Smallmouth bass make a perfect, but often overlooked target for freshwater fly fishers. They are aggressive, strong, and not too difficult to locate in the rivers in which they live. When fly fishing for smallmouth, an angler must know that certain flies are much more productive in certain areas of the river.
Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass along Deep Banks
Deep, shaded banks of rivers are often some of the best places to fish when targeting trophy smallmouth bass. Usually the fish are found near the bottom, but they may also focus on the surface during times when insects are flying just above the surface. Woolly buggers and deep water crayfish imitations are excellent flies to try first along these banks, as they get to the bottom, and resemble aquatic insect larvae, crawfish, and minnows. It is best to minimize the amount of stripping a fly in areas of deep, slow water, as doing so causes the fly to rise up in the water, rather than sink to the bottom, where smallmouth are waiting.
A fly called the clawdad, created by James River guide Chuck Kraft is perhaps the best crawfish imitation there is for smallmouth bass, as it is weighted, dark, shaped like a crayfish, and hosts an array of rubber legs. However, when bass are feeding on the surface, a popping bug should be allowed to free float along the bank, often enticing smallmouth to come up grab the fly.
Fly Fishing for Smallmouth in Fast Water
Smallmouth bass often congregate in eddies, which lie below rapids or behind rocks in faster water. They are waiting for food to drift down through the water, and then be sucked into the eddy, where they are lying in wait. Casting into such areas with weighted flies is often very successful. Large nymph flies and clawdads are great choices in these areas, although in shallower eddies, streamers, which may be stripped quickly, also work well. Nymphs and woolly buggers may be drifted freely in eddies, while clawdads should only be stripped once they reach the bottom. Occasionally, popping bugs and dry flies work below fast water when the water is low, but only when damselflies are hovering and flying over the water.
Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass along Sandy Shores and Grassy Areas
Sandy areas of shoreline are often the best places to sight cast to smallmouth bass. The fish may be seen cruising along the shore, and a baitfish pattern, placed several feet ahead of a fish's nose may result in a hookup. Clouser deep minnows, muddler minnows, tan or brown wooly buggers, tan clawdads, as well as other baitfish imitations and weighted nymphs work well along sandy shores. Baitfish flies should be stripped quickly, and other flies should be allowed to reach the bottom of the water column before they are stripped. As always, popping bugs work when damselflies are around. Many of the same flies work in grassy areas of the river, but the flies should be darker in color, and stripped more often, to keep them up over the grass. When insects are around, these areas are the best places to fish poppers, as bass lie in the grass waiting for damselflies to hover too close to the water, or to drift over once they have spawned and died on the surface.
Fly fishing for smallmouth bass is usually every bit as exciting as fishing for trout is. These fish will take any small creatures that present themselves, as well as the flies that imitate those creatures. And enticing a nice smallmouth bass to eat is only half the battle.
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