First, let’s just get this out of the way. Conway Bowman is probably the coolest fly fisher I know. Who else could stand atop a Yeti cool in the bow of a wobbly bass skiff and cast flies on a sinking line to bucketmouths in brutal structure?
And this is when he’s not chasing mako sharks off the coast of San Diego on a stand-up paddleboard. Dude is a stud.
In the short Orvis film above, coolness aside, there’s a lot of good advice for fly fishers who like to chase bass, and understand that, a lot of the time, big largemouths are found where fly-grabbing structure is at its thickest. Bowman’s best piece of advice? The length of a cast isn’t nearly as important in these conditions as simple accuracy. Casting tight against structure without getting caught in it is the key to success. Bass are classic ambush predators, preferring to strike from cover. The trick is to get your fly as close to that cover as possible without getting stuck in it.
Check it out. If you love to fly fish for bass, this is must-see TV.
— Chris Hunt