It took me a while to get into fly fishing for largemouth bass. Most years, I’d make a couple of trips to a local pond or lake, where I’d throw froggy and wormy flies into bassy water. It was fun, but truth be told, I didn’t catch much. I figured that I was fishing in the wrong places or that the bass just didn’t like my flies. As usual, I was mistaken. My flies were fine, and I was fishing the right spots. Something else was going on. Slowly, but surely, I started to piece things together. When it comes to bassin’, I still have a heck of a lot to learn, but one thing has become obvious — I’m insensitive. It’s quite likely you are, too.
Dainty Bass
If you watch underwater videos of largemouth bass and great white sharks, you’ll notice they have almost identical surface-feeding techniques. Both species carefully observe their prey from below and then, when the moment is right, make a full-bore attack that often drives them completely out of the water. This is what makes fishing top-water patterns for bass so exciting. It’s dry-fly fishing with a serious dose of steroids.
For a long time, I assumed that bass feed underwater with equal ferocity. Countless online videos from the sparkly boat folks might lead you to believe that every bass is a finned thug. Indeed, there are times when you’ll get absolute hammer blows fishing subsurface flies. But once I started to question some talented conventional-tackle bass anglers, a different picture emerged. It turns out that bass bites are often very subtle — a barely noticeable tick in the line or a few milliseconds of almost undetectable slack. These guys approach bass fishing with a level of precision and concentration that would shame many fly fishers. It became clear that I needed to up my game. Bassin’ suddenly became a lot more interesting.
Gear Problems
There’s an old saying that a bad workman blames his tools. For the vast majority of fly-fishing situations, this is usually correct — the problem lies with the angler. But in the case of subsurface fly fishing for largemouth bass, I believe fly-fishing gear is actually a big part of the problem. It simply isn’t sensitive enough.
I imagine that last statement made you wonder if I have ever fished anything lighter than a 12-weight. Surely, a 6-weight and matching line are adequately sensitive to register the bite of a largemouth? My experience suggests otherwise. After countless hours fishing for largemouths, I have come to the conclusion that a big part of the problem is the fly line. Conventional anglers fish with monofilament or gel-spun polyethylene braid, which provides an almost straight-line, ultralow-mass connection to their lure. If a fish moves the plastic worm or jig just a fraction of an inch, it sends a signal up to the angler. If a bass takes the lure as it drops through the water (which happens more often than you might think), the angler can see it or feel it in the line.
It’s a different story with fly lines. No matter how you set things up, it is close to impossible to get a regular fly line to make a straight-line connection to the fly. There’s always some sag or bend and therefore some slack in the system. Thankfully, there are a few work-arounds.
Working Shoreline Structure
While you can sometimes find bass foraging in open water, there are many days when they seem glued to heavy shoreline cover. For various reasons, larger fish are unlikely to move out too far to take your fly. This means you need to put it very close to trees, tules, rocks, and docks. By “very close,” I mean inches away. This is absolutely no place for flies that have exposed hook points. If you cast a few inches too far, you may not be able to get the fly back. I’ve actually given up trying to place the fly in exactly the right spot. These days, I deliberately overcast and slowly pull the fly through the structure to where I want it. The trick is to use a slow, steady pull and a very weedless fly. Flies tied on bass worm hooks are almost ideal for this kind of fishing.
To complicate things further, the bass could be lurking at any depth. Factors such as type of structure, time of day, and water temperature all influence where bass will hold. This means your fly not only needs to be placed very close to the structure, it needs to stay close as it descends through the water. A nearly vertical drop is obviously optimal. This is a lot easier with plastic worms and jigs than it is with flies.

If you are fishing water less than four feet deep, you can get away with a floating line and 8-foot leader. This leader is short enough to allow a decent caster to make reasonably accurate casts with weighted flies. It is important to realize that a floating line will create a hinge point on the surface, which causes the fly to descend in an arc. If you cast perpendicular to structure with an 8-foot leader, the fly will be about a foot away from the structure at a depth of four feet. This is usually close enough to get the attention of most bass. Much as in nymphing, you strike whenever the end of the fly line twitches, slows, or stops.
