Spring white bass run isn’t far off for the Salt River as well.
Definitely do more fly videos, and species, its so much fun. 5wt is ok, I understand the start where you talked about a disconnect from bass fishing and fly fishing, its mainly because Bass fishing is such a competition sport here. I grew up in Scotland fishing for brown trout, rainbow trout, sea trout so I am used to light tackle, usually 6wt, its good for up to 3-5lbs fish, need to know when to put a fish on the reel its important, the bigger fish need wearing out. But Bass are a game fish, big fighting and voracious, they are a perfect target for fly fishermen here and they are so much more abundant across the country than trout. Trout don't like warm water much.
At 7:23 what you caught was not a green sunfish, but actually a redbreast sunfish. Many people mistake them for the longear sunfish because of the long gill flaps (operculum) that they have.
Finally getting around to catching up on y’alls videos… I’m speechless y’all. Y’alls filming and editing keeps getting better and better. Love it y’all, keep it up!!!
You really need to do more fly fishing videos. I’m currently reading a book titled, CASTING AND MENDING which lays out how fly fishing can heal shattered minds and bodies from war veterans to breast cancer patients. Also, go see the movie, MENDING THE LINE with Brian Cox, and although it’s not even a year old, it will soon be regarded as one of the most important films on healing (and not just fly fishing). Also, I like the fact that your channel doesn’t use all the high end fly fishing gear because it helps dispel the myth that it’s a rich man’s sport, and your channel is showing that’s not the case. 😇
Not sure on the taper tbh, the line in this vid came with the reel I bought and never bothered to ask what type of line. It’s a 7wt floating line, that’s all I know. Still learning the nuances of tapers, but from what I understand for throwing streamers or other heavier flies, you want a weight forward line with a shorter head length. And unless your fishing deeper than 6ft or fishing very fast water, floating line is fine. Some guys use intermediate (sink tip) to get flies down deeper, just depends on your water and the fish. And the tapers can get complicated, but condensing the taper into a shorter head length and faster taper usually means more energy transfers to the tip of the line and it’s able to “snap” the leader and roll over those bigger flies, kind of like how a whip works. Keep your leaders short in water less than 5-6ft. 4-5ft total with like 20lb flouro stepping down to a 15lb tippet.
Love the video, I was just wondering if you were on the French Broad in North Carolina. And if you weren't I would love to see you guys do a video of it.
@@SlabDynasty the long earflap and blue on the cheek/red tail would indicate a redbreast. Greenies will have a darker body color and pronounced larger mouth.
Oops, you are right sir! 😅 had to do a little research but those are in fact redbreast in that river. I’ve been convinced (and told by “experts”) that they were greenies for a long time
That wasn’t a green sunfish, it was a red breast or long eared sunfish. As far as fly fishing for bass, like you, I’m just now getting into it more. Something between a 6 and 8 at feels right to me, big enough to launch those larger/heavier flies. I used to live in Raleigh, so you guys picked a great river to wade and fish for largemouth. Wading is easier than in a kayak or canoe, unless you have a good anchor setup and are willing to put in the effort to get to the right spot. I can tell you that, in general, fly fishing rivers for bass is tougher than fly fishing rivers for trout. It just seems so much more efficient to use conventional gear for me, especially with search baits. I’ve been to several of the places you guys have filmed. Really like your content. Great editing and appropriate length.
Thanks Jeff! Tough to tell red breast from green sunfish sometimes, but that part of that river is mostly green sunfish. That 2nd sunfish caught was a greenie. But yea we’re definitely trying to learn more about the fly game and get a little more serious about it. Probably going to upgrade the tackle soon to start targeting bigger bass.
I use an 8 WT for bass and pike in MT. Find clouser minnows and cray fish patterns work great for smallies. Probably need to size up the flies a little for the bigger fish. I started on a 5 WT with woolly buggers and that worked well for the smaller ones.
I loved your video. Maybe if you know you are going specifically for bass you put on a 0x leader. I had the same problem as you losing flies and switching leader size helped me not get broken off so much.
Grew up 0.1 mile up the road from where you were fishing, spotted it the first drone footage of the bridges haha. I used to fish there with a bamboo stick, some twine, and a paper clip for a hook as a little kid.
Thats so sick man, did the same as a kid. Went fishing with whatever you could, I remember using a stick and some old string down at a local creek when I was younger
Awesome vid man! I fly fish for bass and native brook trout, it’s the best way to fish in my opinion. For bass you want to use a much stronger leader though since they aren’t too spooky and you can easily break off light 5x leaders on the structure they live in.
