Smallmouth University: Dear Professor

[mic]

Dear Professors,

I've been studying hard to prepare for my first full year chasing smallies. I've been a good student reading, watching videos, and completing field experiments. However, I have a few questions I can't seem to find answers to.

1. I've found in mulitiple venues that the woolly bugger is a go to sub-surface fly for fly fishing. If that is true, then why is float and fly with buggers and spin tackle only considered a winter tactic?

2. Fishing a root ball...two questions.

• When one is downstream of a root ball and fishing upstream, do you drop your offering to the side and let it flow by or do you drop it right in the dead water behind it?
• How do you fish the same root ball when you are upstream of it.

3. I read mulitiple times, that good fishing can be found in the tail out of pool. However in the books, the tailout is always right in front of the riffle. In the few trips I've taken the pool goes shallow yards before the following riffle. So does one fish where the pool goes from deep to shallow, the shallow area before the riffle, or both?

4. A well known author I'm reading states that snythetics are better the buck tail for jigs because they move better in the water. I haven't seen that anywhere else. What are your opinions?

Thanks In Advance,

Teachers Pet

MIC

[fishinwrench]

Rule #1. There are no rules.

[Guest]

Deleted

[ColdWaterFshr]

Great questions. I will do my best to answer.

1. Woolly bugger isn't my go to sub-surface fly for fly-fishing for smallies, but I guess it will work. Tie 'em BIG though. Leave the size 6 or 8's at home and think size 4 or bigger, or better yet go articulated type buggers or clouser minnow variations that you see on some of Brian Wise's videos. Float 'n fly is a dead-drift technique similar to nymph fishing for trout. Never been a fan of that method for smallies, but I've caught a few that way. Tim Holschlag's book Fly-fishing for Smallmouth is a great resource and covers the method in extensive detail, particularly the Holschlag Hop which is a little different than nymphing for trout. I suppose float and fly is a winter tactic because it is much slower than stripping buggers. Smallmouth aren't going to give a whole lot of effort to chase in the winter, which is also why I don't bother fishing for them until water temps warm up in the spring to at least mid-50s.

2. Rootballs? I guess it depends on a few things. Size of the river or creek, speed of the current, time of year you are fishing, etc, etc, and then of course the depth fore, aft, and middle of the rootball, the amount of cover offered by rootball and its relation to other available cover in the immediate vicinity, where the current seam is, and a bunch of other things. If in doubt, work all areas!

3. Tailouts? Ah he11, get your head out of the books. Fish it ALL. If it looks fishy, fish it, especially if you're not getting bit. They might be there!

4. Synthetics nah. For jigs there really is no substitute for the real thing -- but I like rabbit hair, big floppy magnum strips, bear hair, even good ole marabou piled on thick. Synthetic flashabou interspersed with real hair, yes, but synthetic hair itself, no not a fan. Bucktail sometimes is good too.

Finally, smallmouth aren't that picky. They are ambush predators and opportunists will eat just about anything, which makes them a nice change from the fickle prissy salmonids who steal away so much undeserved attention.

Dr. Dallas

[mic]

Thank you Dr Dallas. Makes since.

Professor Siusaluki, I expected more out of an educator such as yourself. I could figure that out on my own.

[Guest]

I fish every rootball that I wade past. Im not a fly fisherman, so I cant give advice on that. I like to pitch a finesse jig or texas rigged brushhog. Usually, I will cast up stream and kinda swim the jig along the bottom and use the rod to steer it around any snags. then kill it. The deepest water will be directly underneath the rootball itself. The next cast will bounce off the trunk in the eddy water downstream of the rootball. I feed slack out so the jig falls straight down. Usually that will hit any bass right in the head. If you keep pitching in there repeatedly, they will crush it. Tail outs- aka "runs" This is the area on either side of the riffle thats knee to waist deep and moving current. My #1 spot for hot weather bass. I will swim a small rabbit hair jig in this scenario, then a small swimbait, then swim the finesse jig, if that fails, then I will come back later with a 4" senko weightless or a small topwater "tiny torpedo" Sometimes, they want 1 or 2 of the baits mentioned above. sometimes they only want the little topwater dead sticked on the surface until it drifts past a small ledge or large rock, then give it one twitch. That will make them come unglued. If its overcast or shaded, I like a frog color (yellow & green) if its bright and sunny then I use a clear or translucent color torpedo.

