Flyfishing 4 Smallmouth?

[Blue Lk]

While I am definitely not new to fishing,been fishing 50+ yrs,I am thinking I would like to try flyfishing.The lake I live on has a lot of Smallmouth & I thought that maybe it would be a great way to catch them on those calm mornings when they are feeding on the surface.Any thoughts or advice would be welcome.

[shane]

What are they feeding on? Pick a fly that resembles whatever it is and cast it out there. I bet smallies on a top-water fly would be a hoot.

[ChrisK]

Like river fly fishing, fishing a lake is much the same targeting rocks and other structure where they may be holding up instead of just fan casting an area blindly...The fly line is a bit intrusive and will spook fish if it lands to close to were they are holding up..Fly fishing for Largemouth bass I found was a little easier due to the weed structure I was fishing....Good break up cover for the fly line where as open water the fly line is way more apparent....

Really got to feel out the fish and see how they react to your offerings and go from there. Most importantly is match the hatch..Like fireball suggested use flies that look like what the fish are feeding on and see what happens....If no follows or rises move to another color perhaps or something more of an attractant like my favourite for smallies, a bead head chaurtruse whoolie bugger.....I've caught my fair share of smallies on this go to fly......

 

Good Luck !!

[troutboy]

Get some popper flies in assorted sizes and colours,mouse flies always work!

Heres a link to a relly good reliable fly shop,they have thousands of flies!

http://www.reelflies.ca/

Edited March 7, 2010 by troutboy

[irishfield]

Yep.. like troutboy says. Popper flies. I like to do so off my dock some early mornings and evenings just after sunset. Good casting practice and fun when the smallies come shooting out of the water to boot. Get some laughs from the locals and PPark patrons trolling body baits past my place... but it's them that's missing out.. not me!

[shadowfly]

hey blue Lk

you might want to give these video a look. it seems interesting to try out with a fly rod. he has some good tips

 

Vid 1

vid 2

 

tight lines.

[OhioFisherman]

I am not a fly fisherman, the worst trip I ever had to Ontario as far as catching was concerned? During a mayfly hatch on the Georgian Bay, it seemed like the bass and walleye were feeding almost exclusively on them. Rafts of Mayflies drifting along the surface and fish busting them. A mayfly imitation might have saved the trip?

 

Most of a predatory fishes diet is other fish? sinking fly line and a streamer fly or leech pattern? LOL if your driving 500 miles to fish it is nice to catch a few? Keep an open mind and you can catch more fish?

[dave524]

Most of a predatory fishes diet is other fish? sinking fly line and a streamer fly or leech pattern? LOL if your driving 500 miles to fish it is nice to catch a few? Keep an open mind and you can catch more fish?

 

Ohio hit the nail on the head. As much as I enjoyed topwater fishng for smallies when my folks had a cottage on a Haliburton Lake full of smallies, A seven wt full sinking Wetcell or a 300 grain sinking shooting head with mono shooting line when they went deeper, with a black "Woolly Bugger" was as good as any presentation with any type of tackle. For topwater smallies, early when it was like a millpond, you didn't really want to cause a lot of commotion on the surface, best fly and it was really not designed for surface fishing, was to fish a Muddler Minnow as a dry with a twitch and skating retrieve. Probably made a good imitation of a large caddis and miller type moth or a hopper I guess.

[lhousesoccer]

I'm not 100% sure, but bass seasons are alot different in NWO than down south, right? Is bass season open year round? Or does it open much earlier?

 

If that's true, you might want to look for some rivers that flow into lakes with smallies. Where I live, there's a run of smallies into a couple rivers that feed a really big lake. The smallmouth population actually has divergent spawning strategies. Some stay in the lake and spawn there, like everyone is used to. But a separate segment of the population actually ascends rivers, like a steelhead, and spawns in eddies and slackwater sections of the river. On the way up the river, they feed heavily on shiners that are also running the river. Here, this occurs in early May when the water temps are mid 60's F.

 

I fish them by drifting bunny strips, big wooly buggers, or sculpin patterns. Big beadhead nymphs work well too. You can often sight-fish for them too, by spotting them resting behind large boulders. Let me tell you, when you hook into a 5-lb smallie in heavy current on a 7-wt rod, and they only have 2 feet of depth to work with, the fight is phenomenal. Nothing aerial - but wicked long and strong runs. It's awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

[Fang]

I've flyfish temagami for smallies over the years and found a handfull of patterns that out produce the rest

 

Marabou muddlers in natural and white/yellows (size 4-1/0)

big rabbit hair strip leeches (great pike fly too)

deer hair poppers

dahlberg divers

wolly buggers

 

Overwhelming best color has been black with splashes of orange and gold tinsel mixed in on all flies listed above.