Fly rodding for river smallies

[Brush Hog20]

Anyone else on this forum fly rod for smallies?  I throw a baitcaster to largemouth the majority of the time, but for just pure fishing enjoyment for me there is nothing better than smallmouth on the fly..Just wondering if anyone else out there fly fish for red eyes.

[simplejoe]

I fly fish on the rivers and creeks by me and I caught a lot of smb on poppers or floating spiders

[Brush Hog20]

Awesome.  Not caught one on a popper yet.  Mostly on wooly buggers and clousers I tie myself.  Definately going to try poppers this year tho..

[Tokyo Tony]

I haven't yet, but I definitely want to get into that this year. Maybe moreso on little lakes, but I have a couple spots on the Farmington River, CT, where the smallies are just waiting for me to get my fly gear together  ;D

[jhoffman]

I live about 200 yards from two of the best trout streams in pa. One is stocked, in the later part of summer it gets very warm and the smallies from the local lake run for at least 30 miles of it. Not a soul fishes it. Try fishing common flies you would use for trout. Big stonefly patterns, small crayfish, minnow immitations. Check out a pattern called the "Wiggle Stone", invented by my sponsor.

This pattern and Senyo's Sculpin won Greg a big award recently.

If you want to see how either are tied let me know. Ill do a tutorial on here.

[Brush Hog20]

J

I have a whole fly box of stones I have never used.  I will give em a try.  Thanks for the tip and fly pics.  I fish about 20 miles of stream for smallies thats 40 mins from my door.  Nice piece of water and pretty unique for my part of the state (central IA).  I also get to the white river in N Arkansas to fish for trout two or three times a year.  

p.s.

I would love to see a tutorial..

[simplejoe]

I would like to see how you make them.

[jhoffman]

I have a link to the wiggle stone on my forums. Follow the www at the bottom of my post to the forum and look for tying tutorials. I dont want to post the link for fear it may be looked at as advertising.

I can do the sculpin within the next week.

Ill post it right here, but no need to do the same tutorial over again.

[smallieking]

i rarely  flyrod for smallmouth, mostly because im not very good with it but i will about twice a year.  the funnest times fly fishing is when a river floods onto a flat, smallmouth will move into the flat to escape the current and take advantage of the forage there. i like casting out a streamer like a wooly bugger and just rip it through the shallows. i never catch anything big on it but man its fun catching some

[Tom Hull]

I just joined the forum today, and was reading post when I came across yours. You are talking my language friend. NOTHING like smallmouth on a flyrod!! Gotta' love it. I live very close to where the Maury and James rivers join in Virginia, and while the fish kill the last year or two has played a toll on the fish in the James (especially the larger ones for some reason), the Maury has been unaffected by the same. Not a lot of huge fish there (4lbs. is a monster), it make up in sheer numbers of fish. And as you know, a small smallmouth will whip the snot out of a larger bigmouth, especially on the flyrod. So my best to you friend in your pursuit of this great fish. Oh yeah, I use trout nymphs (smallies eat em' like a kid eats popcorn), Clouser Minnows and Clouser Crawfish, all of which I enjoy tying myself. On topwater I have pretty good success on most any popper, store bought or hand made. Take care.

[NEKvt]

I have used the flyrod almost exclusively.  Had been mostly fishing for trout but getting into bass more.  I just bought a casting rod because I feel like I need to better understand the techniques to tie better flies for bass.  Been getting them on clousers and palmered marabou flies with jig skirts.  

I would defineately like to see that sculpin pattern detailed.  

[MickD]

Oh yes, lots of fun, and effective.  I used to use maribou streamers with good success, but now I think the olive wooly buggers are the ticket around here.  Just float them down the current and bass eat them readily.

I think wet is definitely more effective than dry/poppers, although if you can get a popper bite, it is more fun because you see the strikes.

[NEKvt]

Oh yes, lots of fun, and effective.  I used to use maribou streamers with good success, but now I think the olive wooly buggers are the ticket around here.  Just float them down the current and bass eat them readily.

I think wet is definitely more effective than dry/poppers, although if you can get a popper bite, it is more fun because you see the strikes.

I hate the fact that I find the same thing.  I try to tie things that are more creative but fact is the d**n wooly bugger just works.  I love the bow river style bugger with a bit of deer hair at the head as well.  

[simplejoe]

I really like those olive wooly buggers. I've had success with them

[mostbass]

just bougth a 6 weight Orvis clearwater 906-4, my first real fly rod.  I am really excited to go for some smallies with my new setup.  What weight do most of yall fish with, 6 or 8?  I went with the 6 weight because i plan on going for trout too.  

[NEKvt]

I typically carry both.  The flies you use will really determine what rod you are going to use.  A good smallie is so much fun on the 6.  Get some sinking tips so that you can get to the bottom when you need to.  

[switchfisher]

I've created a "bass rig" for my fly rod.  I use small crappie plastic lures.  

I use a polyflo sinking leader, attach tippet to the end of that leading to a a small barrel swivel (needed to keep the line twist minimized).

Then put a 1/32 sliding bullet weight on to give the lure a bit of bounce to take it to the bottom but still be light enough to move.

Throw up and across the river / stream and it will move along the bottom.  Twitch and you are good to go.

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

8-)

[macjiger]

I haven't yet, but I definitely want to get into that this year. Maybe moreso on little lakes, but I have a couple spots on the Farmington River, CT, where the smallies are just waiting for me to get my fly gear together ;D

If you don't mind me asking, where on the river do you fish? I fished in the spring for trout up by the dam and had little luck. I would love to catch some smallies on that river.

[shaw24]

I just started flyfishing for smallies a couple months ago and love it! I haven't caught anything huge yet bet I catch at least one every time I go out. I fish a good size creek close by that is loaded with smallmouth.

I have only been catching fish on a big deerhair popper that is chartreuse and white.  I tried some wooly buggers and clouser minnows without much luck....could be that section of the creek too.

I just bought a crayfish pattern and a smaller minnow looking thing lol so we will see how those do.

[NEKvt]

You should get some with that list of flies keep at it.  Presentation is big, they may want them dead drifted, stripped fast, or a mix of both.  Keep at it.

[mogin hunter]

One of the greatest combos you could have smallies and the flyrod .Recently moved out here from California and picked up a 6 wt rod some poppers and some subsurface lures . I fish the James river around the Lynchburg area and have had some nice days ,but as mentioned the better fish have been on the wet line ,but you gotta love that blast when they tear up the popper .Hopefully the fish will make a rebound on the river and we will start to see some of those bigger fish I have heard about .