I'm totally down with fly-fishing for large mouth, just caught a 4lb, in the pads with a foam frog, 8wt, fwd taper, 12 lb leader and no tippet, 8ft rod
This was well past the typical spawn window around here so I think these were super late spawners, the fry we did see was very mature, I don’t think any harm in taking these guys off the bed
Preesh man! Rod is an 8’6” 4 weight, a cabelas brand combo that I got some time ago. Honestly not sure of CJs setup. We need to get more familiar with our stuff for sure. Probably new fly setups coming soon!
Catching bass on 5X is gonna lose a lot of bass (and flies). The lightest I'll go is 4X and only if I'm targeting smaller bass/bass hanging out with panfish (that are my actual target). Usually you want a setup built around 3x-2x or heavier. The actual tippet is dependent on the size of the fly (hook size/3 or 4, so a fly with a size 16 hook will cast the best* with 5x-4x tippet, but a fly with a size 4-6 hook you want 1x). *It might actually be to your benefit to lean towards heavier than recommended tippet maybe even go up a size or to intentionally. Oversizing your tippet (in addition to providing more strength) will result in heavier splashes, which will alert fish. pan fish and bass aren't as skittish as Trout(although I would still be sneaky).
Bluegills are extremely aggressive. When I was in college, I had 2 Oscars and was at the fish store buying feeders. This kid walks in the store asks the salesperson if they had anything ultra aggressive. The salesman showed him piranhas, sundevils, all kind of cichlids, the kid kept telling him he had already tried them all and not just one or two, but upwards to 5 piranhas and sundevils in the tank with his… Bluegill! 😂 His Bluegill was caught as a small minnow size and it literally killed everything in the tank. One bluegill vs. piranhas and sundevils, it annihilated those fish within days. It was relentless and kept bashing them into everything and using its mouth to descale them. He even tried buying a couple full size piranhas that were clearly bigger than the Bluegill, but it just didn’t matter, the bluegill refused to let them rest and continued to attack them until they were floating lifeless. The salesman was in absolute disbelief but I have seen what a school of bluegill or sunfish can do. They will run off fish much larger than themselves.
The go-to starter fly for bass has got to be a wooly bugger. If you wanna go big though, we recommend streamers of all sizes. We filmed a video recently on some of our favorite flies for bass fishing.
I 100% fly fish for bass and love it. Typically, I catch more fish and do better on average 4lb and less fish then my conventional fishing guests. I don't hook into many over 4. That may be due to my fly size choices. By that I mean, they may catch far fewer fish but they tend to get more hookups with 4+ lb fish. The biggest few I have caught were 8lbs on smaller poppers not the large streamers I fish a lot of the time.
I enjoy catching a bass on the fly rod but I'm not always successful and my spinning gear ends up saving the day especially in areas that don't permit back casting on the fly. Here in dfw I never see anyone else fly fishing it's not much of a thing around here but between windy days or physical obstacles like trees and the water is too deep and murky to wade and hardware being more efficient, I can see why
Get the big fish on the reel young man. You will want to be in that habit so that when you get that 5 6 7 or even 8 pound bass on your line, you'll fight it from the rod. And not with your hand.
These fish were very late post spawn with no visible fry around, probably just males hanging around the bedding area still recovering. No harm in catching those
Love the fly fishing for bass! Not enough content like this out there!
Thanks Cole! More of this to come from us.
Agreed! Love it.. there needs to be more fly fishing for bass content!
I went into my local fly shop here in the UK and said to them I want to start fishing for perch on a fly rod and you should have seen the look they gave me! I agree with the stigma!
Dude, Largemouth have been a very common species on the fly since for ever, man.
If you keep doing fly videos, then you'll have earned my viewership. I'm a huge fly guy and I'd love to watch you guys learn more.
More fly vids coming for sure
@@SlabDynasty looking forward to it! I own a video production company and I must say, you guys have a pretty good production value brewing. Keep at it.
Nice, dooods! I dig it...as a transplanted saltwater angler / New Englander in the south, I've really enjoyed flyfishing for bass...trophies don't matter...the experience does! Catching bass & panfish on the fly is a real blast, & very meditative. Cheers!
That's quite a transition! Fly fishing for bass here in the south can be really rewarding. We're chasing some trophies on the fly this spring.
Catfish on the fly!? That's gotta be slim to none! Awesome!
Love the fly rod action!!!
Thanks Matt!
Man the beginning has me pumped y'all make some awesome intro's.
Glad you enjoyed it Mike! More bangers to come... but you already know that
Love the fly content and how much you enjoy it! I mostly fly fish myself but it feels like most of the fly anglers on TH-cam are trying to teach me something not just out there enjoying it, love to see you get amped up by a catch.
