NEW Murray’s Bass Dragonfly Dry (Brown & Olive) Blog-Murray’s Fly Shop
From June until September most smallmouth bass rivers produce great numbers of dragonflies. Most of the adults I see are in shades of brown and olive.
The dragonfly nymphs crawl from the streambottom to the aquatic weeds, brush piles or down trees lying in the stream. Then they crawl up out of the water. Here they split their nymph case along the back and crawl out as adults. It often takes up to an hour for the veins on their wings to fill with fluid so they can fly. This usually takes place in the morning, at dusk or at night.
Fish this along aquatic grassbeds beside the river banks and those which encircle the limestone ledges in the middle of the river. This can be very effective at dawn and dusk. A slow two to three inch stripping action every five seconds mimics the struggling action of these dragonflies. I believe this catches many bass.
Once the adult dragonfly become airborne, they fly low over the stream. They feed on adult mayflies, caddisflies and mosquitos. I often see bass leaping into the air in an attempt to grab these flies or possibly knock them into the river. They are such powerful flyers this is seldom successful but it opens the door on a very exciting and effective angling tactic. I dress my whole Murray’s Bright Butt 9 foot 2X Leader and dragonfly dry fly liberally with Bug Flote.
I cast down and across stream forty feet at a forty five degree angle to the area I see the bass jumping. As soon as my fly lands on the stream I remove all of the slack with my line hand. I then extend the fly rod high over the river at a forty five degree angle.
By using a series of two foot upstream sweeps every ten seconds with my fly rod I can often get violent strikes from these bass.
If there are few jumping bass this method is often very effective between the river-crossing ledges where the water is from four to six feet deep. Great fun!