Fly Fishing For Smallies 2024
WiscoBassman reply :
Do any of you guys enjoy fishing for smallmouth bass on the fly? What do you use? Do you prefer it to regular fishing equipment?
I personally enjoy it more on the fly and I have an Echo carbon rod and an Orvis reel for it, it's a 5 weight combo so I can use it for smallies and trout. Just wanted to see what you all liked more.
flyfisher reply :
I prefer the fly but sometimes conditions just don't let that happen. I use a 7wt sage do with a galvan ob reel and an SA GPX line.
I am also a big fan of rabbit hair flies for smallies too
WiscoBassman reply :
My favorite fly for smallies is my own creation, it's red micro chenille as the butt, peacock herl body with gold tinsel ribbing as the body and calf tail wing portion (I guess) it's my favorite wet fly for them.
Fly_Fisherman reply :
I use a 9ft 4wt home made fly rod with a 4-6lb flouro-leader for smallies. I love throwing a bunny leech or cone head wooly bugger and allow the fly to dead drift in rivers with small strips. I've caught some big bass doing this and catching one on the fly is just so much more satisfying.
Scott F reply :
I know a lot of guys who are die hard smallmouth fly fishermen. I'm not one of them. I had a fly rod in my hand when I was 10, a few years before I ever saw a spinning rod. I used to have one in my boat all the time, but for me they are just a pain. There are too many situations where fly rods are just not the right tool for the job. I catch more and bigger smallies on my spin and casting gear.
Gavin reply :
Its a blast when the conditions are suited to it. Usually fish a 9' 7wt, and I use big blockhead poppers, sneaky pete's, and large streamers. If I have to go deep for them, I break out my conventional tackle.
chrisdm4 reply :
I fish in a stream that is no more then 4' deep in the holes so the average size of the bass are a pound maybe two so i use my 4wt. I would say 95% of the time i dead drift gold copper johns #12 down deep runs. Woolly buggers are a good one to drift as well. I Sight fishing 100% of the time. When you get a 2lb on a 4wt its a blast!
desmobob reply :
I LOVE to flyfish for smallies! I usually use a six-weight.
I like Clouser Minnows, Wooly Buggers (from unweighted to coneheads), Bunny Leeches, hair bugs/poppers and crawdad patterns. A spare spool with a sink-tip line helps you cover the water column more efficiently. On lakes, I'll bring a full-sinker, too.
Tight lines,
Bob
Bill in VA reply :
Most of my fly fishing is done in shallower water from a kayak, canoe, or the bank. So I prefer the Clouser minnow on a furled leader, cast, let it sink a bit, then start my retrieve, pull in about 12 inches of line, pause, then repeat.
Nice fish in the avatar!
MickD reply :
Olive wooly buggers and grizzly barred streamers.
A-Jay reply :
Ozark_Basser reply :
I bet that 19 incher went four pounds, AJ. Nice fish.
clayton86 reply :
One of my new favorite things to do. Started on Mother's Day and have gone almost every day since and plan on doing a rod geeks build a 5wt just for wading creeks for smallies.
flyfisher reply :
If you think smallies are fun, which they are, go after some of their green brothers and see what real fun is 
Nothing like a topwater bite in some lilly pads to put a bend in the long rod and make your heart race.
clayton86 reply :
I picked these up today
Further North reply :
I love fly fishing for smallies, and do it a lot.
I use a 6, 7 or 8 wt. rod depending on conditions and how big a fly I want to toss.
I've become a fan of Temple Forks rods, though about half my rods are St. Croix.
I also really like Lamson reels - very often close to if not the lightest for the size, great drag and not over-the-top pricing.
Lines are kind of whatever works - I have an Airflo streamer on one rod, A Rio Clouser on another, a Scientific Angler Hover line on another, a Rio Versitip on my 10 ft. 7 wt. and a Scientific Anglers GPX sinking line on one of my 8 wt. rods...horses for courses...
Flies...I'm not a fly fishing purist, so I try to learn from what works when I throw gear...so a lot of my ties resemble what works there - I tie baitfish that look like Rapalas, crayfish looking flies that resemble plastic baits, and use a lot of common flies like woolly buggers, poppers and things like that.
Consider Thin Mints in larger sizes, and Take a look at a Slump Buster...but then tie it bigger.
clayton86 reply :
Got this one today on a craw pattern I bought Friday took like half an hour to tick it off enough to bite but finally got it to strike. Missed the first like 5 strikes then finally hooked up.
Further North reply :
Cool!
A side note: I've started using a large trout net on smallies so that I don't handle them as much - I can also get them landed earlier and back in the water faster. If I want a picture, I can leave them in the water until the last second, lift out, snap and release.
clayton86 reply :
Yeah I've been thinking the same thing for my latest few catches my trout net might be handy for landing and in hooking them. This one stayed in the water most the time as I slipped in with one foot getting my sneakers soaked I said oh well and waded out in sneakers and jeans and started casting so I brought it in lipped it in hooked quick and put her back in maybe out the water 30 seconds at most. I wish I had a go pro filming all times because when I released her she just sat in front of me so I reached in and grabbed her tail she swam a figure 8 around me and stopped at my feet again then swam off after a minute it was cool.