But what if the fish are down six feet or more? This is often the case in the summer and fall, especially on sunny days. Things are fine for the first four feet, but by the time your fly has descended six feet, it is almost a yard away from the structure. Even if the fish sees your fly, it may not bother to leave the comfort of its shady ambush spot.
One solution to the arcing problem is to cast parallel to the structure, so the fly sweeps down alongside the structure instead of getting pulled away from it. This is perfect for linear features such as docks and walls, but more often than not, you are going to have to make more perpendicular casts to irregularly shaped structure. You can try using a longer leader, which keeps the fly a bit closer to the structure, but it can be a real handful accurately casting a weighted fly on a long leader. For most of us, this is simply a recipe for frustration and misery. Fly fishers need a different setup for targeting deeper shoreline structure.
Dead Ends
My first attempt to address this problem was to use a fast-sinking line and a much shorter leader. This reduced some of the arcing effect and helped keep the fly a bit closer to structure. However, it’s very hard to see bites with a sinking line — because it’s underwater. You have a better chance of feeling bites if you align the rod to match the angle of the line in the water and run the line over your index finger, but a lot of times, the bass will take the fly from a direction that creates a momentary loss of tension. These are really hard to detect with sinking lines. I tried density-compensated lines, hoping the less dense running line might help. Unfortunately, they were no better.
The next approach involved sinktip lines and short leaders. You cast your fly very close to structure and carefully watch the floating section of the line as the fly descends. This works OK for the first few feet of drop, but the sink tip inevitably pulls the floating line down, making it hard to see anything but the most pronounced takes. Something with a lot more buoyancy is needed.
A Thingamabobber strike indicator placed between a floating line and the leader solved the buoyancy problem, but introduced a new headache. The combination of weighted fly and light, air-resistant bobber is an absolute pig to cast. You’ll be lucky to get the fly within a yard of the intended target and run the risk of impaling yourself in the back or neck. I gave up on this approach when the fly hit my float tube, making for a slightly scary 100-yard paddle back to dry land.
My final attempt to solve the buoyancy problem involved repurposing steelhead gear. Maybe a thick Skagit head and tungsten cheater would do the trick? Alas, no. Even a Skagit doesn’t have the necessary buoyancy.
It was time to try a different tack.
When in Rome
Perhaps the most popular conventional bass-fishing setups are drop-shot, Texas, and Carolina rigs. While there are some technical differences, they primarily differ on where you place the weight. A drop-shot rig has the weight below the lure (which is legal for lakes, but not for rivers), the Texas rig has it next to the lure, and the Carolina rig has it above the lure. The conventional bass angler casts, flips, or pitches these rigs at fishy-looking structure and pays close visual and tactile attention to the line as the lure makes its way toward the bottom.
With each of these rigs, the line creates a small V wake as the lure descends. If there’s any change in that wake, the angler strikes. Once the weight has hit the bottom, the angler retrieves (often exceedingly slowly) and strikes whenever there’s a tiny twitch or subtle slackening in the line. Sometimes these guys swing and miss, but often enough they swing and the rod loads up on a big bass.
Each of these rigs has a proven track record, and in the hands of a good angler, they can take big bass from seriously gnarly structure. The question is, can fly gear be adapted to mimic these setups?
Euro-Bassin’?
Take a look at each of these conventional rigs and how they are fished, and it’s hard not to notice the similarity to Euro nymphing. A weighted fly is flipped toward fish-holding water with little or no fly line out of the rod tip, and the angler carefully watches and fingers the monofilament in order to see or feel a bite. I suspect anyone who has become proficient at Euro nymphing could transfer their on-stream skills to still water and fish bankside structure almost as well as the conventional guys.
