BASS, PANFISH & CARP ON THE FLY
Warm Waters School
The same Humphreys method, on the water near you. A week-by-week school for the kid on a bass pond, not just the kid on a trout stream.
START WITH ADRIAN’S STORY
The Six-Year-Old Who Out-Taught Joe
Before any casting, before any gear is handed out, tell this story. Joe Humphreys, the man behind this program, was on a stream with a group of fifth graders. A first-grade boy named Adrian joined the class. After practice, Adrian pulled Joe aside and told him exactly what he needed to do: use a Woolly Bugger, fish it down and across, fish it real slow.
Joe went to the water, missed a fish, came back, and was about to cast. Adrian reached up and grabbed his hand.
“This time, set the hook.”
Joe was 97 years old. Adrian was six.
Ask yourself before Week 1: what is one thing you already know about fishing that you could teach someone else today?
IT TRACKS THE TROUT SCHOOL
Same Method. Different Water.
The Warm Waters School follows the same arc as the trout schools: the short casting stroke, the Look Up ritual, the honesty of a Harvey Leader, and conservation first. What changes is the target and the fly. Run it as a one-hour clinic, a weekend retreat, or a five-day summer camp. A pond in a city park is just as good a classroom as a mountain stream.
WHAT STAYS THE SAME
✓ The short casting stroke: arm out, wrist in, stop the rod
✓ The Look Up closing ritual: two minutes, one living thing that isn’t a fish
✓ The Harvey Leader honesty test, knots, and Keep Fish Wet
✓ Conservation first: the Spring Creek story, protect your water
WHAT CHANGES
→ The fish: bluegill, bass, and carp instead of trout
→ The water: ponds, lakes, docks, and warm rivers
→ The fly box: Woolly Buggers, poppers, Clousers, crawfish, and worms
ONE HOUR
The Clinic
Story, casting on grass, the bobber rig, panfish water, Look Up. The program’s front door for school events and derbies.
TWO DAYS
The Weekend Retreat
Saturday is panfish and reading water. Sunday is bass and the conservation story. Built for scouting groups and camps.
FIVE DAYS
The Summer Camp
Panfish, bass, then carp: the full arc from first fish to the ghost of the flat, with a daily Joe story.
THE ROADMAP
Your Week-by-Week Plan
WEEK 1
Grass, Grip & First Cast
Eye protection, the thumb-on-top grip, the short stroke, and a first cast at a hoop on the lawn.
WEEK 2
Knots & the Woolly Bugger Rig
The Davy knot, the bobber rig, and the one fly everyone fishes on day one.
WEEK 3
Reading Warm Water
Docks, weed edges, drop-offs, and shade lines, then panfish on presentation.
WEEK 4
The Strip-and-Set for Bass
Cast to structure, let it sit, twitch the popper, and set hard when it eats.
WEEK 5
Carp & Patience
Spot a tailing fish, lead it, let the fly sink, and learn to wait.
WEEK 6
Conservation & the Great Day
Flip the rocks, rate the water, Keep Fish Wet, and celebrate the season.
WEEK 1
Grass, Grip & Your First Cast
Warm water starts exactly where trout does: on a lawn, with no hooks. One safety rule with no exceptions, a grip a six-year-old can hold all day, and a casting stroke so short it fits between 1 o’clock and 10 o’clock. A park, a backyard, or a gym is all you need. Use a yarn fly only.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
✓ The one rule with no exceptions: eye protection on, always
✓ The thumb-on-top grip, “like holding a hammer”
✓ The short stroke: “painting above a doorway”
✓ The squeeze at both stops, the engine of every cast
✓ Accuracy before distance: land the yarn in the hoop, freeze the rod high
THE LESSON, STEP BY STEP
- Glasses on first. No eye protection, no rod in hand. Say the rule out loud together before every session.
- Take the grip. Thumb on top of the cork, firm but relaxed, like holding a hammer. The thumb does the work.
