mob201
Joe's Hopper
No, not those kinds of mouths! And not that kind of fun! Get your minds out of the gutter you savages.
A while back there was a thread debating the merits of smallie fishing as a summer alternative to trout. Haven't seen a ton of posts on smallie fishing on this site in the six years or so I've been hanging out in these parts... maybe I missed them. In the last few weeks, I've tried targeting smallie on the upper Delaware and it's been a blast so I thought I'd rectify the omission and share a couple of thoughts.
We've been floating mostly the lower EB and mainstem in our new old lavro drift boat and a wide-beamed canoe. Floating lets you cover a lot of different kinds of water obviously, so we were able to try different things in different places. And different things in different places at different times took fish. If wading, I would probably set up on a hole with a nice deep, well-defined run lined by cut-banks or boulders (rather than a wide, uniform riffle). And I'd look for a hole that stays reasonably deep toward the tail rather than flattening out and getting shallow fast.
In warm weather, upper D smallies hold in pockets, seams and eddies in fast water, same as trout, so you can pretty much fish this water with streamers as you would fish for large browns. Large, white, black or brown streamers (clousers, muddlers, buggers, double-bunnies) will catch fish in fast water. Smallies do seem to key in on light or dark patterns depending on the conditions, so if your fly isn't working, change the color. White streamers look like baby shad, their favorite snack; black streamers look like baby eels, their second favorite; and brown or rust colored streamers jerked low through slack water look like crayfish, their third favorite. If using brown, olive or rust colored streamers, try small sizes. Smallies don't like to tangle with mature crayfish and seem to prefer to pick on the little guys. You can't really go too large with the white streamers. Even if not hungry, they're aggressive and territorial and you'll get reaction strikes even on huge, articulated streamers. (Not a bad idea if the water's colored up.)
In water 3 - 10 feet deep, you can basically sight fish for smallies, which is fun. They're not nearly as spooky as trout so get up high with some polarized lenses and you'll see them cruising or holding in pods of two or three. Look for structure, especially boulders or weed beds. Lead the cruisers and cast past them - it's hard to line smallies - and bring the fly into the smallie's sightline with an uneven, twitchy retrieve. If they're hungry, they'll bang it. If they're guarding their space, they'll follow tentatively to make sure the invader moves along. Stop the fly and they'll hit it.
If you're floating and uncertain about the lies, bang the banks, again as you would for browns. Smallies will cruise along the banks or hold in places where the depth changes fast, drop offs, cut banks, etc., and will look to ambush prey swimming straight out from shore.
The only types of water where we did not catch many fish were really deep holes (8-10 feet plus) and shallow water without much cover. No real surprise there I suppose. One thing that is different about targeting smallies from a boat is that when you catch one, it's probably worth anchoring and working the whole area. They seem to school up a lot more than trout and are not spooked when one of their brethren is momentarily abducted by aliens.
In terms of fighting, they're a mix between browns and rainbows, but with more stamina than either. They will bulldog you like a brown for a while, and then jump three or four times like a rainbow. Drop your rod tip when they jump. Apart from that, they stay on the hook better than trout, perhaps due to their bony mouths and the tension they put on the line. They won't get crafty and run under the boat, and they rarely run straight at you, as trout often do.
It's not for everybody, but to me, the last few weeks casting my five and six weight for these guys has been as fun as late spring dry fly action, but a different, more relaxed form of fishing. There's less at stake - it takes less to hook them and less to land them - and if you miss a big one you won't need to beat yourself up about it. You can be a lot drunker, is what I'm trying to say, I guess. At the same time, if you're strategic and smart and cast well, you'll be rewarded with some absolutely beautiful, brutish fish that can be anywhere from blackish green in color to jade to almost a reddish brown.
Happy fishing NEFFers!
A while back there was a thread debating the merits of smallie fishing as a summer alternative to trout. Haven't seen a ton of posts on smallie fishing on this site in the six years or so I've been hanging out in these parts... maybe I missed them. In the last few weeks, I've tried targeting smallie on the upper Delaware and it's been a blast so I thought I'd rectify the omission and share a couple of thoughts.
We've been floating mostly the lower EB and mainstem in our new old lavro drift boat and a wide-beamed canoe. Floating lets you cover a lot of different kinds of water obviously, so we were able to try different things in different places. And different things in different places at different times took fish. If wading, I would probably set up on a hole with a nice deep, well-defined run lined by cut-banks or boulders (rather than a wide, uniform riffle). And I'd look for a hole that stays reasonably deep toward the tail rather than flattening out and getting shallow fast.
In warm weather, upper D smallies hold in pockets, seams and eddies in fast water, same as trout, so you can pretty much fish this water with streamers as you would fish for large browns. Large, white, black or brown streamers (clousers, muddlers, buggers, double-bunnies) will catch fish in fast water. Smallies do seem to key in on light or dark patterns depending on the conditions, so if your fly isn't working, change the color. White streamers look like baby shad, their favorite snack; black streamers look like baby eels, their second favorite; and brown or rust colored streamers jerked low through slack water look like crayfish, their third favorite. If using brown, olive or rust colored streamers, try small sizes. Smallies don't like to tangle with mature crayfish and seem to prefer to pick on the little guys. You can't really go too large with the white streamers. Even if not hungry, they're aggressive and territorial and you'll get reaction strikes even on huge, articulated streamers. (Not a bad idea if the water's colored up.)
In water 3 - 10 feet deep, you can basically sight fish for smallies, which is fun. They're not nearly as spooky as trout so get up high with some polarized lenses and you'll see them cruising or holding in pods of two or three. Look for structure, especially boulders or weed beds. Lead the cruisers and cast past them - it's hard to line smallies - and bring the fly into the smallie's sightline with an uneven, twitchy retrieve. If they're hungry, they'll bang it. If they're guarding their space, they'll follow tentatively to make sure the invader moves along. Stop the fly and they'll hit it.
If you're floating and uncertain about the lies, bang the banks, again as you would for browns. Smallies will cruise along the banks or hold in places where the depth changes fast, drop offs, cut banks, etc., and will look to ambush prey swimming straight out from shore.
The only types of water where we did not catch many fish were really deep holes (8-10 feet plus) and shallow water without much cover. No real surprise there I suppose. One thing that is different about targeting smallies from a boat is that when you catch one, it's probably worth anchoring and working the whole area. They seem to school up a lot more than trout and are not spooked when one of their brethren is momentarily abducted by aliens.
In terms of fighting, they're a mix between browns and rainbows, but with more stamina than either. They will bulldog you like a brown for a while, and then jump three or four times like a rainbow. Drop your rod tip when they jump. Apart from that, they stay on the hook better than trout, perhaps due to their bony mouths and the tension they put on the line. They won't get crafty and run under the boat, and they rarely run straight at you, as trout often do.
It's not for everybody, but to me, the last few weeks casting my five and six weight for these guys has been as fun as late spring dry fly action, but a different, more relaxed form of fishing. There's less at stake - it takes less to hook them and less to land them - and if you miss a big one you won't need to beat yourself up about it. You can be a lot drunker, is what I'm trying to say, I guess. At the same time, if you're strategic and smart and cast well, you'll be rewarded with some absolutely beautiful, brutish fish that can be anywhere from blackish green in color to jade to almost a reddish brown.
Happy fishing NEFFers!
