vmabuck

And if anyone has any fly fishing questions feel free to ask. I can lead you in the right direction on just about anything minus saltwater action...

Thanks!

I am new to largemouth bass fishing. I have done some good small mouth fishing in streams on the fly rod. See, I have been pretty much a western trout fly fisher my whole life. Just before I moved to NE OK I was guiding on rivers in Northern NM. Now I do have a year round trout fishery about an hour and a half away from here below Tenkiller lake and I have fished it and it is ok. But I live right on a small lake now and I could not pass up the potential. I have pulled a few small largey on the fly rod but I knew that wasn't going to cut it to get into the big boys. So I started with some used baitcasting combo I found at an antique store and started slinging stuff. After watching a few videos I learned my basic rigs and when and where to fish them. In the beginning it was extremely slow, but as I got into the creature soft plastics the action started picking up quite a bit. Then it went from there to learning all the swim, crank, sinner, lipless, heavy cover jigs, punch rigs, carolina rigs etc... Fun stuff for sure and a lot to learn. I have action on the lake and in the river below that flows from a spillway dam. I still use the fly rod a lot in the river. Been fun catching cat, white bass, smallmouth, and some smaller largemouth for sure. But I never seem to get the big guys unless I pull out the baitcaster and throw some serious lunch at them. Anyway, I will be poking around trying to fine tune my game. I wish I had pics of all my fish but I do have some of the better ones. Although most seem to be around these sizes. Tight lines and screaming reels!

I also recently got into this topwater frog action. Tried it first with a 6' 6" MH and 14 pound mono. After losing two really nice fish in the muck I did some research. I am throwing into heavy cover and also throwing from the bank which means I have to pull them through some above surface aquatic plants that shield the bank. I ended up getting a Berkely 7' 6" Heavy E-Motion and a H2O Express reel with 50# braid, making sure the reel had an aluminum body because I was told this is a must if you are going to be setting and yanking out the muck with heavy braid. I was told the carbon frames would wear out fast under these conditions. Well, the research paid off well. The action is hot. Can't wait to get out more than an hour doing this. I am also a recent convert to bass fishing and baitcasting. I have been pretty much a western trout fly fisher my whole life. I was even a guide for a few years in Northern NM. I never thought for a minute this bass fishing could be as fun as it is. Definitely love the topwater action action being a fly fisher. And the similarities of choosing flies vs. soft plastics is easily seen. Lovin it!