- Pin the elbow. Elbow against the ribs to kill excess arm motion. The cast is wrist, not shoulder.
- Paint above a doorway. Short strokes only. The rod never goes past 1 o’clock back, and stops at 10 to 11 o’clock in front.
- Squeeze at both stops. Squeeze hard at the back stop to load the rod, then again at the front stop. The line snaps straight.
- Freeze the rod high. Success is simple: yarn in the hoop, rod frozen high. Not distance, not speed. Bluegill will reward a short, accurate cast all day.
TODAY’S TARGET
Bluegill
Lepomis macrochirus
KEY FLY
Woolly Bugger #10, Foam Beetle #10
WHY IT MATTERS
America’s most widespread sport fish and the perfect first fish: aggressive, abundant, and willing to bite all day. It rewards an accurate short cast, not a long one.
Coach’s Cues & Common Errors
Loop going sideways? Uneven thumb pressure. Make the squeeze equal at both stops.
Line piling up in front? Back stop came too early. Wait for the back cast to straighten.
Weak, short cast? The squeeze wasn’t firm enough. “Without the squeeze, you’re just waving a stick.”
Joe’s rule: “20 feet with a good squeeze beats 40 feet with a sloppy stroke.”
HOMEWORK, WEEK 1
Five minutes a day beats an hour on Saturday. Print it, stick it on the fridge.
☐ 5 minutes a day: the painting-above-a-doorway stroke with a squeeze at both stops. Count them out loud.
☐ Lay a hula hoop or paper plate at 15 feet. Ten casts with a yarn fly: in the hoop is 2 points, close is 1, pile is 0. Write your score.
☐ Recite the one rule with no exceptions at dinner.
WEEK 2
Knots & the Woolly Bugger Rig
Now the line gets connected to the fish. One knot, tied until your fingers do it alone, and one simple rig that everyone in the group fishes on day one: floating line, a small bobber, and a Woolly Bugger. The same fly Adrian told Joe to use.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
✓ The Davy knot in three steps, tied unassisted
✓ “Wet it or regret it” before you pull any knot tight
✓ The bobber-and-Bugger rig that catches everything that swims warm
✓ Why everyone fishes the same fly on day one
✓ Rod handling: how to carry, hand off, and set down a rigged rod safely
THE LESSON, STEP BY STEP
- Start with the overhand. Tie a plain overhand in a shoelace first: circle, mouse runs through the hole, pull his tail. Every knot reuses that motion.
- Tie the Davy. Thread the eye, make a loop, wrap the tag around once, pass it back through. Three steps, then snug it slow.
- Wet it or regret it. Always wet the knot before you cinch. A dry knot burns and breaks under a good fish.
- Build the rig. Floating line, leader, a small clip-on bobber up the leader, and a Woolly Bugger #10 on the end.
- Set the depth. Slide the bobber so the Bugger hangs a foot or two down, just off the bottom where bluegill hold.
- Test it on the grass. Lob the rig at the hoop. A bobber rig casts differently than yarn: open the loop and slow it down.
TODAY’S TARGET
Green Sunfish & Pumpkinseed
Lepomis cyanellus / gibbosus
KEY FLY
Woolly Bugger #10, small popper #12, Ant #14
WHY IT MATTERS
Tough sunfish that thrive in warm, murky urban ponds where bluegill thin out. Find them and you have found a place to practice your new rig all summer.
Coach’s Cues & Common Errors
Knot slipping out? The tag end was too short, or it wasn’t wetted. Leave more tag, wet it, pull slow.
Bobber tangling the fly? Too much line between bobber and fly for the cast. Shorten it, then lengthen once you can lob it.
Bugger never gets bit? Fish it slow. Twitch, pause, let it sink. “Fish it real slow,” like Adrian said.
One fly for everyone keeps the group focused on casting and the take, not on choosing tackle.
HOMEWORK, WEEK 2
Five minutes a day beats an hour on Saturday. Print it, stick it on the fridge.