[Mitch f]

Dear Professors,

I've been studying hard to prepare for my first full year chasing smallies. I've been a good student reading, watching videos, and completing field experiments. However, I have a few questions I can't seem to find answers to.

1. I've found in mulitiple venues that the woolly bugger is a go to sub-surface fly for fly fishing. If that is true, then why is float and fly with buggers and spin tackle only considered a winter tactic?

2. Fishing a root ball...two questions.

• When one is downstream of a root ball and fishing upstream, do you drop your offering to the side and let it flow by or do you drop it right in the dead water behind it?
• How do you fish the same root ball when you are upstream of it.

3. I read mulitiple times, that good fishing can be found in the tail out of pool. However in the books, the tailout is always right in front of the riffle. In the few trips I've taken the pool goes shallow yards before the following riffle. So does one fish where the pool goes from deep to shallow, the shallow area before the riffle, or both?

4. A well known author I'm reading states that snythetics are better the buck tail for jigs because they move better in the water. I haven't seen that anywhere else. What are your opinions?

Thanks In Advance,

Teachers Pet

MIC

2. Don't forget about the front of the rootwad also in the "push" area. The fish can be anywhere in a rootwad.

3. If fish are in the tail out they are actively feeding. I would make my firt cast right down the middle in the "V" and work your way back up stream. If you are off left to right it doesnt matter, the fish are active and will come over to get it. Fish the all the way back to the canoe or boat, depth of water doesnt matter within reason, you can catch a big fish in less than a foot of water.

4. In the colder water you dont want to move a bunch of water, thats when hair out performs standard. In the summer he's probably correct. But in all cases let the fish let you know which they prefer that particular day.

[mic]

I fish every rootball that I wade past. Im not a fly fisherman, so I cant give advice on that. I like to pitch a finesse jig or texas rigged brushhog. Usually, I will cast up stream and kinda swim the jig along the bottom and use the rod to steer it around any snags. then kill it. The deepest water will be directly underneath the rootball itself. The next cast will bounce off the trunk in the eddy water downstream of the rootball. I feed slack out so the jig falls straight down. Usually that will hit any bass right in the head. If you keep pitching in there repeatedly, they will crush it. Tail outs- aka "runs" This is the area on either side of the riffle thats knee to waist deep and moving current. My #1 spot for hot weather bass. I will swim a small rabbit hair jig in this scenario, then a small swimbait, then swim the finesse jig, if that fails, then I will come back later with a 4" senko weightless or a small topwater "tiny torpedo" Sometimes, they want 1 or 2 of the baits mentioned above. sometimes they only want the little topwater dead sticked on the surface until it drifts past a small ledge or large rock, then give it one twitch. That will make them come unglued. If its overcast or shaded, I like a frog color (yellow & green) if its bright and sunny then I use a clear or translucent color torpedo.

Thank you sir. I think I'm using the wrong term with tail outs. I was talking about the area between the end of a pool and the next riffle. What is that called?

[mic]

2. Don't forget about the front of the rootwad also in the "push" area. The fish can be anywhere in a rootwad.

Thanks Mitch. The technique that I saw and was a "duh" for me was floating a tiny torpedo right into the upstream side of the rootwad, rock, tree and right before it hits it snap it out a few inches getting the spinner to spin. Keep doing that kind of walking it out to the side of the blockage. Can't wait to try that one.

[Guest]

Thank you sir. I think I'm using the wrong term with tail outs. I was talking about the area between the end of a pool and the next riffle. What is that called?

Its called a "run".

The in-fisherman has an entire book about streams.

They said the Ozarks have the most pure form of "hole, riffle, run" system in the world.