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

 

[TreeDog]

Used to to be one of my favorite things to do when I lived in WV. Most of my fishing was wet wading smaller streams and rivers. Poppers are a blast. Caught tons of fish on plain woolly buggers and simple streamers. Big foam dries were pretty effective too. Ton of fun and worth getting into it.

 

[WoolyBugger]

Guided for smallies for a few years in WI out of my drift boat. Fly fishing for smallies on upper midwest rivers is the most fun and underrated way to fish period. Can fish them so many different ways just like trout, I like throwing unweighted streamers with sinking line. If I was going to pick a few flies to not leave home without:
boogle bug
Galloups Bangtail
Murdich Minnow
Ol Mr Wiggly
Sex Dungeon
Add a gamechanger if you want

Kayaks aren't the most fun to fly fish out of depending on your river, I would hole hop around with it then wade if possible.

 

[Ferrulewax]

My recommendations for a good base- both for flies and understanding why to fish certain flies. If you are fishing a floating line, I would suggest dropping a tungsten bead in front of a gamechanger if you decide to fish one. Changers can be a bit heavy for a 6w so you may want to stick to smaller/simpler patterns. Ideally unweighted patterns like changers and other swimflys do best on an intermediate line

The list above from wooly bugger is very solid. I would also include some type of “dredge” pattern like a hairy fodder, crawfish, dredge bunny, sculpin, etc. And a jig type streamer like a sparkle minnow or clouser. Although admittedly I do not fish either pattern very often, they can sometimes save the day.

As for tactics, we are getting into summer which generally means lower water. Fish are oftentimes looking up for bugs under trees, so fishing topwaters like boogle bugs and stealth bombers under branches and shade lines can be deadly. Unlike pond largemouth, less is oftentimes more in regards to action. Cast the fly, let it drift like a dry fly, and then maybe pop it once before letting it drift again. You are trying to get it to look like an insect drifting downstream.

 

[bigbassin]

I’d take a smallmouth river over trout any day of the week.

Only done it a handful of times, but clousers and wooly boogers were all we ever needed.

 

[Dbems92]

I fish for smallies mostly in lakes but I have had great success with John barrow meat whistle fly. Brown and olive both work great. The main forage for smallies in my area is crawfish and that pattern works great. A 6wt with a floating line is my preferred rod

 

[fishslap]

I almost exclusively use bellyache minnows but sometimes crawfish patterns. The bellyache can be fished like a craw also. For the smaller bellyache minnows, I thread a stinger hook over the main hook. I use a 6wt with slow sink line but I’m going up to a 7wt soon. I was in Missouri and Ohio last week. My Missouri stream was too high but I hit a small creek behind my in-laws place in Ohio.

Belly Ache Minnow - Solitude Fly

Belly Ache Minnow - Solitude Fly

anglersall.com

Last week

 

[Austink47]

My go to fly when I just want to catch fish is a balanced leach. Like others have said, on moving water, the kayak is just for getting from hole to hole.

 

[BLJ]

I almost exclusively use bellyache minnows but sometimes crawfish patterns. The bellyache can be fished like a craw also. For the smaller bellyache minnows, I thread a stinger hook over the main hook. I use a 6wt with slow sink line but I’m going up to a 7wt soon. I was in Missouri and Ohio last week. My Missouri stream was too high but I hit a small creek behind my in-laws place in Ohio.

Belly Ache Minnow - Solitude Fly

Belly Ache Minnow - Solitude Fly

anglersall.com

Last week
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That red eye is a pig.

 

[Floated_down]

lots of great info already posted in here. target similar water to where you'll find brown trout. bank structure and pockets of soft water next to current. when theyre turned on they'll eat just about any streamer that comes by, but my two favorites are big wooly buggers (single or articulated) , and sex dungeons when they want something bigger. once it warms up you can start throwing poppers which can be an absolute blast. also one of the bonuses of targeting smallies is you can occasionally catch outrageously huge brown trout, as they often share the same types of habitat and eat the same types of flies.

had a great day going for smallies a few weeks ago. buddy ended up catching a thick 25" brown as well

 

[Chris in TN]

Smallmouth - on smaller, rocky creeks and rivers - are hands down my favorite thing to fish for, by a mile. I live within ~5 miles of multiple access points to a river here. But there's no way I'd put a fly rod in a kayak. I'd break it before I got to the first pool.

On a lake, sure. But not the rivers around here.