9 must-have summer bass flies—including some real bangers you’ve probably never heard of

SLUMPBUSTER

Another newer creation, the Slumpbuster is known for tempting plus-sized river trout from their lairs. Flies for big browns are also usually good for bass (of any size), which this one very much is. The Slumpbuster tantalizingly fills the important—and often overlooked—food category of “small, meaty and not too flashy.” Bass might prefer a big meal, but they still have to eat when their ideal prey isn’t available. If you’ve ever looked at their stomach contents, bass in both rivers and lakes do eat a lot of bugs, small crustaceans and other less-glamourous food.

The crucial element of the Slumpbuster is its pine squirrel wing and collar, and there really is no substitute. Pine squirrel fur is shorter and thicker than other common fly-tying furs, such as rabbit, giving this smallish fly an extra-dense profile. Pine squirrel also looks beautifully alive in the water, undulating and breathing. The result is a versatile fly for dead-drifting or swinging in current, while in slack water it swims with a subtle jigging wobble. You can’t go wrong with the classic creepy-crawly colours of rust, black, olive or the mottled grey-brown of the natural fur.

• Hook: 2XL streamer/wet, sizes 8 to 4
• Weight: Cone, sized to hook
• Rib: Fine wire
• Tail & wing: Pine squirrel strip
• Body: Flat tinsel, standard or sparkly
• Collar: Pine squirrel strip, palmered

SNEAKY PETE

Sometimes aggressive topwater flies actually turn off bass, which is when you need a slider, which creates a wake rather than a splash. My layman’s theory is that excessive popping makes the fly appear too formidable a prey object when a fish is only looking for an easy meal. Either way, the Sneaky Pete is the classic slider. It works everywhere, and on all kinds of bass. As it burbles along, the bushy little tail and trailing legs give it a slightly frantic wiggle, but at 1½ to 2½ inches in length, it’s still easy pickings. And surprisingly large fish will hit it.

I bought my first—and only—Sneaky Pete in 1986, and it landed so many bass and sunfish at my local pond that their sandpapery mouths eventually ground off the colour and feathers. Since then, I’ve made my own, first out of spun deer hair, and later from pre-shaped foam bodies. By the way, you don’t need a special “slider” body; you can just install a popper body backwards. I think the colour of your hat is more important than the colour of this pattern, but I like them in easy-to-see chartreuse or yellow.

• Hook: 2XL streamer, size 4 to 8
• Tail: Rubber strands on either side of a clump of synthetic fibres (shown) or marabou
• Collar: Saddle hackle
• Legs: Rubber strands
• Head: Foam, cork or spun deer hair
• Eyes (optional): 3D or prism tape