☐ Tie the Davy knot 5 times on a shoelace or tippet. Wet it every time. Race a grown-up.
☐ Build the bobber-and-Bugger rig from scratch with no help, then take it apart and do it again.
☐ Draw your local pond from memory and mark one spot you think a sunfish lives.
WEEK 3
Reading Warm Water
Still water has no riffles or seams, but it is still talking. This week you put the rod down first and learn to see: docks, weed edges, fallen wood, shade lines, and drop-offs. Fish do not live in the open middle. They live on edges. Then you fish panfish with stealth and a careful approach.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
✓ The five places warm-water fish hide: weed edges, docks, wood, shade, drop-offs
✓ Why fish hold on edges and structure, not open water
✓ The structure walk: read the water before you fish it
✓ Stealth and approach angle: come from behind, cast low
✓ Letting the fly settle instead of stripping it away
THE LESSON, STEP BY STEP
- Walk it first, no rods. Circle the pond and name every edge out loud: weed line, dock shadow, fallen log, shade, drop-off.
- Find the shade. On a warm day, fish slide under docks and overhanging trees. The shade line is a feeding lane.
- Read the depth break. Where the bottom drops from shallow to deep is a highway. Fish cruise the edge of it.
- Approach from behind. Stay low and come at the spot from the bank behind the fish. A pond spooks just like a spring creek.
- Cast to the edge. Put the fly tight to the structure, not in the open. Bluegill and crappie hold inches off the cover.
- Let it settle. Cast, then wait. Let the Bugger sink and hang. Most takes come on the drop, not the strip.
TODAY’S TARGET
Crappie
Pomoxis nigromaculatus
KEY FLY
Woolly Bugger #8 white or chartreuse, Clouser Minnow #8
WHY IT MATTERS
The most structure-dependent panfish, so it teaches habitat reading better than any other. Where there is one crappie, there are many, schooled tight on brush and pilings.
Coach’s Cues & Common Errors
No fish where you expected? You looked at the water, not the edges. Re-read the shade and the drop-off.
Spooking fish on arrival? Too tall, too fast, too close. Slow down and stay low on the approach.
Fly never sinks to them? You stripped too soon. Count it down, let it hang on the edge of the cover.
Joe’s most important skill after 90 years on the water is observation. Read first, fish second.
HOMEWORK, WEEK 3
Five minutes a day beats an hour on Saturday. Print it, stick it on the fridge.
☐ Visit any water and find all five edge types. Photograph or sketch each one and label it.
☐ Watch a pond for 10 minutes with no rod. Write down where you saw fish move or feed.
☐ Practice the low, slow approach in your yard: walk up on a target without “spooking” it.
WEEK 4
The Strip-and-Set for Bass
Bass do not chase, they ambush. Catching one on a fly means thinking like a hunter: cast to the structure, not the open water, let the fly sit, twitch once, and wait. Then, when it eats, you set with a hard strip, not a trout-style lift. This is the predator mindset.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
✓ Where bass wait: logs, dock pilings, lily pad edges, rocky points
✓ The popper game: cast, sit, twitch once, wait, then wait more
✓ The strip-set: set the hook by pulling line, not lifting the rod
✓ Bigger flies, heavier tippet, deliberate presentation
✓ Reading a smallmouth river like a trout stream
THE LESSON, STEP BY STEP
- Find the ambush spot. Bass hold against cover, facing out, waiting for food to come to them. Cast to the cover, not the open.
- Land it soft and close. Drop the popper a foot from the log, not on top of it. A hard splash sends the fish deep.
- Let it sit. Do nothing. Let the rings fade. The longest pause in fly fishing is the one before the first twitch.
- Twitch once, then wait. One small pop, then wait again. Bass often eat on the dead stillness after the twitch.
- Strip-set hard. When it eats, set by yanking the line with your stripping hand, low and to the side. Do not lift the rod like a trout.
