Smallmouth Bass

Open a topo map of East Tennessee and look at the thin blue lines that criss cross the area. Pick out almost any one of these and chances are, they contain smallmouth bass! East Tennessee has literally hundreds of miles of bass streams that comprise some of the most under fished water in the state!

Where I come from in Middle Tennessee there were no trout, at least not any to speak of, TWRA stocked some of the small creeks in the area but the few fish who survived the day after stocking onslaught, had little or no chance of surviving the Summer heat. Almost everyone I knew who fished with a fly rod fished for bluegill ,or the occasional bass, on Kentucky Lake during the willow fly hatch. Most then put the fly rods away in favor of more conventional tackle and chased largemouth and Kentucky bass from tricked out bass rigs. Lacking the finances to buy such a boat I began concentrating my efforts on the many creeks that fed into the lake and soon found myself catching fish that would make the big water boys envious. Moreover, I was doing it alone, and with a fly rod! Thus began my lifelong addiction to smallmouth bass on the fly!

These days I mostly fish from a drift boat and without question my absolute favorite way to fish is drifting an uncrowded river, chunking poppers or streamers to the bank for smallies. I do it every Summer. Lately I've noticed a growing interest amongst the folks who are kind enough to fish with me, in streamer fishing for big browns, and chasing smallmouth bass on the fly. So I thought I might pass along some of the tips and tactics I feel work the best in the hopes it might get a few more people addicted as I am!

TACTICS..

Smallmouth are predators, from birth to death. I've often said they wake up mad and they're mood only gets worse as the day wears on. Whereas trout will simply hold in the current and wait for the river to bring them food, a smallmouth likes to hunt, run things down and kill them. Therefore most of my favorite smallmouth tactics require more action, you have to move the fly! When fishing streamers I often vary the retrieve between fast and extremely fast, sometimes pausing a moment or two to let the fly rest before resuming the retrieve, the start and stop technique. I recently had the opportunity to fish with legendary angler and fly tier Bob Clouser on the upper Clinch river and we were discussing this very thing, he told me when he was guiding he used to challenge his anglers to try and move the fly fast enough to pull it away from an approaching smallmouth, it can't be done! Sure there are times in very cold water when bass are lethargic that slow retrieves will work best, but that's mostly on lakes in Winter. Movement is key, it provokes the bass's predator response and often brings ferocious strikes.

The only real exception to this is popper fishing. Poppers are best fished by casting to the bank, or structure and allowing the fly to settle for a moment, I then give it a slight twitch or two, let it settle again, and then begin a retrieve, or pick it up and cast again. Most strikes will occur the moment the popper hits the water or very shortly thereafter. Sometimes a fish, most often a large fish, will levitate up under your popper and study it, chalk that up to wisdom of old age, in these instances I have found it best to just let the popper sit, perhaps only giving it a very slight twitch. Most often he will simply suck it in, or refuse it, but in this circumstance moving it rapidly will most likely spook the fish..there are always exceptions! Another exception are when bass are actively feeding in riffles or chutes in the river. Then a large rubber leg nymph like a stonefly or Helgramite imitation dead drifted under an indicator in classic trout fashion will catch a lot of fish. It's a technique well known to most trout fishers but I have found it works best in fast moving water. Many anglers like the “popper and dropper” technique where a nymph is suspended underneath a large popper. This often works well but is not one of my favorites for open water bass.

FLIES..

A good smallmouth selection does not have to be extensive, for years I basically fished with one fly, a white cone head streamer and I caught a bunch of fish. These days I carry a little better selection but that streamer is still my go to fly. A good fly box should contain a few flys that will allow you to fish a variety of depths from the top to the bottom. Poppers in chartruese, white, and yellow are a great choice in about a size four for smallies. Bigger poppers don't seem to work any better and often spook fish. I also like to have along a black popper or two for when smallmouth are jumping after dragon flies, that can be exciting. I also select poppers with a little weight to them, and a heavy epoxy coating. They hold up better when whacked against a rock and also make that resounding “PLOP” when they hit the water that I think attracts active fish.

The next category of flies are the divers, often made from deer hair, that float in the surface but dive when you retrieve them. Fish will often strike these violently and I like to fish them over gravel bars and sunken logs where a fast sinking fly would almost certainly get hung up.

Then you have the streamers, Synthetic Clouser minnows tied with some flash in them and rabbit strip flies with rubber legs, like the Gallup patterns for large browns, are my favorites here. Depending on your line of choice you can fish these through almost the entire water column and serve to cover a lot of river.

The final category are what I call the bottom bumpers. Crayfish or helgramite imitations that are fished on, or very near, the bottom. For these I like heavily weighted flies with dumbbell eyes or large cone heads. Sometimes tied weedless or with an inverted hook these are generally fished more slowly and allowed to bump along the bottom with only the occasional twitch to imitate a fleeing crayfish or a dislodged helgramite searching for a rock to hide under. A few flies that represent each of these categories should cover you pretty well on almost any bass stream

TACKLE..

For years I fished for bass on a six weight fly rod. These days I find by fishing the same flies on a seven or more often eight weight rod I am less tired at the end of the day. Even though the rods are a little heavier they cast the larger, more air resistant flies with less effort and are better able to handle the intermediate or sink tip lines often used in streamer fishing. While we're on that subject, you will probably need at least two lines, one floating, and one sinking. I like the 200 grain sink tips for most of my streamer fishing so I can vary the depth I fish them depending on the speed of my retrieve, and the extra weight makes the rod load up easier with large streamers. Full sinking lines find limited use and generally just wind up causing your fly to be stuck on the bottom most of the day. Often I carry two rods rigged with different lines, a floater for the poppers and a sink tip for the streamers. This makes switching between the two fast and efficient depending on conditions. Although some hard core fly fishers would consider it blasphemy, I often encourage folks to carry along a light or ultra light spinning rod and some floating Rapalas or Rebel crayfish plugs. After a long day of chunking streamers it's often nice to take a seat, rest your arm, and still cover some water. They don't sell so many of them because they don't work!

So whether your just looking for some variety in your fishing or returning to your roots like me, I encourage you to give smallmouth fishing a try. They are one of the gamest of game fish. Require a little different skill set, and are a challenge to even the most experienced anglers.