Fly Fishing for Smallmouth

[BoilerBowHunter]

I have been practicing with my fly rod for a bit now and almost feel ready to take it out onto the river. I’m a complete novice fly fisherman, but I have access to a nice smallmouth river within 5 minutes of my house and want to get more into it in order to have a summer outdoor activity. I have a nice kayak, all the gear etc. My fly rod is a 6wt.

Who else is fly fishing for river smallies? What are some tactics and flys you have had success with?

 

[Seeknelk]

River smallies are nice and aggressive and pretty easy most of the time! Heavy brown and black buggers with rubber legs that mostly look like crayfish are incredible.
Foxy clouser, chartreuse n white clousers, and some deer hair poppers and you should be good to go.
I actually hardly ever get to fish for river smallies but have done it. If you can read water and find trout, you'll find bass.

 

[adamm88]

I always like purple buggers for some reason. I always caught more on purple than black, brown, green....

If your new to fly fishing i would wade and leave the kayak at home. Unless your supper experienced i would think that would just throw one more extra thing to fiddle with.

I would alway grab some top water or diving flys. Poppers work good, Floating clousers work good for me, they are hard to buy if your not a tyer.

 

[smithjd]

A while back, I took my son-in-law on a guided float trip down one of the famous rivers in northern Wisconsin flyfishing for smallies. At the time, he was himself a float trip flyfishing guide on the Madison River in Wyoming. I wanted to set the hook, as it were, that Wisconsin might be a good place for him and our daughter to live.

Of course, he could use the supplied fly fishing equipment very well (no idea the weight, but were using floating mousy flies). He could lay the mouse in the smallest holes closest to the bank or any other spot he chose. He received nods of approval from our guide.

I am not a fly fisherman. Lets just say my presentation was a bit more, unorthodox... I couldn't hit one of those spots if I tried. And my line whipped the water. But apparently, the biggest smallmouth were waiting in those unlikely places hiding from the skilled fly fisherman. They must have thought my fly was an actual panicking mouse. My SIL, who is very competitive, started to get pissed as I caught more and bigger than he did, by a wide margin.

So just get out there!

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

I’ve never fished for smallies (discounting that one memorable day my FIL talked me into using his boat and the motor quit as soon as we got on plane at the launch).

But a big small mouth on the fly is one of my dream fish, along with a giant striped bass, and a Muskie.

 

[Aux Arc]

A few years ago while wade fishing a creek by my house looking for bream with a popping bug, I noticed dragon flies landing on the surface for a few seconds and then flying away, Im not a dragonfly expert so I have no idea what they were doing, but small mouths were hammering them. A lot like trout surface feeding but sometimes jumping a foot or more out of the water to catch them as they flew.

Figured what the hell and started throwing my popper where they were feeding and it turned into some of the wildest flyfishing action Ive ever seen.

Now I make it a point every year, late summer when the creek is low enough to wade I go and hit the flowing water at the heads and tails of pools with a white or black popping bug. I’ll work pretty quickly and aggressively, casting and letting the bug sit for 2-3 seconds and then lift and cast again a few feet over. When they are feeding good they will usually nail it as soon as it hits the water and like rising trout if you see one surfacing a lot you can usually cast to it and catch it. Don’t always catch the biggest fish but I catch a lot of them in a relatively short amount of time and it’s 100% fun.

 

[WCB]

Have done it a bunch as I have a top tier small mouth river 10minutes from my house here in central MN. I second the notion to wade fish first. I have a pontoon style raft and am what I would consider a competent flyfisherman. I can put the fly where I want it 90% of the time and while it might not be the prettiest delivery...its there and I catch fish.

Casting and being proficient off the raft while trying to navigate and control travel is shitty and not enjoyable. If possible just fish them like trout while solo drifting. Stop along the way get out fish a streatch...then jump back in and move to the next set of water that looks good. Cast a little along the way if possible but I wouldn't plan on that being the go to tactic.

 

[hoff1ck]

Fly fishing for smallmouth bass is a riot. Look up Mike Schultz or Schultz Outfitters on YouTube/google/podcasts for flies and technique. A copy of this book is well worth your while too, I learned quite a bit from it.

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/small...f=1101lDsMzKsS#idiq=23960015&edition=15030001