Fly Hack: Why Your Bass Box Should Have Soft Plastics In It

Ever been on a lake or pond and seen an awesome lie that you just know you can't fish with a fly?

Success on Bass ponds and lakes is all about putting flies in the right places.  Of all freshwater fish, Largemouth Bass are probably the most skilled at living in, and using cover to their advantage.

Most of the time, an 8 wt, a 6 foot level leader of 15lb mono, and a good fly with a weed guard on it is all you need.

But on almost every pond and lake, there is "THE spot".  You see it, and it just screams bass heaven.  You stare at it, looking at the vegetation and structure, for minutes on end, trying to figure out a way punch a fly in there.

But as you look, you just know that it would take some sort of suspension of the laws of physics to get any fly in there and be able to lay an effective retrieve on it.

You end up passing on the spot, but for the rest of the day, you find your thoughts slipping back to the  monster alpha fish that you just know lives in that fly stealing hell hole.

We've all been there

But there is an option:  Soft plastics rigged weedless.

Let's be honest.  Fly fishing is great, but it has it's limitations.  There are certain things that the guys with the spinning rods have on us and this perhaps more than anything, is where they have a major advantage.

Conventional bass fishing is a huge industry.  For every 1 of us there are probably 1000 bass fishermen. They have entire Wal-Mart style outdoor superstores based on the sport of conventional bass fishing.

So what does this mean?  Well, it means dollars, and dollars means product research, and product research means a plethora of products designed to cater to every single situation a bass angler will run into on the water, including putting bait in the most inhospitable, lure eating black holes you can find.

Enter the soft plastic bait, and the worm hook:

Let's put it this way.  Take a look at modern bass flies.  All they are in their truest form are hand made lures without the weight. Foam, plastic, nylon, mylar.  It's all in the most popular recipes in every fly catalog in the country.  I tie patterns that have zero natural fibers. I have patterns I invented that incorporate material from the "conventional" section of Cabela's.  Hell, i have patterns that my conventional friends have asked me to weight so they can throw them on spinning rods.

The point is, if you are a hard core bass fly fisherman, you are already throwing"Flures".  So whats the harm in throwing an actual lure?  The simple fact of the matter is that they work, they are plentiful, and they are cheap.

Think of them as your little secret that no one talks about, your ace up the sleeve, your ringer.  At the end of the day, you are still casting and presenting on a fly rod.  Put them in your fly box...they just might open doors for you that you wouldn't even consider knocking on before.