# Do Smallmouth Fly Fish?



## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Sooo... I dream of fly fishing. Know spots in my head that I've romanced ideas of myself and big smallmouth practicing the dance. The reality, I've taken my fly rod out on a number that can be counted on one had ..... even if that hand were missing a few digits. 

The false cast...love the motion, the feel the rhythm of it all. I've done it endlessly in the safety and comfort of dry land in my backyard. I'm actually rather good at it for a rookie. So I finally left the confidence of my bait casters at home and instead took with me my fly ego and no skills...a perfect combination right?

So I learned there is A LOT more to fly fishing than the false cast.

Took the entire trip to really learn how to get those casts to roll out and lay on the water with tender care and acuracy. This was a learning curve I didn't even know to prepare for. I enjoyed the process.

Distance was another issue. I was use to loooong cast with my normal gear. I had not the skill to duplicate this with my fly rod. That was frustrating for me. 

I whipped a standard pooper around the river on a 6 wt Orvis fly rod. This felt natural and almost easy. But then after slicing the air with my fly line and landing the fly on the water i ran into another wall. How the heck do I work these things. With my standard gear and lures i could comand action without thought giving life to lifeless imitation lures. Now with a fly rod in hand....I had to stinkin think, actually THINK though the entire process. Mend the line, strip the line - match, no not match but out pace the current of the river to accomplish a simple 1st pop of the fly. Oh, and hold the line with my index finger or the line would escape my control. Again it was frustrating but also fun. I had begun again. I was new to fishing again. It was like a rebirth. 

Not sure if I learned everything correctly but I grew. I grew as an angler. In my infancy I was a flyman. I thought I could fly before going out yesterday but I learned I could not even crawl and it excited me. I was a flyman that could not fly and I loved it.

Do you smallmouth fly fish? I do...and i know eventually I'll do some catching as well.


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## zimmerj (Oct 17, 2014)

I love smallmouth fishing with a fly rod. I'll usually rig two rods, one with a topwater popper and the other with a woolly bugger to go subsurface.

It took me a couple of years to feel comfortable with a fly rod and learn how to fish with it. Still learning.

Learning is fun but catching is even more fun. Seeing a bass attack a popper is cool.

Keep at it.


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

My best advice to you for smallmouth on the fly here in Ohio, at least on the streams I fish, is cut out the long cast. I catch a lot of smallies with barely 5' of fly line out. I call it dead sticking, I think that's a good name for it. There isn't much to it, just patience and setting the hook on anything that might be a take. Since I wade or walk the stream most of the time, I can get pretty close to deep water cover along the banks most of the time. Wood, rock, undercut banks, most of it is going to hold smallies. Make a short cast upstream of the cover you're trying to work, and let your weighted fly get down. As the current slowly washes the fly over or past the cover, just keep a tight line and pay attention. Some takes are a strong grab, some are a tap, sometimes I just see a slight bow in the leader pull straight...on anything that might be a fish, set the hook. Most of my bigger smallies I have caught this way the past few years. I honestly do not have much success on surface flies for smallies. I stick to streamers, craw patterns, and leech/hellgramite patterns. 

Long casts are necessary in some types of fly fishing. For smallies in Ohio, I very rarely cast more than maybe 30', and most of the time it's under 20'.

I caught all these fish dead sticking.


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## ejsell (May 3, 2012)

I agree with the cream. caught this one within 10 feet. 










Most of my smallies are within 20', even in clear water. I don't use poppers very often, if I do its usually in still water or with very little current. Most of my smallies are on streamers stripping them in with a few dead drifting down the side of submerged logs. You don't generally need to worry about mending when you are using patterns that wouldn't have a natural drift anyway. Most of the time I'm only mending when drifting nymphs or egg patterns that would not be moving against the current.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks guys for the feed back....this is excellent info. I may be spending to much effort on casting distance. 

I am surprised ya'll do not fish topwater much on the fly. This is something I wanted to learn more on. 