However, your tippet-protecting Euro rod probably isn’t the right tool for the job. Bass produce way more initial torque than most trout. If you aren’t quick to apply a lot of force, the fish will likely get back into cover before you can utter a profanity. The soft tip and long length of a Euro rod are going to be a handicap in this situation. A regular 9-foot 7-weight or 8-weight with a stiff butt and fast tip may be overkill on most trout streams, but most certainly isn’t on bass water.

Shrunken Heads
If Euro nymphing isn’t your thing, or if you prefer to have the line cast the fly, there’s another option — a modified shooting head. Shooting heads were initially popularized by steelheaders who needed to cast a very long way. They are usually longer than 28 feet, because anything shorter makes the loop unroll too quickly, causing the line to dump onto the water in a convoluted mess.
But what if you don’t need to cast far? Most bass fishing to structure involves casts of 30 feet or less, so long casts aren’t a priority. It occurred to me that a very short head and virtually weightless mono shooting line might be OK for such short distances. This setup could theoretically provide a fly-fishing version of Carolina or drop-shot rigs.
I chopped down an old 10-weight high-density head to 6 feet and attached it to 50 feet of fluorescent green 30-pound Amnesia shooting line. This seemed like a good starting point, though I had no idea if it would actually work. I drove down to a local pond to try it out. The head was equipped with a 3-foot leader and topped off with a weedless crayfish pattern mounted on a bass worm hook. This setup is like a Carolina rig, though the head doesn’t slide freely on the Amnesia, like the weight in the conventional setup. I’m still trying to figure out how to make a sliding-head system that doesn’t twist or foul on the cast or retrieve.
The first few casts were not pretty, but it didn’t take long to work out the bugs. The solution was to stop thinking like a fly fisher and cast as if it was a spinning rod. No doubt you learned that technique as a kid. A gentle flick of the wrist on the forward stroke sent the head 20 to 30 feet with ease. Quite frankly, I’ve put more force into 20-foot casts with a 3-weight. After landing, as the head and fly descended through the water, the mono shooting line cut an easy-to-see V-shaped wake across the surface.
The bass weren’t biting that day, so I didn’t get to prove the concept with a tug, yet the rig had worked better than expected. One thing I had some concerns about was the fluorescent Amnesia, which resembled a high-intensity laser shooting through the water. I’m not sure how bass react to bright green lasers (a future experiment?), but figured something a lot less visible might be better, especially in clear water.
I shot an email to Josh Jenkins at Scientific Anglers, who also enjoys thinking way outside the box. I told him what I was up to and the results of the preliminary tests. We bounced around a few ideas and eventually decided on a combination of T14 head and a shooting line made from transparent leader material. A few days later, a package arrived with 20 feet of T14 and a spool of 25-pound leader material. I wound the leader material onto a fly reel and attached 6 feet of T14.
Two mornings later, I was wearing a float tube and working the edges of a lake that holds some decent bass. The combination of T14 and leader material worked very well, with a fast sink rate and none of the subsurface laser effects. The fishing technique was pretty basic — throw a weedless fly into structure, pull it gently through the twigs or weeds until it reached the edge of open water and then let it drop into the depths. As the fly descended, I watched the shooting line’s V wake like a hawk. I got three fish that morning, two small fish, which caused quick ticks in the V wake, and a three-pounder, which stopped the wake for just an instant. I might have had a chance with the smaller fish on regular fly gear, but very much doubt that the bigger one, with its slack-line bite, would have been detected.
Updates and Refinements
Shrunken heads have become my go-to rig during the warmer months whenever the fish are holding deep and close to shoreline structure. I’ve made some modifications to address minor technical challenges. To start with, these stubby heads are easier to cast with short rods. I use converted 6-foot spinning rods, and a 7-foot 11-inch bass fly rod also works well. But don’t let rod length deter you — a typical 9-footer is perfectly serviceable. Just remember that the longer rod makes a longer lever, which adds line speed. It’s easy to overcast with a long rod. Cast with a gentle touch, and you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Feel free to experiment with even shorter heads. I have settled on just 3 feet of T14. It’s heavy enough to cast bass-size flies, and the short length makes it easier to cast. The spinning-rod cast is great for methodically dissecting structure, but when the bankside trees provide a dark tunnel, consider switching to a bow-and-arrow cast. Getting the fly a few feet into the shadows can get the attention of some large bass.

