I have never flyfished for small mouths this time of year, but am going to Bennett Spring, Mo., to fish for trout. We are staying at a place that has a pond stocked with smallies. Is there any way to fish for them now? What do I use, and how? I am wondering if I can switch between smallies and trout.
Bilko,
How well you’ll do with Smallmouth Bass around Thanksgiving will depend a lot on water temperature and weather.
If it’s a small pond and the water isn’t too cold (40>), you can get them to eat. Fish small streamers and big nymphs slowly in the warmest water you can find. Hard to beat a black or olive weighted 'bugger for this type of fishing.
You can also fish ‘trout sized’ nymphs and wets under an indicator for smallies. Again, fish them real slow.
If there are trout and bass in the same pond, fish for the trout. If there are smallies around, and they are hungry, you’ll catch them too.
Good Luck!
Buddy
I was down that way the first week in November and did fine. There’s been a lot of cold rain since, which will slow things down a bit, but if you follow Buddy’s advice you should get a few. At Bennett, the smallies will come up into the spring from the Niangra about this time of year, so that might be an option too.
Yup. Olive, and/or black Buggers. Or, Clousers work well. SMs seem to prefer brown and orange colors in Clousers.