Its Smallmouth Time

Smallmouth are one of my favorite species of fish to target. I fish for them all spring and summer, often three or more days a week on my home, and favorite river. I mainly fish for resident smallmouth in the rivers, just because it is a close and easy drive or bike ride to the river from my house, but smallmouth in lakes can be just as much fun. I'll start with the gear. For smallmouth, especially in the rivers a 5 wt. or 6 wt. fly rod is plenty. Although rivers can hold some monster fish, it is much more fun to have a 5 or 6 wt fly rod to fight it on. The rest of the rod features are all preference. I fish a tip flex 5 wt. and a mid flex 6 wt. Everything about the length, flex, and brand of fly rod is personal preference. Next comes the line. I don't like throwing an intermediate line on 5 wts, but if you were to get a 200 grain intermediate line I'm sure it would be just fine. A normal WF-F line will do the trick especially for rivers. I do however throw an intermediate line on a 6 wt. I like the way a 230 grain line feels and it gets the flies down where they need to be in rivers or lakes. Now we are onto reels. I have a whole variety of reels that I use, but whatever reel you use for trout should be sufficient for bronze backs. And now for the flies. Everything comes into play now. Overcast vs. sun, high water vs. low water, clear water vs. murky water. This is true for some situations, but generally I throw whatever big gaudy looking fly stands out in my box. If its big, has good movement and you present it right in the right areas of a river most likely your going to catch a fish. It isn't until really specific times that I will take everything into account. Crayfish, leech, or baitfish patterns work like a charm. So here are some of my new and old smallmouth patterns. Most, if not all (too many posts to count) are on here with directions on how to tie (if not I will get them up within the week). Enjoy and tight lines!

And as always, you can never go wrong with a classic woolley bugger. I am shocked that I don't have any pictures or directions. As I said all these patterns that are not up on Fly Bible with directions will be within the week. Tight lines and I hope these patterns work for you as they have for me.