Fly Fishing Lakes and Ponds

When most people think of fly fishing, the first thing that comes to mind is a picturesque river or stream flowing through the mountains.

And to be fair, most fly fishing is done in rivers and streams.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t take your fly fishing gear anywhere else!

It’s getting more and more popular for fly fishermen to take their favorite fly rod out to the local lake or neighborhood pond to catch fish.

In this article I’ll breakdown everything you need to know about fly fishing lakes and ponds.

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Can You Fly Fish in a Pond or Lake?

Yes, you absolutely can fly fish ponds and lakes!

Traditionally, fly fishing has been used to target weary fish in rivers and streams…

But it’s becoming more popular to fish stillwater with fly fishing gear.

The biggest reason is that not everyone lives near great fly fishing rivers.

And fishermen who love traveling out west to chase trout in rivers, want a way to keep fly fishing closer to home.

Although you can use some of the same flies on stillwater that you can on rivers, you’re usually going to be targeting different species of fish.

In the US, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and sunfish species like bluegill and crappie are going to be your primary target while fishing ponds & lakes.

Using a fly rod you already have will work fine for most of these species…

But if you decide to start chasing after larger bass or even pike, then you’re going to need to get a stronger fly fishing set up…

And probably some big streamers too!

How Do You Fly Fish a Pond For Trout?

Fishing for trout in a pond can be a great way for beginners to catch fish, but there’s some things you’ll want to keep in mind.

The biggest thing you want to be aware of is the time of year you’re fishing.

Trout prefer to be in cooler water, so in the summers they will be much less active in the middle of the day.

If you can, plan your fly fishing around the mornings and evenings as much as possible.

Another key thing to remember is to match the hatch.

Trout are much pickier eaters than other pond fish, so you want to use flies that resemble the bugs they’re already eating, as much as possible.

A good starting point might be a hopper.

Grasshoppers are common in the summers across the US, so this can be an easy first step if you aren’t seeing other insects.

If the trout are holding deeper in the water column, a Parachute Adams is another great, general option.

The parachute adams doesn’t actually imitate a single insect species…

Instead it has features of multiple different species all combined into one fly to attract trout in various different situations.

One last key to fishing for trout in ponds is to keep working your way around the pond.

In ponds that are fished somewhat often, trout get extremely used to flies being cast from a certain direction or place on the bank and will just ignore anything that comes from there.

Working your way around the pond and casting from different locations gives you the best chance of getting weary fish to bite.

How Do You Fly Fish for Bluegill in a Lake?

The most important thing is to find where the bluegill are actually hanging out.

For most of the year they will be in shallower water in and around structure or vegetation.

If there are smaller bluegill, you’ll usually be able to see them swimming around in the shallows.

The bigger fish will be in a little bit deeper water, just out of sight.

Bluegill are on the smaller side for lake fish, so you can catch them on as light of fly rod as you want to.

If you choose something like a 2 wt or 3 wt, it will be much more fun to catch small fish, but there’s a trade off…

Because bluegill live near bigger fish like largemouth bass, you run the risk of hooking into a big bass & having them snap your line off.

So if you plan on fly fishing for more than just bluegill while you’re out at the lake, or even on a pond, you’ll want to step up to a 4 wt or 5 wt.

For anyone who’s newer to fly fishing, a 5 wt is the most versatile size fly rod to pick anyway.

As far as flies are concerned, you can use pretty much anything except big streamers.

Bluegill aren’t very picky eaters, but they do have fairly small mouths.

But even with their small mouths, a giant bluegill can still eat flies like hoppers.

How Do You Fly Fish for Crappie in a Lake?

Crappie are another fan favorite across the midwest, and really the entire US.

These pan fish are fun to fish for and abundant in most lakes.

Overall they are very similar to bluegill, only bigger!

Also, crappie are often in schools, so when you catch one there’s usually another lurking nearby.

Crappie like to be near structure like docks, wood piles or even sunken trees.

These are the main things to look for when you’re trying to find them.

For fly rods, anything between a 4 wt & a 6 wt works great.

Again, like with bluegill, if you plan on trying to catch largemouth bass while you're out crappie fishing, you’ll want a rod on the higher end of that range.

For flies, you want to stay on the smaller side, because they do have small mouths like bluegill.

Good flies to try would be poppers, hoppers and even a woolly bugger.

You can even run a hopper dropper rig, a hopper with a nymph tied on to tippet off the hopper.

How Do You Fly Fish for Bass in a Lake?

Bass, both largemouth and smallmouth, are easily the fish most often targeted when fishing lakes.

They are a whole lot of fun to catch and extremely common across the US.

Because the two species are so different in size and behavior, I’m going to talk about each of them separately.

Smallmouth Bass

Smallies, as their name implies, have a much smaller mouth than their big cousins.

They tend to hang around rocky structure more, but will also use woody structure.

On top of that, they don’t grow to be as big, topping out around 10 pounds in perfect conditions, but most are in the 1-4 lbs range.

Smallmouths are more comfortable in cooler waters and rivers than largemouths are.

For average size smallies, a 5 wt or 6 wt is the sweet spot.

Smallmouths are also much less aggressive and spook easier than largemouths, so having a good length of tippet is a must.

Also making sure your cast lands well, without a big splash will go a long way.

For flies, stick to large terrestrials, like hoppers, and streamers that are 4” or smaller.

Larger sub-surface flies can work well too as long as you stay away from the tiniest nymphs.

Largemouth Bass

Largemouth bass are a whole different game from smallmouth bass!

In the US, these are probably the most fished game fish.

They hang around pretty much any structure they can find.

You can find them around grass, woody structure, rock piles and even just big humps at the bottom of a lake.

Multiple states have different programs for stocking largemouths that will grow bigger faster.

Part of this is because these bass can behave differently and have different growth patterns in different parts of the country.

For example, in states like Florida, Texas and California, they can grow significantly larger than they do in other parts of the country.

The average largemouth in a lake will be in the 2 to 6 pound range, a pond bass is usually a little smaller.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story…

The big bass states have fish MUCH bigger than that!

Anglers who specifically target big ass will catch bass in the 15 to 20 pound range.

The largest ever caught was 22 lbs.

Like their name implies, they have very big mouths…

So they are willing to bite much larger flies than any other freshwater fish their size.

Under the right conditions, you can catch a 3 pound bass on a streamer as big as 6”!

But most anglers won’t fish for bass with something that big.

You can use pretty much any larger flies to catch largemouths, hoppers, rat/mouse, poppers and streamers are all good starting points.

A great bass specific fly would be any crawfish pattern you have.

If you want a versatile fly fishing set up, you can use a 5 wt fly rod to fish for largemouths without any problems.

But on the other hand, if you’re itching to go out and catch the bigger bass in a lake, you’ll want to size up to a 7 wt or 8 wt.

The bigger bass tend to hangout in deeper water, so you’ll also want to add a sink tip or full sink fly line to get your flies down to them.