- Fish a smallmouth river the trout way. In moving water, read riffles, seams, and rocky runs. The same casts catch river smallmouth.
TODAY’S TARGET
Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass
Micropterus salmoides / dolomieu
KEY FLY
Popper #2 to #4, Woolly Bugger #2 to #4, Clouser #4, Crawfish #4
WHY IT MATTERS
The quintessential warm-water fly target. Largemouth ambush from cover in ponds; river smallmouth are the trout of warm water, holding in riffles and runs where Joe’s water-reading applies directly.
Coach’s Cues & Common Errors
Missing the take? You lifted the rod instead of stripping. Strip-set low and hard, then lift to fight.
Fish ignoring the popper? You moved it too soon or too much. Let it sit longer. Twitch once. Wait.
Casting into the cover? Land it just outside the structure and let the bass come out to eat it.
Bill Cole’s rule, passed to Joe: the basic fundamentals, refined to perfection, are your most advanced techniques.
HOMEWORK, WEEK 4
Five minutes a day beats an hour on Saturday. Print it, stick it on the fridge.
☐ Practice the strip-set on the grass: have a partner tug the yarn fly, and you strip-set, not lift.
☐ Cast a popper or yarn at a target, then count to ten before your first twitch. Train the patience.
☐ Find one piece of bass structure near you and write down exactly where you would land the fly.
WEEK 5
Carp & Patience
Carp are not trash fish. They are the hardest fly target most anglers will ever meet, the warm-water version of a rising trout in a spring creek. They can see you, smell you, and feel your footsteps. This week is about sight fishing and the active waiting that goes with it. If you can fool a carp, you can fish anywhere in the world.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
✓ Reading carp body language: tailing, feeding, and cruising fish
✓ Leading the fish: cast ahead of it, not at it
✓ The patience drill: watch the fish before you cast
✓ Polarized glasses and slow movement on the flat
✓ Why failure on carp day is success
THE LESSON, STEP BY STEP
- Spot the fish first. Polarized glasses on. Look for a golden back, a waving tail, or a slow wake in shallow water.
- Read what it’s doing. A tailing carp is head-down and feeding: a chance. A cruising carp is moving: usually a pass.
- Stop and assess. Do not cast yet. Watch its direction and speed. Carp fishing is mostly watching.
- Lead the fish. Cast two to three feet ahead of a feeder, not at it. The line landing on a carp ends the game.
- Let it sink and watch. Let the fly drop into its path. Watch the fish, not the fly. A turn or a tip-down means it ate.
- Accept the misses. Joe hunted his state-record trout for three years. The quest is the point, not the catch.
TODAY’S TARGET
Common Carp
Cyprinus carpio
KEY FLY
San Juan Worm #8 to #10, Backstabber #6 to #8, Crawfish #6
WHY IT MATTERS
The most challenging freshwater fly fishing available to most anglers. It cannot be rushed and teaches everything Joe teaches about patience, precision, and observation in one paranoid, golden package.
Coach’s Cues & Common Errors
Spooking every fish? Your shadow, your line, or your footsteps reached it first. Move slow, stay low, lead the fish.
Casting at the carp? Lead it. The fly must already be sitting where the fish is going.
Frustrated by no catch? Good. Carp day teaches trying. Every coach has a story of a fish that beat them.
A tailing carp is the warm-water rising trout. See it, plan it, deliver one good cast.
HOMEWORK, WEEK 5
Five minutes a day beats an hour on Saturday. Print it, stick it on the fridge.
☐ Watch any fish (even minnows) for five minutes and predict where it will move next. Score yourself.
☐ Practice leading: have a partner walk slowly, and you cast the yarn two feet ahead of their path.
☐ Write down one fish that “beat” you and what you would do differently next time.
