Angling Article

Before I get too far into this article let me state that I do not consider myself to be an expert on fly fishing for smallmouth. I have been at it for quite a few of years but had not poured my heart and soul into pursuit of smallies until a few years ago. I have fished for them in a wide variety of places including lakes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota, streams and rivers in Minnesota, Lake Sakakawea and many of our small lakes in North Dakota. I was introduced to smallie fishing in ND many years ago by Mark Olinger who got me into using Clouser minnows and crayfish patterns along the face of the dam at Lake Sakakawea. I work at it and really enjoy it but among those species of fish I regularly pursue smallies have come after pike, bluegills, crappies and largemouth.

But that changed a couple years ago when I stumbled on some excellent smallmouth fishing not far from Bismarck. I was actually fishing for pike one spring when I “lucked into” some nice smallmouth bass. Thinking it was a fluke I kept fishing for pike but kept catching smallies and finally the light bulb came on and I switched to gear and flies more suited to these scrappy fish. That was the beginning of my current obsession with smallmouth bass.

Over the past few years I have fished hard for smallies in a variety of places in North Dakota. As importantly, I have also worked hard to research the biology of these fish in an effort to more fully understand their habits and habitats. It has been an incredibly enjoyable experience and has helped me become a more successful smallmouth fly angler in every dimension including catching fish.

This year at the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo in Minneapolis I had the opportunity to attend Tim Holschlag's seminars on smallmouth fishing. Tim is “Mr. Smallmouth” and has been chasing them for decades and has an amazing, detailed knowledge of these fish. He has developed techniques for streams, rivers and lakes and recently published an exceptional book on fly fishing for smallmouth. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about this species and techniques for fly angling for them. I also had the opportunity to talk with Tim for quite awhile at his booth about smallie fishing and in the time we talked I learned a great deal about techniques.

I have come to the conclusion that smallmouth are not at the top of most people's list of fish to pursue in North Dakota and this goes for fly anglers, bait casters and spin fishers alike. Of course we have some very dedicated and knowledgeable smallie nuts in MVFF but in my discussions with a wide variety of anglers I believe that smallies are usually by-catch while pursuing other species. I also think there is a misconception that smallies are a bit more difficult to catch than some other species, particularly largemouth, but this is far from the case. In fact, in lakes where both species co-exist like Fish Creek reservoir I often use the same flies for both species. Some of my favorite flies for smallies include wooly buggers, crayfish, minnow imitations, poppers and sliders, all very typical patterns for bass in general. There are numerous sites on the web that will provide you with great information on smallmouth fishing and fly pattern recipes.

Most of my fishing is done with floating lines and this is how I usually fish for smallmouth bass. I like to use long leaders in the 9ft to 12 ft range and most often use leaders that are simply a piece of 20lb test mono-filament. No need for tapered leaders or fine tippets here and in many places you need a good stout leader to turn over big flies and move fish out of cover. My usual rod selection is a 7 wt or 8 wt with a weight forward line on nine foot long rod. I like bigger flies for bass and usually tie up a variety of types in sizes ranging from 6-1/0 with my favorite being size 2. And although I most often use a floating line there are times when I switch to sinking lines and depending on the time of the year I use either a Scientific Anglers Uniform Sink I or III.

Many of our lakes have excellent smallmouth populations and I believe this resource is under utilized. To find a list of good candidates check out the annual spring issue of North Dakota Outdoors magazine. Several good bets for excellent smallmouth fishing include Fish Creek, Spiritwood Lake near Jamestown, and the Sheyenne River around Valley City. On my list of places to hit this year is the Sheyenne River as there are exceptional fish and great numbers in this system. MVFF club member Nick Simonson has fished this system for years with great success and has caught many excellent fish.

There are several myths that seems to persist about smallmouth bass fishing. First, and one I hear frequently is that they are difficult to catch on top water flies. Nothing can be further from the truth and I have caught nearly as many smallies on surface flies as subsurface flies. The primary reason I have caught more on subsurface flies is that for years I bought into this myth too and didn't use surface flies. During the last couple seasons I have made an effort to use surface flies and when conditions are right for using these types of flies I have done well.

Another common misconception is that smallies are hard to catch except in the spring and fall when the frequent shallow water. I don't believe this for a second as I have caught more smallies in the summer than any other time of year. In fact when I first started fishing for them at Lake Sakakawea years ago I always focused my efforts in July and had some really great fishing. And to further bust myth #1, I caught many smallmouth ofna floating line, with a long leaders and surface flies but I will admit I used more crayfish and Clouser minnows.

The MVFF club has a number of experienced smallmouth anglers who have excellent knowledge they are willing to share. If you have never fished for smallies or want to improve your skills on this species I suggest you seek out one of our smallie gurus. If you have not purposely tried smallmouth bass fishing give it a try this year. They hit hard, fight hard, do incredible aerial displays and are a riot on fly tackle.