Winter Time Smallmouth Fishing...worth It?

[Paaka]

Hey gents-

I am wanting to do some more flyfishing for smallmouth and was wondering if the gasconade is worth my time during the winter? I am looking at the section of the gasconade that has special smallmouth regulations and managed as a trophy area for floating in a drift boat. I do quite a bit of fly fishing for trout but have an itch to get after some smallmouth with a fly rod.

Not asking for anyone to give up any secrete spots but just have you had luck on the gasconade in the winter and how were you fishing for em?

Please feel free to pass along any advice or suggestions even if it includes recommendations to go else where or other rivers. Feel free to PM if you wish.

Thanks

[fishinwrench]

Sink-tips and bulky headed streamers and clousers in the boulder pools are about the only game I know how to play for Winter smallies on the fly.

About 1 in every 4 days you'll find them receptive enough to it and make it worth your effort.

You will be casting from a boat though, so unless you have a jon boat or drift boat it is a waste of time IMO.

Double-hauling sink tips from a canoe, kayak or toon just sucks. And you're more than likely gonna be in areas too deep to wade.

If you know where a few sizable springs are you can usually catch some there by swinging leech patterns.

[MOsmallies]

Any fishing trip is worth a try in my opinion... That being said, fly fishing is probably not the best possible tool for winter river smallmouth fishing. The smallmouth will be grouped up in few deep holes with very little current which I imagine being tough to fish effectively with fly gear. Conventional tackle would just be a better tool for the trade this time of year. Hair jigs, small soft plastics, and jerkbaits... fished low and sloooowwww!

[Al Agnew]

If you're going to go for it with fly tackle, this is what I'd do:

1. 6 to 8 wt. rod, sink tip line, long level leader (just use a 12 ft. length of fluorcarbon, about 2X).

2. You're going to have to get down close to or on the bottom, so it's going to involve weight.

3. One option...use minnow imitating streamers with a body about 3 inches long. If you tie your own, weight them in closer to the back end of the hook shank than the front end, so that they will sink with bodies level, not nose first. Put plenty of weight on the streamer, none on the line. Use a big Thingamabobber so that the line slides through the eye of it. Fish this rig like a Float 'n' Fly. Cast out, let the line slide through the Thingamabobber until the fly is on the bottom. Lift gently so that it rises a bit above the bottom. Let it sit as still as possible, hopefully suspended off the bottom. Occasionally pull and swim it a couple of feet, then let it sit some more.

4. Second option...dark streamer that's a loose imitation of a crawdad or sculpin. Weight the streamer itself on the shaft or with a tungsten beadhead. Or use an unweighted streamer but put a good sized split shot about 18 inches up the leader. No strike indicator, just cast it out, let it sink, and crawl it across the bottom.

5. Location is everything in winter fishing. Look for water deep enough to hide the bottom, in pools that have plenty of deep water. If it's really clear and you can't find water that deep, look for deeper pools with good rocky or log cover. Avoid strong current, fish in slow to very slow current but not in totally dead water unless you want to catch largemouth (which ain't bad, either). You don't have to fish the deepest water in a pool but the pool should have deep, slow water. Plan on spending a whole day (winter days are short) fishing no more than five or six pools. The fish are probably in them somewhere but chances are it will take some doing to find them. Fish slow and carefully.

6. Unless the water is super clear (which it often is in the winter), bright sunny days are better, and the "good" fishing will usually be limited to between about 9 AM and 4 PM. It's not an early and late thing. In super clear water it might or might not be better on a cloudy day. And while enough wind to give a chop to the water might make the fish more likely to bite, wind is not your friend in this kind of precision fishing, where line watching and boat control are of tremendous importance.

[gotmuddy]

Nope, just stay home

[Seth]

While I do catch a lot of fish on bottom with a jig in the winter, there are some days they want a jerkbait and I'm maybe half way down the water column. If the water is gin clear, those fish will be able to see anything overhead with ease. I really don't see why you couldn't catch them on a baitfish patterned streamer in clear water but that's just a guess. It may not work at all.

[Flysmallie]

I really don't see why you couldn't catch them on a baitfish patterned streamer in clear water but that's just a guess. It may not work at all.

Your guess would be correct. It does work. It's slow and boring but it does work.

[Ham]

Wintertime smallmouth fishing with a flyrod IS NOT worth it to me.

If you are determined to use the flyrod and want to catch a brown fish, go to the White River and fish for Brown trout.

[Guest]

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[fishinwrench]

It's not THAT bad. If you live close to the g'nade I would encourage you to go for it and don't give up after just a couple of days out. Pick a time during a warming trend (this coming weekend looks to be awesome) and concentrate on deep pools with big rocks, or areas with substantial spring influence.

Don't overdo the "slow" thing though because with fly's you still have to elicit a reaction bite. If you let them look at it too good they probably won't eat it, or if they do they'll spit it right back out before you even knew you had a bite.