Great video! My son in law got me started fly fishing 7 yrs ago now and that is how I fish 98% of the time now. I live in Kentucky now since I retired. So, from March through October and November the streams and rivers that Kentucky has to offer is where I can be found! Many thanks for sharing!
That's awesome man! We're becoming the same way, fly fishing most of the time. Do you fly fish for bass in Kentucky?
@@SlabDynasty , Yes, I mainly fish for smallmouth. I live very near Elkhorn Creek near Frankfort, KY. It’s a fantastic wading/kayaking creek that’s full of smallmouth and rock bass. I also fish the Green River, Benson Creek, Cumberland River and several others. The Spring white bass run isn’t far off for the Salt River as well.
Give me a holler if you’re ever in the area and want to try a few locations.
So far my personal best has been a 21 1/2 in smaller on a popper.
I do this all the time in ponds. It is a blast. Good content!
It really is fun, much different than conventional
Set lighter. Keep hooks sharp. Hard sets lose fish. Great video. Your bass techniques are right in front.
Came across your so down to Earth channel this morning. I love the energy, the format, and the attitude. Good stuff guys... keep up the good work.
More fun to get this bigger ones on the reel! Makes fight easier as well.
Agreed! We're chasing some absolute giants on the fly this spring.
Definitely do more fly videos, and species, its so much fun. 5wt is ok, I understand the start where you talked about a disconnect from bass fishing and fly fishing, its mainly because Bass fishing is such a competition sport here. I grew up in Scotland fishing for brown trout, rainbow trout, sea trout so I am used to light tackle, usually 6wt, its good for up to 3-5lbs fish, need to know when to put a fish on the reel its important, the bigger fish need wearing out. But Bass are a game fish, big fighting and voracious, they are a perfect target for fly fishermen here and they are so much more abundant across the country than trout. Trout don't like warm water much.
At 7:23 what you caught was not a green sunfish, but actually a redbreast sunfish. Many people mistake them for the longear sunfish because of the long gill flaps (operculum) that they have.
Thanks for the info! They can be difficult to identify at times. Hope you enjoyed the vid.
@@SlabDynasty it was awesome you guys make great content
Loved the video! Great visuals and story! well done! If you ever make it up to Maine let me know we can do a collaboration video
Thanks! Would love to get up there some time, heard it’s beautiful and great fishing
@@SlabDynasty Absolutely! just let me know
fly fishing for bass is the only way to go. i only fly fish and tie all my own love your fly fishing vids brother.
Yessir! We love fly fishing for bass. It's a blast and makes for a good challenge. Glad you love the vids! More coming...
Finally getting around to catching up on y’alls videos… I’m speechless y’all. Y’alls filming and editing keeps getting better and better. Love it y’all, keep it up!!!
Major apreesh dude
My son and I really liked the fly fishing video
Glad to hear that! More to come.
Awesome content, great videography and editing. There are plenty bass fishing videos, but few fly fishing for bass(and panfish, pike, musky).
Time to relax and take notes 📝
Love seeing you guys learn! This is so fun to watch
You really need to do more fly fishing videos. I’m currently reading a book titled, CASTING AND MENDING which lays out how fly fishing can heal shattered minds and bodies from war veterans to breast cancer patients. Also, go see the movie, MENDING THE LINE with Brian Cox, and although it’s not even a year old, it will soon be regarded as one of the most important films on healing (and not just fly fishing). Also, I like the fact that your channel doesn’t use all the high end fly fishing gear because it helps dispel the myth that it’s a rich man’s sport, and your channel is showing that’s not the case. 😇
Can’t stop watching this
Y’all boys are pumping out some killer content
🤙🏻
love popping for bass.
Very well made!
Thank you!
Loved this! Do more of these for sure
Will do! Glad you enjoyed it J.
Amazing footage. great work 🙌🏻
The first bass I got on the fly was an LMB. Nice video
What a vid🙌
🔥
Yessir!!
That would be a channel cat
Yep, a tiny one!
Cool outing
What weight backer ,float and taper you running for bass?new to flyfishing
Not sure on the taper tbh, the line in this vid came with the reel I bought and never bothered to ask what type of line. It’s a 7wt floating line, that’s all I know. Still learning the nuances of tapers, but from what I understand for throwing streamers or other heavier flies, you want a weight forward line with a shorter head length. And unless your fishing deeper than 6ft or fishing very fast water, floating line is fine. Some guys use intermediate (sink tip) to get flies down deeper, just depends on your water and the fish. And the tapers can get complicated, but condensing the taper into a shorter head length and faster taper usually means more energy transfers to the tip of the line and it’s able to “snap” the leader and roll over those bigger flies, kind of like how a whip works. Keep your leaders short in water less than 5-6ft. 4-5ft total with like 20lb flouro stepping down to a 15lb tippet.
