Amen brother. I love Micropterus dolomieui, may they forever swim about with that streetfighter scowl on their fishy faces. These two lines had me giggling to myself to the extent that my 12 year old looked at me funny.
Once, while wading, I had a hooked bass run straight at me and encircle my legs with my fly line twice before I could think to reel. To this day, I’m firmly convinced he planned to drown me and mount my hat on his wall. To subdue such a creature, I will gladly utilize any advantage evolution or science can provide.
My specialty is the roll cast that crashes into the water with a splash only slightly less than that you would expect if I tossed in a lawn chair.
The wife and I had a blast catching smallies last night until the we both awoke to the realization that the driving rain we had been standing in for the last hour had in fact soaked us both to the bone and we would have been less wet had we dove into the river. When the fish are biting I don’t easily get distracted, and apparently either does she. Man she IS a keeper.
Every time I catch a decent Smallie in the river I am AMAZED at how tough and tenacious they are.
I have only managed a few over 12" with maybe one over 16" so far on the declining Susquehanna this year; but even on an 8 weight outfit; they are a LOT to handle!
Yesterday I managed to catch an 18" trout on a local stream and compared to a 14" Smallie; the trout was a joke!
Yesterday I managed to catch an 18" trout on a local stream and compared to a 14" Smallie; the trout was a joke!
Don’t get me wrong I love to fish for coldwater species, but smallmouth fishing appeals to me more. The flies are generally larger , and neatness seems to count less, so my amateuerish tying is less of a concern, and splashy, noisy, casts actually seem to help sometimes. You gotta love a species where a 10 inch specimen has no problem trying to eat a three inch fly, then promptly launches itself 18 inches out of the water, and does a three foot tail walk as soon as it finds itself hooked.
I could never give up trout fishing either especially since I have great trout fishing less than 10 minutes away but if you never fished the White Fly hatch in its glory on the Susquehanna; you missed something awesome. Catching a 16" or larger smallmouth on a size 14 dry fly with a 3X-4X tippet is incredible!
Most of the time I just stand there shaking my head not believing how they fight. And when I see that the fish isn’t even 18" or larger; I get totally psyched to catch another.
In the ring a heavyweight trout would get whupped by a middleweight smallie every night of the week!
I hope to fish the Susquehanna someday. I have nice put and take coldwater fishing nearby, like many of us, but nothing that could be considered blue ribbon. Smallies however, infest nearly every body of water around, both still and flowing. Sure, you catch alot of little guys, but even they are a ton of fun. And the occasional big boy really gets my blood flowing. One of these evenings bass fishing I know I am going to run across a hatch going on and that will be a great day. We do have what are called White Millers that I think are the Ephoron leukon that people refer to as White Flies. I saw them one night my first season fly fishing on a local trout stream, and of course I had not a single white imitation in my meager fly box, so it was more an exercise in frustration. They weren’t a blanket hatch like people talk about, but there were alot of them.
Jim,
Do it. Do it now! I occasionally(shame, shame) go out with my Ugly Stik, and some Mister Twisters. Not as fun as on the long rod, but good times none the less. Last time I did I actually caught a about a 18" long walleye on a spoon and bucktail lure. I guess he forgot the spawn was over. Boy was I suprised.
I’m not sure where you live in NY State but the Susquehanna River up there in Broome and Tioga counties is at least the equal if not better than the Susquehanna used to be far downriver in PA. I have fished the Susquehanna for over 30 years in both PA and NY State. I lived eleven years in Broome County and I know the area well so PM me if you want some ideas as to where to fish.
Some sections are best fished with a boat because there are some deeper holes that simply cannot be waded, but there are plenty of wading opportunities too. I used to fish during lunchtime right in downtown Binghamton and catch plenty of fish. The area below Goudey Station powerplant in Johnson City is a hot-spot too and there is a nice park to access the river.
Don’t forget the Tioghnioga, Chemung, Unadilla, and Chenango Rivers either. All of these rivers are excellent smallmouth streams and they all offer bonus fish like walleye and northern pike too.
I really miss the fishing I had up there, it was truly world class.
I live in trout country (well on the fringes of it anyways) and love to fish for them. Smallies are also terrific the put on a great fight and a great show. I got out on Saturday to a nice small stream near my Mom’s in Virgina. Caught 20+ smallies in about 4 hours on the stream. What a hoot. the biggest were in the 12-13 inch range and the smallest were 3-4 inches. All on the same black and yellow popper. I finally put it into a tree trying to cast under the branches and decided it was time to quit for the evening. A great day on the water.
I’m lucky enough to work right on a river that has a good number of smallmouth bass and I have words of advice to those fishing for them: ONLY USE ONE FLY!
Late last year I was fishing a tandem streamer rig when I hooked into a double, initially I thought it was a big smallie but when they both jumped out of the water simultaneously I knew I was in trouble. They got in the current andput a bend in my 6wt that I have never seen before! I walked downstream to them and finally landed them (good thing I had my net). Each one of them was about 10". Needless to say, one of the streamers came off right after that.
Two quick stories. We’re fishing in the Boundary Waters out of ultralight aluminum canoes, when my buddy hooks a good sized Smallie. It jumps about 3 times and then charges the canoe. It literally slammed into the side of the boat and the sound was just amazing. The fish stunned itself and lay sideways in the water for a few moments. It came to life, jumped once more and threw the hook. When I looked down in the canoe, you could see a dent that the fish left.
I’m on a 17 foot aluminum bass baot with 2 other friends and we’re fishing at Reserve Beauchene in Quebec. I’m throwing a 3/8 ounce, homemade beetle spin and hook into a 2-1/2 pomd bass. It literally pulled the boat around in a complete circle. Without a doubt, the strongest fish under 8 pounds that I have ever caught.
If you love Smallies, check out Beauchene on the Internet. Great fishing, great accomadations, and great people.
I remember one day I was fishing in the Scioto river in Columbus, OH for smallies. I had a blast that day. Near the end of the day a hatch of mayfly’s started and I didn’t have any luck imitating the mayfly’s as I was mainly carrying streamers for the smallies. Finally, I put a larger streamer on and cast down and across. Well, nothing hit on the swing, as expected. Anyways, I paused for a few moments just admiring the area when I got a hit just letting that streamer hang in the water during the hatch. It was about a 15" smallmouth. Cast again, let it hang, 22" Walleye, again, another smallmouth, and over and over again I caught fish after fish just letting the fly hang in the current during the hatch. I caught quite a few smallmouth and Walleye doing that. What I was doing was imitating one of the smaller fish that were sitting in the current eating on the hatch, the bigger fish were below them eating on the smaller fish. Since then I have used this same method during other hatches when I did not have a suitable imitation. It even resulted in my biggest stream brown trout, a 21" brown from the Mad River in North Western Ohio. So remember this technique next time your on a river and you can’t match the hatch and even try it when you want to target larger fish during a hatch. You may just find yourself catching quite a few larger fish than you would have caught by Matching the Hatch.
You gotta love a species where a 10 inch specimen has no problem trying to eat a three inch fly, then promptly launches itself 18 inches out of the water, and does a three foot tail walk as soon as it finds itself hooked.
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