In this article, Michael Bennett shows step-by-step instructions and the pattern recipe for tying the Mega Craw crayfish bass fly. Also, Michael highlights the fly lines and techniques used to fish his most productive pattern for big smallmouth and largemouth bass.
Pacific Fly Fishers' Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Blog
How to Tie The Mega Craw - Crayfish Bass Fly
Banks Lake Bassin
If you’re looking for something different, give Banks Lake a shot for great numbers of smallmouth bass. Mid- to late-May is a great time to fish Banks for the bass that are in pre-spawn mode. They are typically in five to fifteen feet of water and staging in or around rocky flats where they will eventually spawn.
Lake Whatcom
I guided on Lake Whatcom on Monday with customer Arne and his two sons, Blake and Dakota. We had a great day and good weather. The fish were pretty tough but we got plenty of little guys and had a couple good-sized smallmouth up to the boat but they managed to get off. Overall, we caught smallmouth, yellow perch and a few really nice cutthroat throughout the day.
Banks Lake Smallmouth and More
Fished Banks Lake for a couple days in May. I was primarily there for smallmouth but encountered a few other fish of interest along the way.
The first day, Vance B. met me over there around mid-morning. Earlier in the day, before he arrived, I was messing around with carp on a large, shallow flat. It was loaded with carp! I tried to sneak in there as best you can with a 20-foot boat, and managed to find a few fish that appeared to be feeding. One of our customers is a carp fanatic and has been incredibly helpful in providing information on just how to fool these difficult fish. He also armed me with some of his favorite carp flies!
Easter Sunday Bass
Those of you that frequent Pacific Fly Fishers know that there are few days when Ben and I both have the day off. Well, that’s the beauty of major holidays when the shop is closed, and we took advantage of Easter Sunday to try and repeat our success at a local bass lake.
Sammamish Lake - 7/6/2010
Hit Lake Sammamish and had a great time catching around 12 to 15 quality smallmouth. The lake got pretty windy in the afternoon plus the waves from all the water skiers, but the morning bite was great.
Ben joined me in the afternoon and, although it was much slower than the morning and early afternoon, we still managed to catch a few more fish. The big fish of the day was a smallmouth of around four pounds and the average fish was probably two pounds. I was primarily fishing dock pillars in around 10 to 15 feet of water with a 6-weight and a type IV full-sinking line . I did loose about three fish that broke off in the docks… one of them was a solid three to four pounds and another I never did see but it felt like a big-un!