Thanks for the help ..Awesome vidoes
Cool vid my man!
Much appreciated broseph
Awesome vid!
Thanks man
You must’ve really fell in love with fly fishing this year 😉
I just got into fly fishing via tenkara. It’s so fascinating and new to me.
Every time I watch one of these videos I wonder why you guys don’t have more subscribers
We’ll get there bruh, thanks for watching
I can't wait for yall to blow up. I'm calling it by end of this year your at 75K subscriber's
That would be sweet haha, just gotta keep grinding.
I like this guys attitude
Love the vid man alalways fun to watch💪
Thanks man, we preciate ya!
Looking to get into fly fishing! Loved this video!
Love the video, I was just wondering if you were on the French Broad in North Carolina. And if you weren't I would love to see you guys do a video of it.
7:21 is a Redbreast Sunfish. They prefer faster flows than greenies. They have a similar angry attitude and bigger mouth than bluegill.
That one was a green sunfish, hard to tell the smaller ones apart from redbreast, but vast majority of the sunfish in that river are greenies.
@@SlabDynasty the long earflap and blue on the cheek/red tail would indicate a redbreast. Greenies will have a darker body color and pronounced larger mouth.
Oops, you are right sir! 😅 had to do a little research but those are in fact redbreast in that river. I’ve been convinced (and told by “experts”) that they were greenies for a long time
@@SlabDynasty offer to send you guys some flies is still out there. Let me know!
you are molde, you are good at it.👍
Okay!
That wasn’t a green sunfish, it was a red breast or long eared sunfish.
As far as fly fishing for bass, like you, I’m just now getting into it more. Something between a 6 and 8 at feels right to me, big enough to launch those larger/heavier flies. I used to live in Raleigh, so you guys picked a great river to wade and fish for largemouth. Wading is easier than in a kayak or canoe, unless you have a good anchor setup and are willing to put in the effort to get to the right spot.
I can tell you that, in general, fly fishing rivers for bass is tougher than fly fishing rivers for trout. It just seems so much more efficient to use conventional gear for me, especially with search baits.
I’ve been to several of the places you guys have filmed. Really like your content. Great editing and appropriate length.
Thanks Jeff! Tough to tell red breast from green sunfish sometimes, but that part of that river is mostly green sunfish. That 2nd sunfish caught was a greenie.
But yea we’re definitely trying to learn more about the fly game and get a little more serious about it. Probably going to upgrade the tackle soon to start targeting bigger bass.
Take that back, you’re absolutely right man, that was a redbreast
Slab Dynasty much respect!
You tell em jeff
I use an 8 WT for bass and pike in MT. Find clouser minnows and cray fish patterns work great for smallies. Probably need to size up the flies a little for the bigger fish. I started on a 5 WT with woolly buggers and that worked well for the smaller ones.
I’m going fly fishing for river smallies today, so thanks for the tip! I have a few big clousers that I’ll throw.
I loved your video. Maybe if you know you are going specifically for bass you put on a 0x leader. I had the same problem as you losing flies and switching leader size helped me not get broken off so much.
For sure, I think a bigger leader and probably a higher weight rod is ideal for bass
What an inspiring video brother!! Thank you!!
Thoughts on spf fishing gloves with open finger tips? Its nuts out here in Arizona.
Thoroughly enjoyed this! We don't have bass in Finland tho ;)
What fly I need some!
Grew up 0.1 mile up the road from where you were fishing, spotted it the first drone footage of the bridges haha. I used to fish there with a bamboo stick, some twine, and a paper clip for a hook as a little kid.
Thats so sick man, did the same as a kid. Went fishing with whatever you could, I remember using a stick and some old string down at a local creek when I was younger
Fly fishing is great would love to learn how
You can do a lot just roll casting, doesn’t take a ton of skill
Make more videos and get different flies bass bluegill and how to fish them thanks please respond soon
Will do!
Come catch some big striper on the saldua river down here in SC. Its on fire right now
👀😲
Awesome vid man! I fly fish for bass and native brook trout, it’s the best way to fish in my opinion. For bass you want to use a much stronger leader though since they aren’t too spooky and you can easily break off light 5x leaders on the structure they live in.
Agreed man, we basically only had trout gear
Love the video. Can’t wait to get back out there. Where is this that you are fishing?
How do you not have a million subs? This is awesome content.
Thanks man
This is badass, first time seeing someone catch a catfish on fly. Great fun! What state is this, Upper Michigan?
