San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Decided to wade a local creek, and was able to pick up several sunfish although the bass wouldn't cooperate. Was using an olive beadhead bird of prey from tfs that has worked well in the past for pretty much everything, although as of late it hasn't worked the same. My guess is the continued cold weather is causing the fish to be lethargic without the aggression I've seen in the past. If anyone has any suggestions on fly patterns or insight on how to get the stubborn bass to eat, it would be greatly appreciated.

couple of pics below

Beautiful spot. The bass in my local creek are also sluggish, but I managed a few on a babyfat minnow. I've also had success in the past on a Pat's rubber legs.

Same for me - I have 3 ponds by the office I fish during lunch - has gotten real slow since the sun quit coming out

Looks like fun stuff.

I love fishing water like that. My body doesn't permit it as much any longer though. I have a couple of 6'6" rods, a custom fiberglass 4/5 wt and 2wt graphite that are perfect for small water. I also have an old J. Kennedy Fisher 4'8" brush rod that casts a 5wt line well. I had a couple of other J. K. Fisher brush rods over the years but broke them.

For the stubborn bass, as well as a panfish, try suspending a fly under an indicator. Usually when you cast a fly, as it sinks it will come away from cover and closer to you. With an indicator you can make and underpowered roll cast that plops the indicator next to the cover (reeds, weed edges, brush, etc) but doesn't lay the fly out. The fly will sink down right under the indicator. Watch the leader closely to see if it twitches on the sink. Once it has sunk work a slow retrieve with stops. A large sized balanced leach works well for this. I tie my own patterns on Wapsi fly jig heads and Wapsi fly super jig heads in 1/124, 1/80 and 1/64 ounce. The standard fly heads have a gold Aberdeen hook that bends easily which means it can often be pulled free of snags but a large fish may straighten it. These come in unpainted and gold head versions. The super jig heads have a more solid hook that won't bend and come in unpainted heads only.

Nice job bro