Fly/Pattern Selection- Match the hatch is the mantra fly anglers use for trout, and it also applies to bass. Simple baitfish patterns are the way to go. Try to match the forage. Top water fishing is a blast, but if the bass are feeding up top- they will also be feeding subsurface. Try to stay away from gimmicky flies that resemble lures or soft plastics. Don’t incorporate propellers or blades. Fly fishing doesn’t allow for the steady retrieve to utilize those functions. Here is what you will need to consider. 

Size- The three bears principle applies. Finding the right size bait will trigger the strike. Two and half to three inches is a good starting point. I would consider anything larger than four inches as a “big bait” and I confidently fish flies up to 8 or 9 inches. The profile or height of the pattern should be considered as well. Bluegill have a shorter length, but taller profile. Whereas smelt are long and skinny, and shad are somewhere in between. Fishing a smaller fly two to three inches will allow you to catch more fish, but generally they will be smaller. Not that big fish don’t bite small flies. They definitely do, but oftentimes the smaller fish are more aggressive and they will snatch the fly before a bigger fish has a chance. Bigger flies can also be used as searching patterns. You will get a lot of follows, so casting a bigger fly with a slow retrieve can give you hints as to what is in the area.

Color- White with silver flash is the staple. However, I have been incorporating multiple colors in my patterns. I would stick with white and add accents of green, yellow, blue, or purple. The top of the fly should be darker than the belly. You can also use a variety of colors to highlight the head. There is a place for an all black pattern, and perch and bluegill color schemes will fish well during the spawn. Bass don’t like those types of fish near their spawning beds. Adding a red gill slit is also a nice way to create some color variation. Bubblegum has never translated to fly fishing in my experience. Chartreuse is loved by many anglers, and it is wise to have a few of them in your box. Chartreuse over white, olive over white, white and silver, all black, and sexy shad are nice color combinations. 

Weight/buoyancy- Adjusting the sink rate or buoyancy should also be considered. I generally go very heavy, no weight, hover/ hybrid, and floating. If you were fishing in a river, you might want to go somewhere in between. With very heavy flies I am fishing close or on the bottom. This applies in early spring, the dog days of summer, or early winter. Three to four 4 mm tungsten beads will do the trick. I like to fish unweighted streamers a foot under the water, and a heavy stinger hook is enough for that. Adding a brass or tungsten bead on the leader (Like a Texas or Carolina rig, but a bead instead of a bullet weight) will be enough to get the fly down a little deeper if need be. The hover or hybrid fly will have little buoyant material tied throughout the fly. It should break the surface when stripped quickly and sink super slow on the pause. A really nice style when you can nail down the retrieve. And topwater is just that (always staying on top of the water). 

Head Shape- This is where things start to get technical. A simple straight retrieve is okay for smaller (2 inches or less) patterns. Ideally, you want a little change of direction when you pause the fly. A flatter (vertically) keeled head will do that for you. You can also achieve a change of direction and greater water pushing ability with a flat head. However, the material should be packed tight or a solid disk should be used. The Buford pike pattern is a good example of this. Another important style is a rounded head. With a well sculpted rounded head you can get a nice ‘walk the dog action’. A weighted head will ungulate, and is nice on the fall. Top water patterns also have different head shapes. My favorite is the diving style. This is where the head is trimmed round and short and behind is a prominent collar. Divers are primarily made with deer belly hair. A sliding head is designed so the fly dives below the surface, but doesn’t make the chugging sound (the diver makes) because it lacks the collar. A flat faced popping head causes a lot of surface disruption and can sometimes give you a little drift on the pause (depending on the width, more narrow will give for side to side action; whereas a wider head will provide definitive pop, as well as be more buoyant).    

Hooks- The stinger style is the quintessential bass bug hook. Gamakatsu’s B10S is a popular brand. It is important to consider the hook gap. If the gap is too narrow, as with a standard 3X streamer hook, it can be difficult to get a hook set. That being said, small hooks with adequate hook gap will also sometimes miss the mark, and I have landed plenty of fish when the hook never penetrated. It somehow gets lodged in the mouth, and with the right amount of pressure you can get them to the net. Jig style hooks are also popular, but these don’t penetrate so well. The jig hook set will be vertical, and the hook will penetrate the roof of the mouth. When trout fishing with jigs, the jig slides nicely to the nose. However, with bass you have to hope a jig finds its home anywhere in the bass’ cavernous jaw. Weedless worm hooks are also useful, but you will have a lower percentage of hookups (that’s just the nature of fly fishing with worm hooks). And of course there is the barbless discussion. I think Ideally you find a hook with a smaller barb. If you go completely barbless, you will lose more fish. However, you will also have an easier time unhooking them and fewer fatal hook sets. The fish damaging hookups are usually when a smaller fish hits a bigger pattern and the hook will penetrate the gills. I have never had a bass completely swallow a fly, so gut hooked fish aren’t really the problem. Most of the damage comes around the gill area. I would carry a variety of hooks, barbed, barbless, and micro barbed (Ahrex does a good job with this).