Articles

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.

When folks are buying property, it is an oft-repeated phrase of realtors’ of why or why we shouldn’t: “Location! Location! Location!” Anyone with a clear sense of what they wanted for their home or business can understand that sound advice.

Think about that consideration in fly angling terms and how pertinent “location” always is: Where to go? Where are the fish situated in a body of water? Where should I cast? And how about the other tangibles and intangibles that vary from location to location?

Recently, due to requirements with my main vocation, my family and I relocated from North Dakota to Colorado and, let me assure you, location has come to mean a great deal more to me than ever.

In a good way, we were spoiled in Bismarck: our sons grew up walking distances from their respective grade schools; we lived a mere 10-15 minutes drive to the airport, varying only how early or late in the AM or early or late in the PM we had to be there; really, we were 5-10 minutes from anywhere in the metro area (okay, okay, Bismarck/Mandan’s a smaller metro area - only about 100,000 people – but it is a metro, nonetheless). There was pretty doggone good angling for multiple species within one hour of my house; world-class trophy trout angling within hours of home - whether to Manitoba’s Parkland or Montana’s famed Bighorn River or the sparkling streams of South Dakota’s Black Hills... a fact that Bill Mitzel, publisher of Dakota Country Magazine, often uttered as a reason I should never leave: Location! Location! Location! “Where else in the world, Chucky Boy, could you live where you can be any of these places in relatively short order?” he used to say.

So here we are in Fort Collins... a nice college town of approximately 140,000 people that has grown so much the past decade it has been nearly unable to keep up in the area of traffic flow. Honestly, from where we live on the northeast side of town it takes about 30 minutes to reach anywhere on the southwest side. There just aren’t enough thoroughfares that can readily move high volumes of traffic in a timely way. I’ve lived in metro areas of this size before and one could get anywhere "there and back" in about 30 minutes. No wonder older (even “much older”) homes nearer the heart of the city cost considerably more than brand new homes like mine - even with a “country living” feel like we enjoy.

As for the city, growth has presented challenges yet “location” is one of Fort Collins’ charms. It's a genuine sweet spot in Colorado: a hop, skip and a jump from Rocky Mountain National Park and other choice Rocky Mountain destinations; a hop, skip and a jump to the great amenities of the Denver metro area; a hop, skip and a jump to that 97, 818 square mile slice of magnificence called Wyoming; a hop, skip and a jump to an airport that can lead me anywhere in the world in virtually a day and for a lot cheaper than the airport I used the past 12+ years.

Something that has recently taken the edge from my being perturbed about the crowded conditions of popular, Front Range waters has been my discovery of under-utilized places close by and within an hour of my home. Small mountain streams, with wall-to-wall brook trout and no one else around (just moose and elk), are fair compensation for forfeiting 20+ inch Lightning Lake rainbows back in North Dakota.

I marvel at how much of life is integrated; how much cross-application there can be for principles. Just as a healthy fish has found its niche, its feeding lane, I, too, will eventually get into the groove after having to start all over in a new place. I’ve been introduced into new waters and I am workin g hard to get my arms around them, to understand a new culture and find new people of kindred spirit, places of productive fishing and solitude in which God and I can commune.