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This really is a difficult question to answer. Favorite? Well my honest answer is "whatever fishing I'm doing at the moment or going to do next!"

I fish bass more than any other species. Truth be told, I'm a bass nut and if forced to choose one species to fish for for the rest of my life I'd unhesitatingly answer "black bass." Of the seven species of black bass (four of which I've caught on a fly) I'm definitely partial to smallmouth bass in creeks. And my favorite technique is aggressively stripping streamers through cover. I love the harsh take. Most often it's quite visual as the fly is typically only a few inches to a foot deep. And once hooked a bass is a formidable opponent that can change tactics in an instant. It's a real street fighter; one that's tough enough to have survived more than two centuries of increasingly compromised water quality only to stubbornly dominate its environment devoid of the necessity of stocking. Wild fish, these are the closest to my heart.



My favorite rod for this fishing, with the qualifier that this is the rod best suited to the sport on average, is a Browning Silaflex 8' 6/7, even though that grip is a half-size too large. One day I'll fix that. But when matched with right line and leader, this rod is capable of delivering a size 4 Black Ghost Marabou streamer to a target the size of a hub cap at 50 feet. It bends nicely with even a one pound bass, but has the deep down power to manage an honest 20" smallie in a strong current. It's a joy to cast and calls no particular attention to itself in my hand. It simply performs the task to which it is set.

Joe C.