Still water fishing tactics for small mouth?

[JeremyW]

So watching some Chironomid videos / setups, I'm wondering if I should try some of these setups for bass except with a leech pattern on the bottom. Using an indicator up top between 9-15 from the point fly. Slow retrieve / bouncing rig now and then as the technique.

Does anyone else have luck with smallies with floating leech type patterns under an indicator??

 

[Silent Ocelot]

I don't fish stillwater for smallmouth but in the rivers I occasionally toss a small bunny leech. It is black and is about 1.5 inches in length with a 2.5mm hot orange bead. I have found that this fly works well on them along with larger versions of the same pattern. I have found that small streamers just seem to produce really well in general.

Your indicator system is sound and effective but would you also consider running a sink tip line directly to the fly? You'd have a better connection to your fly which would aid in hook sets as well as strike detection. That's how I'd fish for smallmouth in stillwater.

 

[fcarp]

Look up the float n fly technique

 

[hooker-of-men]

I've certainly seen people do well with a balanced leech under a bobber (an episode of New Fly Fisher comes to mind), and I've played with it a little without much success. I think my primary reluctance is that you really have to start to get into experimenting with depth / figuring out where the fish are suspended. I lose patience diddling with a bobber all day when I'm fishing for trout; I'm not sure how much of my warm water fishing I want to push into that territory.

My preferred methods are big foam bugs or gurglers around shallow pads/structure when bass are up, or intermediate line and streamers around dropoffs / submerged beds when bass are down.

I'd be interested to hear reports on how your experiments go and how you end up figuring out where fish are.

 

[JerryC]

I set up some 9 foot leaders, just straight fluorocarbon, I planned to use for crappie fishing. I used a small slip bobber for the set up and planned to fish 1/32 oz marabou and bucktail jigs. The reason I decided to use the slip bobber is that it's easy to adjust depth and the bobber slips down to the fly making it easier to cast. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to use them yet.
Are you going to be fishing from boat? If so, I hope you have a decent fish/depth finder. Otherwise you'll be fishing blind and wasting time in an area where there may be no fish.
I prefer to fish top water for them, sliders, poppers and frogs. It also depends on the time of year as to where the fish will be. I'm heading up to a lake in NE Ontario at the end of August. Based on the last two years, we got some top water action in coves, in 3 to 8 feet of water around structure, fallen timber, beaver huts and rock/boulder fields. Most of the fish were in the 13-15 inch range. The main concentration of bass were on mid-lake shoals or humps in 20 to 30 feet of water. There were smaller fish on top of the shoals but the larger ones were deeper. That sort of ruled out fly fishing. I could have used my sinking line and been able to make a few strips across the bottom then I just end up jigging the fly. We caught a bunch of smallies using 1/4 oz jigs baited with either leeches or night crawlers. The fish we caught were in the 15-18 inch range.
It's already been mentioned, but you might be better off using a sinking line with a floating fly. I've done that several times and have caught smallies. Leader is relatively short, 4 to 6 feet. I didn't use floating leeches, but Crease flies and some of my sliders. I think I'll add some floating leeches to my fly boxes for this year's trip. What you do is make your cast, let the line sink to the bottom. The fly will suspend whatever length your leader is off the bottom. When you start stripping the fly dives toward the bottom. Pause and it starts floating back up. Strip the line and it dives again. You should be able to cover more water that way.
By all means, give your idea a try. I'm curious about how well it works. Now I need to come up with a floating leech pattern.

 

[brookieteeth]

In shallow water, like water depth less than 6 ft., I like Dahlberg divers. They're a nice water pushing fly that you can start out fishing on top like a popper, and then they get soggy and work subsurface. They even float for a while with a sink tip line.

I usually like to trim the fanned out deer hair back a bit on the body. Tied on a good size hook, otherwise the little bass and sunfish are all over it. The smallest hook size I use is #4, on up to #1/0. I like white ones or black ones. A soggy trimmed Dahlberg Diver on a sink tip is a good shallow water leech imitation.

I've read that mature smallmouths are sort of territorial- in northern lakes, one good-sized fish stakes out around 50 yards of rocky shoreline as a feeding ground, up to about 50 ft. out from the bank. Bass like to cruise for their meals in shallow water. If you see a school of minnows causing commotion, most often they're being pursued.

In the summer, The best times are always early before the sun hits the water, and again at dusk. I always have the most fun catching them close to the shore. Rocky points and clumps of boulders.

I use regular leech patterns, too. I like black Slumpbusters the best. Rabbit flies. They have good action. Tied on a tandem hook, around 4" long. Don't use more weight than you have to. In less than 10 ft. of water, no need for dumbbell eyes. Use a fly tied with a smaller metal conehead instead. Use the least amount of weight that works to get the fly close to the bottom. It's no fun throwing heavy weight with a fly rod, and it messes with the action of the fly. You want them to push some water and swim. The heaviest leech flies I have, it really makes more sense to cast them with a spinning rod, or troll them in deep water.