We are in NC and yeah we plan on doing more fly fishing. More people need to see the beauty of it.
I'm totally down with fly-fishing for large mouth, just caught a 4lb, in the pads with a foam frog, 8wt, fwd taper, 12 lb leader and no tippet, 8ft rod
Nice! I bet a 4 pounder on an 8 wt was a lot of fun
Nice video. Well filmed. Just that I disagree with fishing for spawners.
This was well past the typical spawn window around here so I think these were super late spawners, the fry we did see was very mature, I don’t think any harm in taking these guys off the bed
Whats your setup? Rod reel? AWESOME VIDEOS BRO greetings from California!!!
Preesh man! Rod is an 8’6” 4 weight, a cabelas brand combo that I got some time ago. Honestly not sure of CJs setup. We need to get more familiar with our stuff for sure. Probably new fly setups coming soon!
i would love to have yall teach me to fly fish
Would you want to see a video on how to cast a fly rod?
@@SlabDynasty yes definitely
is that the James river?
This the Haw ?
wondering the same thing
I believe that first fly you were using is called a "Moto Minnow".
What Rods are you throwing?
5wt 8’6”, that’s an old rod and we’ve since moved to TFO, their signature series 5wt would be perfect for this
Those spots on the catfish are actually a disease that goes away as they get older
Wow that's interesting! Thanks for the info.
Catching bass on 5X is gonna lose a lot of bass (and flies).
The lightest I'll go is 4X and only if I'm targeting smaller bass/bass hanging out with panfish (that are my actual target). Usually you want a setup built around 3x-2x or heavier. The actual tippet is dependent on the size of the fly (hook size/3 or 4, so a fly with a size 16 hook will cast the best* with 5x-4x tippet, but a fly with a size 4-6 hook you want 1x).
*It might actually be to your benefit to lean towards heavier than recommended tippet maybe even go up a size or to intentionally. Oversizing your tippet (in addition to providing more strength) will result in heavier splashes, which will alert fish. pan fish and bass aren't as skittish as Trout(although I would still be sneaky).
Yeah we are planning on upgrading before our next outing.
Bluegills are extremely aggressive. When I was in college, I had 2 Oscars and was at the fish store buying feeders. This kid walks in the store asks the salesperson if they had anything ultra aggressive. The salesman showed him piranhas, sundevils, all kind of cichlids, the kid kept telling him he had already tried them all and not just one or two, but upwards to 5 piranhas and sundevils in the tank with his… Bluegill! 😂
His Bluegill was caught as a small minnow size and it literally killed everything in the tank. One bluegill vs. piranhas and sundevils, it annihilated those fish within days. It was relentless and kept bashing them into everything and using its mouth to descale them. He even tried buying a couple full size piranhas that were clearly bigger than the Bluegill, but it just didn’t matter, the bluegill refused to let them rest and continued to attack them until they were floating lifeless. The salesman was in absolute disbelief but I have seen what a school of bluegill or sunfish can do. They will run off fish much larger than themselves.
Wow what a dope story. Thanks for sharing! We love catching some aggressive bluegill
Multi species
Yessir!
Nice video - what river is this ??
What river
Just moved to Texas from Canada and never caught a bass before. What flies do I need. Only ever caught trout.
The go-to starter fly for bass has got to be a wooly bugger. If you wanna go big though, we recommend streamers of all sizes. We filmed a video recently on some of our favorite flies for bass fishing.
Looks like your rod is missing several guides close to handle??
I'd love to learn how to fly fish in general
There's plenty of resources out there to learn dude. You can teach yourself with practice. I did.
I 100% fly fish for bass and love it. Typically, I catch more fish and do better on average 4lb and less fish then my conventional fishing guests. I don't hook into many over 4. That may be due to my fly size choices. By that I mean, they may catch far fewer fish but they tend to get more hookups with 4+ lb fish. The biggest few I have caught were 8lbs on smaller poppers not the large streamers I fish a lot of the time.
what river ? what state ??
I enjoy catching a bass on the fly rod but I'm not always successful and my spinning gear ends up saving the day especially in areas that don't permit back casting on the fly. Here in dfw I never see anyone else fly fishing it's not much of a thing around here but between windy days or physical obstacles like trees and the water is too deep and murky to wade and hardware being more efficient, I can see why
Get the big fish on the reel young man. You will want to be in that habit so that when you get that 5 6 7 or even 8 pound bass on your line, you'll fight it from the rod. And not with your hand.
I live in Pennsylvania, and it’s illegal to target smallmouth on beds. It’s also unethical.
These fish were very late post spawn with no visible fry around, probably just males hanging around the bedding area still recovering. No harm in catching those