If you have never had a go at fly fishing for bass it’s a deadly way to catch bass on both surface and sinking fly work well. Surface fly is the most exciting with explosive strikes. You can often cast a fly into areas that you will find difficult cast a lure into. Some of the other advantages of using a fly are: you can match the size of the insects the bass are feeding on, a more delicate presentation, when you miss a strike you can pick you fly up a drop it back on the spot with out having to retrieve all the way back.

A great spot to start fly fishing for bass is in between Windsor and North Richmond you can start by pot holing the holes in the raft of weeds is these area you do not have to worry about the over hanging tree and shrubs. Cast your fly to the far side of one of these holes let it sit for few seconds and then strip it back if you do get a strike and hook up don’t muck around drag him out as fast as you can other wise they will bury you in the thick weed. Another spot to cast is the clear areas between the inside edge of the weed beds and shore line this maybe only a metre wide work your fly very slowly from the waters edge to the weed beds with a long pause when you get to edge of the weed as often the bass will be in the weeds. Some of the flies I use are small popper, cricket and hopper to name a few.
Sinking fly can be used in front of the weed beds. Cast parallel, let it sink to depth and retrieved at with short fast strips with a pause a second every 3 or 4 strip. I use a sinking stripper 4 with a 2mt 6 kg leader. You can also fish subsurface using floating line and weight flies across the top of weed beds. Flies I like are clouser, shrimp, bait fish patterns.

When using lures around these markers I first cast unweighted Slugger and Mojos close to the poles or structure often this will produce a fish or a bust off. Before rushing I will check out with my Matrix 97 sounder whether the kings and ambers are holding deep. If it shows fish I will drift over them depending on the wind and current. I then lower the jig to the bottom; keeping in contact with the jig on the decent as often fish will strike on the drop.

When your lure hits bottom, wind it a few turns up and jig it up and down with the rod a few times. Often fish will strike. If it doesn’t, I wind at high speed, with a pause or two on the way up. On many occasions you will be nailed on the pause or just as you start to retrieve. Often when we are jigging if the current is not running I will cast an unweighted slugger out, put the rod into a rod holder and let it slowly sink, let it sit there only moving up and down with the boat movement from the waves. This will often hook up without any input by the angler, but if it does not I work it up slowly, putting action into it with the rod and retrieve then repeat the process. It also pays to get a burly going as often Bait fish and fish will follow it right back to the boat. I f so pin live bait and send it down as a back up. Burly is also handy when deep water fly fishing Get a good trail going, cast your fly let its sink and retrieve it back through the trail or you can float a lightly weighted soft plastic down the burly trail then slowly work it back..
This type of fishing is very demanding on tackle so check all your knots, leaders, line and drag settings as if there’s a weakness it will cost you fish. I use a 6 to 8 kg Strudwick rod, Shimano 6000 stradic and sustain reels, loaded with Yellow 20 to 30 Superbriad or multi coloured Pioneer braid in deeper water as every colour is ten metre long so by counting the colours I know how deep my lure is and 40 pound leader.
When the pelagic fish are feeding on small bait, saltwater fly fishing can out fish most other methods. Why? Because you can cast a small fly that is the same size, shape and colour as the bait the fish are feeding on. You can also work a fly a lot slower than most lures or you can let the fly just sit in the middle of a feeding school of fish.

The best way to work a school of feeding fish is to position your boat in front of the fish and let them come to you. Most schools work into the wind.  Always cast your fly ahead of them.

I usually start my retrieve with a double hand strip. This works well when the fish are active. If this does not work try a long slow strip or fast short strips with pause. Every now and then you will find the fish will hit you on the pause.

If the fish go down, don’t rush off as often as the fish will pop up after a short while, sometimes they will work a pattern. If the fish go down and don’t pop up or you can’t find them on top use  your sounder to locate the fish use a fast sinking line to get down to them.

Most 8wt fly outfits will do the job on Taylor, Salmon, bonito and small kings. You might need to carry a 9wt or 10 wt if some big kings turn up or if you are using shooting heads to get down deep.

These include Bass, Bream, Bonito, Flathead, Taylor, Australian Salmon, Dolphin fish, Trout and of course the mighty Kingfish

We fish with some of the best anglers to show you how when and why to finding and target all the different species.  Scotty Lyons of Southern Sydney shows use how he targets Trevally and flathead In Botany Bay. Jeff Brown of Riverlands Fly and Sportsfishing Fly fish for brown trout in the central tablelands. Kim and Steve Bain

Spend a day with me hooking into Aussie salmon with soft plastic and lures.

I show you with help of Shannon and a couple of fat buddies and some not so fat buddies to fish for all the other species showing all know how that has help us to catch these fish so keep you eye out local tackle for Sportsfishing Action and Sportsfishing Action 2

We cover all the different lures how to cast, use soft plastic, poppers and trolling

Any one interested can ring me on 040 8334 892