Fishing Report November 11

We have been having some absolutely stellar fishing for Largemouth Bass right now. The warm temperature and the lack of heavy precipitation have kept the rivers looking great and fishing better.

We have had the rare conditions these past few days where all of our 80+ miles of river are fishing really well. Water clarity has been favorable with just a slight stain to make the fish feel more comfortable eating higher in the water. We have been using a number of tactics to target these fish during November. Every day is different and these fish have a multitude of options for forage in the river right now. We have typically been starting our days using topwater flies such as diving frogs, deer hair poppers, and anything else that makes a lot of noise. Changing the cadence of your retrieve is crucial to enticing these fish to come to the surface. Depending on the specific spot you are fishing you may need to slow down or speed of your retrieve of your fly. My general rule of thumb is; fast water, fast retrieve, slow water, slow retrieve.

When the fish get slower on top we start to work our way down in the water column. The first thing I reach for when working down is the tried and true wiggle minnow. The angled foam on this fly matched with a slow sinking intermediate line gives this fly a crank bait like action that aggressive bass cannot get enough of. The wiggle minnow has been responsible for putting more fish in the boat this season than any other fly we have fished. White, chartreuse, and yellow are all great color choices. I tend to stick with the bright colors so my anglers can see the fish take the fly. Not only is this exciting but it helps to see which way the fish turns after eating the fly allowing us to have the best possible hook set. We will have a hole blog post coming out about the tactics we use when fishing this fly specifically, stay tuned!