Fly Fishing on Large Lakes

[Cos0]

I live in Chicago and I have been fishing on Lake Michigan for Small Mouth before but I have had an itch to try Fly Fishing for them. I have some pretty good flies picked out and I know I need to be in a depth of 5-13 feet. Should I use a weighted forward sinking line or a weighted section of 15-25 feet spey head? Or should I use whatever is easier for me to cast. Most likely will avoid I windy days to fish.

[aka anglinarcher]

Now you are talking my native language.

The first question is how are you going to present your fly? Will you be casting from shore, from a float tube, from a canoe or boat? If you will be in a floating device, then distance is not as important as control, so I'd suggest the regular fly line instead of the Spey. I like the Weight Forward line, and I have slow, medium, and fast sinking tips to cover most of the water you are talking about.

A forth option is a shooting head. With a little practice, and a knowledge of what the double haul cast is, you can get some awesome distance. I use a custom, hand spliced, line for deeper water, in the 20 to 40 foot depth. Back in the "day" when I could buy lead core line off the spool, I spliced a medium sinking line to a lead core tip for that extra depth. With a straight extra fast sinking line, like the lead core and the new lines that replaced them, you get so much belly in this type of fishing that you almost can't set the hook. With the custom splice you get the bottom scraping depth but far less belly so you can detect and set on the strike. Yes, I originally did this for Walleye, just to prove to a friend that it could be done, but caught some many other fish that that line, now going on 25 years old, still maintains a spot in my weapons arsenal.

I'm sure others and especially Larry will have their take on this, but I hope the above helps some.

PS, I assume you will be tossing large flies, so use a 7+ weight fly rod, with a short heavy leader to turn over the extra heavy/wind resistant flies you may be using.

[flyfishing1]

Useing shooting heads is a great way to go if your fishing conditions change often while on the water. They can also give you great reach if you're on the shore and help cut through the wind. I personaly use WF floating almost all the time but the majority of my bass fishing I do on land or wading in less than ten feet of water. Honestly the only "problem" I have with shooting heads is short casting. When you get in the range where your loop to loop conection is running through the guides it can slow you donw some.

[aka anglinarcher]

I agree with the short cast issue with shooting heads. Still, for the purpose of my "custom" line, it was the only option that worked.

I think that the depth that CosO was talking about for his SMB is going to be pretty tricky with a fly. In my area, until about the 4th of July, I can get to them in less then 15'.