Also, I might be spooking fish spending to much time mending the line. I was surprised how much the flow of the river affected my line and thus the lure....I found it hard to get the action I wanted.


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

On the surface, I've had luck on the Rocky River casting a Dave's Hopper with a Clauser crayfish on a 3 or 4 feet dropper. Make sure to "Gink" up your hopper bottom and head. Learning to cast so the crayfish lands first and the hopper on top of it is an art sometimes necessary to get both next to a log. Sometimes my crayfish lands on the log and a gentle wiggle lets it fall in the water. I catch about 40 % on the dry and 60% on the crayfish. Once the flies land, I give it a quick skitter or two, then let it sit, skitter again, sit, skitter, skitter, sit. Pick up and cast again upstream further.

My biggest summer fish was a 15 incher on the hopper. The bass blasted it from next to the log and went airborne towards me. The bass seem more interested in fly movement than being spooked by line, not like trout. But catching one will shut that area down for a spell. After I catch one, I fish at least 15 feet away for 10 or 15 mins, then go back to them If I need to.

I do try to plop the flies down to let the fish know it is there. I'm not usually gentle with landing flies for bass either. In fact, I think the plop, makes them look. The plop helps the crayfish get down quicker too.
Rickerd


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## Flowie (Jul 2, 2015)

Start nymphing/ throwing streamers with a spinning rod, get the hang of it, then switch back to a fly rod.

Smb will slurp insects from the surface- but moreso at night and when a big hatch is on.


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## david tennant (Mar 17, 2016)

Hands down an excellent topic! My favorite 2 flies are the near nuff sculpin and the near nuff crayfish. The near nuff sculpin in tan is a killer color for sandy streams. I've caught many 20-22" smallies on both these patterns.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

david tennant said:


> Hands down an excellent topic! My favorite 2 flies are the near nuff sculpin and the near nuff crayfish. The near nuff sculpin in tan is a killer color for sandy streams.


The more I talk fly fishing the less I hear people chasing smallmouth with streamers. That's what got me interested in the fly rod. I used the game changer the other day and quickly realized my 6 wt needed to be a 7 or 8. All whom I asked said 6wt would be plenty for big streamer smallmouthing. I was lied to man. I was honest and open about it to. Big streamers. I think I will need to try slowing things down and use some smaller craw patterns. 





david tennant said:


> I've caught many 20-22" smallies on both these patterns.


When I grow up I wanna be just like you.


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

A 6WT should be plenty for even big smallies. Maybe you need a faster action rod to cast the big flies. I have a loomis 5WT that is plenty for casting big heavy flies until the wind goes over 15KN. Of course I have yet to eclipse 18 inch Bass with it. But still, you don't want to overpower these fish with your rod. Enjoy the fact that you are getting your arse handed to you by a fish once in a while. That's what makes it Sport.


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

6wt should be plenty, even for full size Game Changers. As far as for fighting the fish, look I seldom now go over a 3wt here in OH and sometimes will use my 1wt for smaller stream smallies.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

SMBHooker said:


> Thanks guys for the feed back....this is excellent info.* I may be spending to much effort on casting distance.*
> I *am surprised ya'll do not fish topwater much on the fly*. This is something I wanted to learn more on.
> Also, I might be spooking fish spending to much time mending the line. I was surprised how much the *flow of the river affected my line* and thus the lure....I found it hard to get the action I wanted.


 I would suggest that you try fishing smaller streams until you become more comfortable with a fly rod. Find a mid size creek or smaller river with smallys and rock/ bss. On smaller water you'll be forced to fish a shorter line and there will be less current to fight, Work your way up to bigger faster waters.
You can catch plenty of fish on topwater Now ( especially on creeks) but I have the most success in mid to late fall. Later in the year there will be tons of beetles, hoppers. crickets and dying dragon and damsel flies to make the fish a little more surface oriented. Some of. My best Topwater days start with a morning frost. My favorite method is a small slider or popper fished" dead", I rarely pop it or move it, just fish it like a dry fly with a good drag free drift.
Good luck and Good Fishing


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