WEEK 6
Conservation & the Great Day
The last week ties it together: the water you fish needs you. Flip the rocks and read what lives there, handle every fish wet, and learn the Spring Creek story, how Joe saved a stream with five friends, a jackhammer, and a borrowed pipe. Then celebrate the season with a great day on the water.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
✓ The rock-flip bio survey: turn over 5 rocks and rate your water
✓ Keep Fish Wet: handling and release that respects the fish
✓ The Spring Creek story and what it means for your pond
✓ One conservation action you commit to
✓ Putting the whole arc together on a great day
THE LESSON, STEP BY STEP
- Flip 5 rocks. Before you fish, turn over five rocks and record what you find. Hellgrammites and stoneflies mean clean water.
- Rate the water. Excellent is hellgrammites or stoneflies; good is mayflies and caddis; poor is worms only or nothing. Note it.
- Keep fish wet. Wet your hands, keep the fish in the water, unhook fast, and let it swim off strong. Respect the fish, respect the water.
- Hear the Spring Creek story. A highway sent warm, dirty runoff into Spring Creek and the insects crashed. Joe and five friends diverted the spring around the pond. The cold water came back.
- Commit to one action. Pick one: tell a parent, pick up trash, join a club, or write a letter. Conservation starts with one person at a table.
- Have the great day. Now fish everything you learned: cast, read, present, set, and release. Then Look Up and share the season.
TODAY’S TARGET
Your Home Water
and everything that lives in it
KEY FLY
Whatever the rocks and the season tell you to fish
WHY IT MATTERS
The bio survey is real data. Some programs report it to state conservation agencies. The water you read today becomes information that helps protect it tomorrow.
The Look Up Closing Circle
Put down the rods. Two minutes of silence. Find one living thing that isn’t a fish.
Share one thing. Final prompt: name one thing about this water you want to protect, and one thing you will do to protect it.
Carry it home. The fish will still be there. The moment you are in right now will not. Look up.
Joe saved the stream that gave him his life. Every student can do the same for the water they just fished.
HOMEWORK, WEEK 6
Five minutes a day beats an hour on Saturday. Print it, stick it on the fridge.
☐ Do a real 5-rock survey at your water and record the rating. Tell someone the result.
☐ Practice a wet release: hands wet, fish in the water, quick unhook. Describe it back to a Harvey Leader.
☐ Write your one conservation commitment and put a date on it.
THE WARM WATERS BADGE LADDER
Climb From Bluegill to the Ghost of the Flat
Every Warm Waters student climbs the same four-rung ladder, in warm-water colors. Each badge is a real, checkable skill, not a participation ribbon. Earn the first and start the climb toward the carp flats.
RUNG 1 · EARNED FIRST
PANFISH BADGE
Davy knot 3 times unassisted, the bobber-and-Bugger rig built from scratch, and a bluegill landed and released wet.
RUNG 2 · UP AHEAD
WATER READER
Name the five warm-water edges on sight and put a fly tight to cover. Earned reading docks, weed lines, and drop-offs.
RUNG 3 · UP AHEAD
BASS HUNTER
Cast to structure, work a popper, and land a bass on a clean strip-set. The predator mindset, proven on the water.
RUNG 4 · THE SUMMIT
CARP MASTER
Spot a tailing carp, lead it, and fool it on a fly. The hardest rung, and the one that means you can fish anywhere.
To claim the Panfish Badge, a student also recites the one safety rule, posts a hoop scorecard with 3 of 5 casts in the lane, and shows a wet, fast release. Every rung above it builds on that same honesty: the cast either lands or it doesn’t, and the fish either eats or it doesn’t.
YOUR PROGRESS
Track Your Warm-Water Badges
The Warm Waters Badge Ladder
Climb from bluegill to the ghost of the flat. Four rungs, each a real, checkable skill - not a participation ribbon.
0 of 4 earned
Carp Master - the summit. You can fish anywhere now. Spot it, lead it, fool it.
Do the School. On Your Water.
Six weeks, one method, the fish in front of you. A pond in a city park is just as good a classroom as a mountain stream. Meet the species, print the homework, and find the program that fits your group.