Dave Whitlock shows off a fine largemouth from a 1985 story. Photo via Fly Fisherman
Forty years ago, writing in the June 1985 issue of Fly Fisherman magazine, Dave Whitlock suggested a novel approach to catching largemouth bass. At the time, streamers and topwater flies were thought to be the best way to catch bucketmouths, but Whitlock discovered that the nymphs he fished for panfish were also hooking bass.
One of the largest bass I ever hooked took a barbless size 12 caddis pupa I was swimming across a big bed of bluegill and redear nests on a small municipal lake near Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The bass came like a big car out of nowhere, scattering panfish like a covey of quail. Then it stopped and sipped in the tiny nymph more delicately than any hand-size bluegill could. With a chill running up my back and neck, I set the hook. The delicate action stopped immediately and a serious battle began. First, the big bass rushed off the shallow nest pocket-cover to deep water. After a few nervous give-and-cake exchanges, the largemouth came up for a thrashing, head-shaking surface vault.
These tactics obviously still work today, and you may find that fish that have become wary of bigger flies will still eat a nymph.
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