Down sizing for SMB

D

DO_inthewoods

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Joined
Dec 15, 2023
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Berks
Have not had a ton of time this past month for fishing, but had an interesting evening out. Started with a 1+2 dungeon followed by a 2 chartruese clouser, then 'hopper droppered" with an 8 golden retreiver. Ended up getting 1, 8in SMB on a sz6 tequeely.

Now I fish the Skook head to toe and this was smack dab in the middle and overall it does not produce lots of large fish.

For this time of year, what patterns do you like to downsize to? Or do baitfish patterns still work for your neck of the woods?

I plan to tie up some small clouser crays for a sinking line as well as heavier crays for dregding.
 
I was fishing the Hudson two evenings ago, and I had on a quite small - relative to my bass box - Crazy Charlie tied for carp, as I was optimistically hoping to see carp on this big flat I noted on Google maps.

No carp, but I fished the fly like a streamer and got an OK smallie, a sunny, and a chub, along with a number of other missed eats.

I would normally never throw anything this small for bass, but 🤷‍♂️
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I had a banner day many years back in the Shoemakersville area on Shenks' white streamers. I have a small waterproof box i carry at camp when I'm not gearing up and basically wet wading/swimming. Buggers, Gurglers and a few Clousers.
 
I’m not a fan of big obnoxious articulated flies for SMB. Not worth the time or trouble to tie or fish. Brown and white Clouser Minnows, white gurglers, poppers, Pats rubber leg, mop flies, tequeely, swimming nymphs, and a generic brown zonker fly with rubber legs is what I most often use. My flies generally range from 1/0 to size 10 hooks. A large green bead head copper John has always been one of my why not try flies when the catching slows down.
 
I catch more SMB on panfish size poppers than SMB sized poppers and not always small SMB.

I've also caught more than a few decent fish on size 12 Beadhead Prince Nymphs.
 
DO_inthewoods said:
Have not had a ton of time this past month for fishing, but had an interesting evening out. Started with a 1+2 dungeon followed by a 2 chartruese clouser, then 'hopper droppered" with an 8 golden retreiver. Ended up getting 1, 8in SMB on a sz6 tequeely.

Now I fish the Skook head to toe and this was smack dab in the middle and overall it does not produce lots of large fish.

For this time of year, what patterns do you like to downsize to? Or do baitfish patterns still work for your neck of the woods?

I plan to tie up some small clouser crays for a sinking line as well as heavier crays for dregding.
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I fish the brandywine, conestoga, swatara, Sherman’s, and susky from spring until fall when I switch to stripers. The only body of water I downsize for is the brandywine because I usually never fish anything over a 3weight there. All the other bodies of water I’m fishing size2,4, and 6’s. Brandywine I fish 10’s and 12’s. My go to patterns are Murdichs, tequeelys, clawdads, and poppers and my own invention of a jumbo squirmy worm jig combined with a tequeely body. I crushed smallies on it yesterday in the heat when Murdichs and tequeelys weren’t producing on the Shenandoah!
 
I also tend to favor bigger flies for SMBs (and 0X tippet).

However, there are times when I do like to go smaller and in these cases I like some natural colored nymphs around an inch in length, sometimes smaller - think a size 14 trout fly. These times include post-frontal weather, or heavily pressured fish in clear water that follow but won't eat (downsize the tippet to 6lb flouro).
 
Awesome stuff, thanks for the replies everyone! Definitely helpful to see the smaller stuff that is working.

I think im going to try tying some smaller crayfish patterns, crazy charlie, carp bitters, and generic leeches Also am going to try some more hopper dropper or swing setups with poachers and nymphs.

Ill save my articulated flies for stained water, trout, and big rivers like the susky if i ever make it over there
 
size isn't the problem in my experience. I switch to brown and black when water is very clear (wigglies, gurglers). underneath I change little, but dead drifting works better than strips.
 
I thought he was asking about downsizing the number of patterns in a box because he has no time to tie. 🤔
 
hooker-of-men said:
I was fishing the Hudson two evenings ago, and I had on a quite small - relative to my bass box - Crazy Charlie tied for carp, as I was optimistically hoping to see carp on this big flat I noted on Google maps.

No carp, but I fished the fly like a streamer and got an OK smallie, a sunny, and a chub, along with a number of other missed eats.

I would normally never throw anything this small for bass, but 🤷‍♂️
View attachment 1641252462
Click to expand...
What did you use for the wing on the fly?
 
hooker-of-men said:
I was fishing the Hudson two evenings ago, and I had on a quite small - relative to my bass box - Crazy Charlie tied for carp, as I was optimistically hoping to see carp on this big flat I noted on Google maps.

No carp, but I fished the fly like a streamer and got an OK smallie, a sunny, and a chub, along with a number of other missed eats.

I would normally never throw anything this small for bass, but 🤷‍♂️
View attachment 1641252462
Click to expand...
Nice. Is that rubber or stiff mono on the sides?
 
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