Frenchman83 reply :
Awesome pics and stories. I don't fly fish but have always had the itch. I am sure that one day I'll get the bug
Further North reply :
Fly fishing is way easier than it is made out to be. It requires a little more attention than we're used to to make sure the area where your back cast is going to go is clear, and there's a couple of things that'll help your cast...but it's not that hard.
I fly fish for trout, bass, pike and musky...of the bunch, trout are the only one that really require the real finesse of lightly drifting a tiny fly to the surface and controlling the drift. For bass and toothy critters it's usually OK if the fly looks like it fell off a cliff when it hits the water...toothy fish especially.
clayton86 reply :
On 5/25/2015 at 11:01 AM, Further North said:Fly fishing is way easier than it is made out to be. It requires a little more attention than we're used to to make sure the area where your back cast is going to go is clear, and there's a couple of things that'll help your cast...but it's not that hard.
I fly fish for trout, bass, pike and musky...of the bunch, trout are the only one that really require the real finesse of lightly drifting a tiny fly to the surface and controlling the drift. For bass and toothy critters it's usually OK if the fly looks like it fell off a cliff when it hits the water...toothy fish especially.
Agreed
I had this fly set up for years and never used it I was to intimidated till just a few weeks ago I just did it. Yeah I sucked at first but now I can cast pretty good some times they land with finesse and silence other times you swear I shot the thing into the water with a gun lol. Practice practice it's not as hard as if looks.
WdyCrankbait reply :
On 6/8/2013 at 7:55 AM, flyfisher said:I prefer the fly but sometimes conditions just don't let that happen. I use a 7wt sage do with a galvan ob reel and an SA GPX line.
I am also a big fan of rabbit hair flies for smallies too
Ugh, the one post I was hoping not to run across.
I'm recovering from surgery performed 4/14 and it is not looking like I will be able to fish again till September. But, I love smallmouth fly fishing and that crawfish pattern in the picture above is the one to go with! Great catch!
flyfisher,
If you get a Saturday free try floating from West View to James River State Park (about 5 hours), or on to Maidens (about 9 hours) in a day. Two buddies and myself did that last fall with bass spinning gear and must have caught a 100. Healthy, strong ones to that did not like being hooked! Biggest one was close to 15" and not fishing that part of the James River before I am sure there are some much larger ones in there.
Keep the pictures coming, great thread!
PS, anyone use woolly buggers tied with tarantula material bodies? I have a couple original bugger patterns I am very curious about.
Wdy
clayton86 reply :
Got this one today. Second one ever not sight fishing just working on the double haul cast started stripping line and it hit.
clayton86 reply :
Went this morning after work got two more lost the third.
Normally I trim the tag end more idk why j didn't this time but he still ate
flyfisher reply :
The clawdad is one of if not my favorite flies for smallies out there. Sierra trading post had a sale on them not too long ago and i stocked up. Try just letting them tumble through likely looking pools and you may be pleasantly surprised they work as streamers but they are more effective as a bottom presentation for me.
clayton86 reply :
Been on a serious dry spell lately for smallies on the fly got this one this morning though.
Further North reply :
Nice fish!
I didn't take a lot of pictures, but we had some near absurd smallie action on Lake of the Woods a couple of weeks ago...it was weird...som fish were still on beds, and some were obviously two weeks past that and aggressively hitting anything that looked even vaguely like a 2" - 3" crayfish.
...between the fly rod and a hula grub finessed on a spinning rod, if I went 50; without a fish I figured something was wrong...
clayton86 reply :
I forgot about these guys these were about a month ago.
WdyCrankbait reply :
Clayton,
Did you get some smallies on a fly like this? One I tied a week ago. The view is from the now bottom, the hook will be upward when fished.
Thanks,
Wdy
flyfisher reply :
On 7/11/2015 at 7:27 AM, WdyCrankbait said:
Clayton,
Did you get some smallies on a fly like this? One I tied a week ago. The view is from the now bottom, the hook will be upward when fished.
Thanks,
Wdy
if he hasn't i know i have. It is my goto fly really. It does surprisingly well for largemouth too
clayton86 reply :
Yup
I bought some new ones I really like but the bite has come to screeching halt it seems. I'll get some pics of them when I get back from training in two weeks.
CeeJay reply :
You guys got me wanting to take up the fly rod again
I lost my old rods, but I'll have to pick up a new one soon.
clayton86 reply :
I've still been getting some the fall feed bag seems to be on as well.
These all came on the 7wt rod geeks rod I built paired with a Allen alpha III reel. Absolutely love the combo.
CDobber reply :
Hoping to find a spot around here to fly fish for smallies, haven't done so yet.....still waiting for my first hook of any kind with that medium, had some good creek chub action on a hopper pattern a couple weeks ago, and I suspect as the water cools down here this month that I may finally get a bass or trout on something near here.
Mikeyslikz reply :
Love the tug of a big smallie after stripping a nice wolly bugger or big streamer through the river . I use the sage smallmouth 7wt 7'11 paired with a lamson litespeed ... There no better feeling when your stripping and they just slam it !
clayton86 reply :
From this
To this in less then 24hrs
Same fly got me a pike and a 25+lb king salmon that broke me off. Pretty cool catching something on a rod you build yourself plus a fly/lure you made yourself also.
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