Favorite Smallmouth Flies on the Alleghany

[marcusmtch]

LETS GET THIS STARTED

 

[brookiesofpa]

A clouser pattern tied on a 3x long curved numph hook. marabou tail (olive) size 8-4. Streamers size 4 tied to match creek bait fish. Muddlers in size 8-4 tied w marabout and a little flash. I like a big head on them so they push lots of water. I like the clousers ties kinda sparse cause i really want them bouncing on the bottom. They catch bass till my wrist hurts.

 

[boychick]

Never fished the Alleghany, but I do a lot of fishing for smallmouth in OH. I second the Clouser minnow in white and olive, and white and chartreuse. Try a blue popper with yellow rubber legs, it looks like a wounded bluegill and drives the bass nuts. The Clouser crayfish, dead drift the crayfish or put a split shot on about a foot above the fly and hop it slowly along the bottom of a pool, short 6" strips with a good pause between. Also look at May's full motion crayfish. Here's a link to a fly called a sparkle grub. http://www.stillwaterfishingonline.com/index.php/bait-fish-imitations/frawleysparklegrub.html Try a variation of this patter called a "tube fly" intended to mimic a bait caster’s rubber tube. Just replace the marabou tail with a tail made from rubber legs. Great in all white, olive, or black. Always use red eyes.

 

[Fishidiot]

I'm sure the standard big river patterns that work elsewhere will do the trick on the Allegheny. The flies mentioned above will certainly cover the bases. Does the Allegheny get a white fly hatch? If so, add some smaller white poppers to the list. I'd also add some large, rubber legged nymphs in various earth tones for dead drift fishing.

 

[wgmiller]

#2 buggers in olive, white, black, or brown...

 

[fishingkidPA]

well last year fishing the upper allegheny we caught giant 4-5 lb smallies drifting small plastic worms (using spinning outfits of course). i would tie up some big san juan worms, worth a try.

 

[Pittflyguy]

White pencil poppers when they are high and happy... Clouser's Olive over white when they are down!

 

[cricketontherun]

White poppers/sliders, Murdich Minnow, Black bugger; all on #2. Keep it simple. If one of these arn't working they probably arn't eating.

 

[jjsjigs]

The Bolivian Chickenbat!!! In a size #2/0!!

 

[Cornholio]

Big ugly mouse flies ripped down the shore line work great.

 

[RLeeP]

>>Does the Allegheny get a white fly hatch?>

Yes. Huge, like most places that have this bug.

Do the fish in the Allegheny pay any attention to the white fly hatch?

Oddly enough, I've never known them to do so. The bass in the direct tribs to the river do, but I've never seen the bass in the river react very much at all to the white fly. Actually, the mayfly hatch that seems to set smallmouth off in the middle to upper Allegheny watershed is the Brown Drake, usually around Memorial Day.

 

[FarmerDave]

wgmiller wrote:
#2 buggers in olive, white, black, or brown...

I'll second that, but change the order.

Black, olive, brown, white.

I also use a size 6 with 4X long shank because there is the occasional trout.

 

[RLeeP]

If I could only carry 5 subsurface smallmouth flies on any river or large stream in the country (which I guess would include the Allegheny, being as it is a river and in this country, even if it does go through Franklin...) they would be (in no particular order of preference):

1) Murray Marauders in Pearl and Black, mostly on a 3XL #4 or #6

2) Simple black rabbit fur leech, again on a 3XL hook, mostly in #6.

3) Holschlag Hackle Fly in Brown or Dark Olve on a Mustad 3366 Equiv. in #2 or #4. IMO, this is the best crayfish imitation out there.

4) Murray Hellgrammite on a 3XL or 4XL #4-6 hook.

5) All Brown Wooly Bugger on a 3XL #4-6.

The Clouser flies (minnow and crayfish, etc.) would be in the top 10, but that's about it. They're good flies, but more so for somebody else than for me. I'll take a pearl Marauder over any Clouser minnow any day.

 

[turkey]

I started using a hard foam red, black, white popper the 3rd week of May and the smallmouth are destroying it. Literally. Its on its last leg. It has teeth marks, the hackle is starting to unwind, one eye got scraped of. I used a yellow marabou muddler one day and then switched right back to the popper.

I honestly never thought topwater smallmouth could be so productive. I have been waiting to see baitfish fleeing. The bass chase them right up to the banks breaking the surface. Then i splat the popper down in the vicinity. SMACK. Sometimes I don't even move it. They hit it when it lands. By about 730am they're done and I go home.

 

[FarmerDave]

Dang, I forgot about the bunny leaches. I make those for steelhead, but they would also work great on the smallmouth on the Allegheny, ... if I ever make it back there.

I'd also pay attention to whatever RLP says. Although most of his smallmouth fishing was likelyin the stream that ends in Franklin, he does know his stuff.

 

[Fishidiot]

turkey wrote:
I honestly never thought topwater smallmouth could be so productive. I have been waiting to see baitfish fleeing. The bass chase them right up to the banks breaking the surface. Then i splat the popper down in the vicinity. SMACK. Sometimes I don't even move it. They hit it when it lands. By about 730am they're done and I go home.

Don't be surprised. When SMBs want surface stuff, poppers can't be beat. Some folks will tell you that poppers don't catch big bass but that's nonsense. Over the course of a season, I certainly get more bass on nymphs and streamers but, during summer - esp under low light conditions - I usually start with a popper.
It's a blast.

 

[henrydavid]

I do pretty well on the Susquehanna North Branch drifting poppers. The torpedo style poppers seem to work best, chartreuse, white and green, I mainly use Betts poppers with the rubber legs.

The smallies seem to like a dead drift as opposed to anything else, sometimes a slight twitch will get them to commit. Towards dark I've had success with the larger bucket mouth poppers, stripping and chugging them, got some mad explosive hits on this style retrieve.