Smallies on top

[lifeisgood]

Hi all,

Residing in Southwestern PA I have spent a lot of time as a kid fishing for smallmouth bass with spincasting outfits and bait. Since then, I have spent much more time with the fly rod chasing wild trout in Centra PA, West Virginia, and the southern states.

I was hoping to start smallmouth fising again, with a fly rod now. I hear it is a blast, and can be fising in 5 minutes after work. I was hoping to get some feedback on flies that work well, specifically fishing topwater. How cooperative are smallies with dries or poppers?

As always, all info is greatly appreciated, and tight lines!

 

[jayL]

You will find rising smallmouth if there are enough bugs to lure them to the surface. The (most-likely) currently ongoing white fly hatch is the most classic example of that.

My experience with poppers is that, much like dry fly fishing for trout, it's a low-light hours thing. Go deep when it's hot and sunny, and try to drum a few up when the sun gets off the water.

As for patterns, I just carry lights and darks. Nothing else seems to matter, aside from size, which I reduce to large and small. If I can't figure them out on one of those 4 permutations, I usually throw my hands in the air.

 

[odizz17]

Ive been doing fairly well on the wapsi poppers... I use crazy glue to make sure the hook doesn't slide off. Black, black & purple, and white have been doing awesome on the swattie around Hershey/Hummelstown area. I use my girls nail polish ( hard as nails) to paint them. 2 coats usually lasts a while before I gotta repaint em'. You can also turn the heads backwards and make sliders which is nice a well. I tie them with zonker strips with a little marabou, then add one or two wraps of estaz right behind the head. Works wonders. Hope this helps.

 

[gfen]

jayL wrote:
I usually throw my hands in the air.

Is that then followed by waving like you just don't care?

For poppers, I only ever bother with gartside gurglers. Spun deerhair might look more classic, but its a messy PITA to make, they get waterlogged and cast worse, and gurgers are easy to modify on stream by clipping the lip to change the sound and action.

(I made that second paragraph in an attempt to be relevant after getting in the waving like you just don't care bit)

 

[jjsjigs]

I've found that my bass (Bradford Co.) do not like the "popping" action of a popper. They will hit the popper 9/10 when it is dead drifted and you "twitch" it once or twice in a 50 foot drift downstream... jus' sayin...

Maybe my bass or F**Ked in the head from all the frac fluid?

 

[jayL]

jjsjigs wrote:
I've found that my bass (Bradford Co.) do not like the "popping" action of a popper. They will hit the popper 9/10 when it is dead drifted and you "twitch" it once or twice in a 50 foot drift downstream... jus' sayin...

Maybe my bass or F**Ked in the head from all the frac fluid?

I have hit a couplea good smallies on dead drifted, or just barely twitched poppers. It seems to work best in the slower water. I'd say your bass are at best only mildly nuts.

 

[jjsjigs]

YES. slower waters!! Which seems to be the ONLY flows on my locals right now!

 

[RowJimmy]

The other day I was bass fishing and didn't have any traditional dry flies and the bass were feeding on top, I tried a popper with little success but if I threw a clouser at the rise form they crushed it.

 

[Fishidiot]

Life,
Smallmouth bass (SMBs) are usually not picky about poppers but, as previous posters have pointed out.....sometimes they can be. For getting started, I'd recommend some hard bodied poppers in the range of 2" - 3" max. By this, I mean the total length including the tail. Most of my SMB poppers have heads about the size of a thumbnail. I like yellow, red/white, chartruese, and black - but colors don't matter much. Leave the skinny tippet material at home (I usually use 12-15lb test). Go hit your local creek some evening after work and do some experimentation to see what turns 'em on.

I'm willing to bet you'll forget about trash fish like trout.