Fly Fishing For Smallmouth Bass - A How To Guide for Beginners

Fly fishing for smallmouth bass is an absolute blast, and in the last few years has become something I do regularly. River smallies fight hard and don't give up, and on a fly rod, it's comparable to fighting something like a 50-inch musky. 

Gear Setup 

For catching smallies on the fly, you will want to get your hands on an 8-weight fly rod. I find 8-weight fly rods to be the perfect middle-ground for smaller fish in small rivers, and larger fish alike, they also work great for largemouth bass fishing, and pike fishing to boot. 

Your reel doesn't need to be a fancy expensive fly reel, and you can find suitable reels for as low as 50 dollars. 

Simply spool up with the correct weight floating line, and an assortment of leaders and tippets from 6-8 pounds and your setup is ready to rock. 

Flies 

There is a wide variety of flies out there, from popper and diver flies to streamers, and crayfish imitating flies. 

I fish rivers, so I stick to poppers, divers, and streamers. My favorite fly to catch smallmouth bass on is definitely a murdich minnow, they are typically 4 inches in length and throw off a ton of flash. 

Large insect imitations also have a place in my smallmouth fly lineup with large floating flies like the stimulator. 

Finding the Smallies

Finding smallmouth bass in rivers is pretty straightforward. Fish timber, around boulders, holes, pockets, and flats. In short, they can be anywhere. 

Rivers with high amounts of log jams, trees, roots, and stumps, will have most of the fish concentrated in these areas, and it's a simple matter of power fishing as you wade or drift. 

For rocky rivers like large boulders, riffles, and rapids, catching smallmouth bass is no different than trout fishing in many aspects, and you should target pocket water, pools, and depressions behind large boulders. 

Wire Leaders 

Depending on where you're fishing, you might want to run a tie-able metal wire leader. 

Flies like divers, poppers, and streamers are expensive, and pike love to eat them just as much as smallmouth bass do. Pike will cost you a ton of flies if you don't wire up, so be sure to do so. 

Fly Presentations 

Smallmouth bass aren't that picky when it comes to eating flies in most cases.

On some days, I notice that I tend to get strikes on long pauses, and typically it is when I stop stripping my line to do something like unwrapping the line from my reel,  so be sure to switch up your length in pauses. Some days they like it to sit still for a bit, but other times they will eat it with rapid retrieves. 

Don't be afraid to make several casts to a likely bass spot; sometimes it will take a few casts to coax a fish to strike. 

Final Thoughts 

Fly fishing for smallies is pretty simple and straightforward, and your days on the water can be action-packed with non-stop catches. Once you get a few for your fly rod and the gear needed, you will find yourself chasing these fish all the time. 

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