Smallmouth Fishing is Heating Up

[NittanyBearcat]

The unseasonably warm temperatures recently really have the smallmouth bite turning on. Nothing better than some spring time smallie action to take a break from matching wits with wily wild browns. It doesn’t get any better than smallmouth crushing streamers!

 

[Millsertime]

Nice work on the smallies...very early to get turned on with warm temps this spring.

1) What kind of fly is that? It's greenish/yellowish. Looks interesting.
2) Nothing wrong with fish porn, but for what it's worth...."setting" pictures are very enjoyable too. Rather than what the fish looks like, what does the setting (hills/bank/trees) look like where you are fishing? Understandable if it's a spot you don't want others to know about but "setting" pictures are nice at least IMO.

 

[Kyle]

nice. love smallmouth on the fly.

 

[NittanyBearcat]

Nice work on the smallies...very early to get turned on with warm temps this spring.

1) What kind of fly is that? It's greenish/yellowish. Looks interesting.
2) Nothing wrong with fish porn, but for what it's worth...."setting" pictures are very enjoyable too. Rather than what the fish looks like, what does the setting (hills/bank/trees) look like where you are fishing? Understandable if it's a spot you don't want others to know about but "setting" pictures are nice at least IMO.

The fly is a size 4 clouser minnow olive over tan. It’s my go to pattern for smallies. Also, I can incorporate more setting picture in in the future. I was by myself so snapping a picture while landing the fish was difficult. These were all caught in the Juniata River around Huntingdon.

 

[NittanyBearcat]

A little slower tonight but managed to get one nice one.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

yeah. been catching good ones the two times I went out this week. this is the first time I fished smb before July. I'll have to make this a regular thing

 

[Schaefer406]

The unseasonably warm temperatures recently really have the smallmouth bite turning on. Nothing better than some spring time smallie action to take a break from matching wits with wily wild browns. It doesn’t get any better than smallmouth crushing streamers! View attachment 1641229909View attachment 1641229906View attachment 1641229907View attachment 1641229908

Im not sure what it is, but I absolutely SUCK at smallmouth fishing. I have taken many pieces of advice from members in the forum and i barely catch any. I live near the susky and conestoga river in Lancaster, and the only place I have managed to catch a smallie was under the Wrightsville Bridge (which was a 17" fish, I was suprised) and then in Mill Creek in the County Park. Any advice for the area, I would love if a local member PM'd me to help out of you don't mind.

 

[CRB]

PI Bay is heating up.

 

[Beweav]

I caught two nice ones on the Cono this afternoon! 🎣
Some sm were eating some kind of white mayflies off the surface. I couldn’t get tempted with my imitations though.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

Im not sure what it is, but I absolutely SUCK at smallmouth fishing. I have taken many pieces of advice from members in the forum and i barely catch any. I live near the susky and conestoga river in Lancaster, and the only place I have managed to catch a smallie was under the Wrightsville Bridge (which was a 17" fish, I was suprised) and then in Mill Creek in the County Park. Any advice for the area, I would love if a local member PM'd me to help out of you don't mind.

better people than me to give advice, but I will tell you this. I FF'ed for trout 35 years-I clean up. I started FF for SMB and it took two years before it clicked. What changed is I learned to read the water better and realized with SMB less aggressive movement of flies (than what I thought) is better. Dead drifting and swinging is your friend. Oh, and, remember that you are setting the hook on a bass, not a trout. Set it!

 

[Schaefer406]

better people than me to give advice, but I will tell you this. I FF'ed for trout 35 years-I clean up. I started FF for SMB and it took two years before it clicked. What changed is I learned to read the water better and realized with SMB less aggressive movement of flies (than what I thought) is better. Dead drifting and swinging is your friend. Oh, and, remember that you are setting the hook on a bass, not a trout. Set it!

I think I need to just adjust my approach, trout fishing is so drilled into my head that I think I approach SMB the same as trout. I have found that you are right about less aggressive movement, the one large fish I caught was on a dead drift, almost tightline presentation.

 

[jifigz]

I think I need to just adjust my approach, trout fishing is so drilled into my head that I think I approach SMB the same as trout. I have found that you are right about less aggressive movement, the one large fish I caught was on a dead drift, almost tightline presentation.

I think aggressive presentations work well for smallmouth, especially like right now and in October through mid to late November.

Other times a slowed down approach works well. Fly selection is an absolute determining matter of success as well. SMB can be quite choosy at times and one fly with drastically out-fish another. Now, with that said, I only need to carry about 5 patterns in various sizes and colors to feel like I am well rounded for my SMB. Each pattern representing a different niche food item for the smallies.

I have a lot of experience chasing smallies, but only really in the Juniata and some smaller WW creeks around here. But if you want to come up in the summertime I will gladly help you out. Also, bass can and do relate to structure a lot at certain times of the year.

 

[Mike]

Must be heating up in the Lehigh too. Biked past an angler leaving the river in Northampton this morning. Had a legal size SMB on his stringer. Of course the harvest season isn’t open.

 

[jifigz]

Must be heating up in the Lehigh too. Biked past an angler leaving the river in Northampton this morning. Had a legal size SMB on his stringer. Of course the harvest season isn’t open.

It is pretty wild people fail to read, and/or comprehend, the regulations.

 

[Zipper]

Nothing like catching smallies on a topwater popper.