The Carolina setup works great, yet placing the head below the fly, as in a drop-shot rig, can sometimes be a game changer. That setup is simple. Attach the head to the end of your shooting line and mount your fly a few inches above it. You can attach the fly directly to the shooting line with a Palomar Knot, but 25-pound test is pretty thick stuff. I find it easier to put a foot or so of 10-pound to 15-pound mono between the head and shooting line and attach the fly to that. Alternatively, you can add a short 3-foot dropper of 10-pound mono directly to the end of the shooting line.
With no leader to tamp down line kick, the rig can be a bit clunky to cast. Fortunately, there’s a neat trick that fixes the kick. Simply hold the rod over your head with the head hanging behind you, sight the target through the rod shaft, and flip it at that spot. Think of it as a sort of half roll cast, if that helps. Give yourself a few minutes to get used to the timing, and you’ll find it can be quite accurate. It shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes of practice to hit an 18-inch target at 20 feet.
As with the Carolina rig, pay very close attention to the line as the head takes the fly down through the water. Strike if anything looks odd. Once the setup hits the bottom, it’s time to make the fly move. A slow pull on the line will cause the fly come off the bottom and then gently settle back down. This works well with crayfish and worm patterns, but is also great at making weightless streamer patterns behave like baitfish browsing on algae.
However, there’s one absolutely deadly drop-shot-head technique that I don’t believe is possible with a regular fly line. Once the fly has hit bottom, carefully draw the shooting line tight to the head, but don’t move it. There’s always the possibility that a bass is hovering over the fly, waiting to see if it’s worth eating. Make short, staccato movements of the rod tip, or use your index finger to make rapid taps on the shooting line. This will make the fly twitch without moving it away from the structure. A series of twitches, followed by a pause and then another round of twitches, can work wonders on picky warm-weather bass.
What’s great about the drop-shot rig is that the only thing between you and your fly is monofilament, which really improves the sensitivity. In fact, the rig is so sensitive that you’ll sometimes get false takes when a baby bass, bluegill, or crappie bites at spots of light reflecting off the mono. The T14 takes the fly down fast enough that you probably won’t need weighted flies. This makes the rig easier to cast, and once the line has reached the bottom, a lighter fly is much better at dancing.
You can cast a 3-foot drop-shot head, but 18 inches is even easier. Of course, this means you’ll only have 21 grains of line weight (14 x 1.5), which may be too light. The answer is to use the twisted leader technique to spiral a 3-foot section into a double-stranded 18-incher. To do this, take three feet of T14 fly line and securely clamp one end using a fly-tying vise or folder clip. Roll the unclamped end between your thumb and forefinger about thirty times, forcing a twist into the line. Bring the ends together to make the line form a double spiral. Smooth the spiraled line from the ends towards the bottom loop to create a uniform twist. Secure the ends together with tying thread and glue or heat-shrink tubing.
One unexpected advantage of using shrunken heads is the ability to fish in very confined spots. With no need to lay out a back cast, places that are almost impossible to fish with a conventional fly line become viable targets, especially if you use a short rod. The rig is great for prospecting ponds and small lakes. These places often lack wide-open banks, but have plenty of small openings in tule beds and waterside willows. Not every hole in the wall of bankside vegetation will be fishable, but a few will be, and they can hold some surprisingly large bass.
Fishing shrunken heads can be very therapeutic. Watching the V wake narrows your world down to a small patch of water, and the mono shooting line conveys very subtle signals, allowing you to “see” the bottom with your fingers. This is a very intimate way to fish, and I find it really helps calm the mind. The only downside is that you’ll get whiplashed out of this peaceful state when a bass attempts to remove the rod from your hands. You were warned.