Small Stream Smallmouth

After failing to find the numbers of smallmouth I expected the other day with Mark, I was keen on locating some yesterday. I decided escaping the panfish would be a good idea, so I stayed in the same watershed but we WAY up stream to a small tributary where I have had good bass fishing in the past. Armed with my 6'6" 3wt and it's brand new tip I went out to do some sight fishing with big buggy nymphs. It turned out the Ausable Ugly was the only fly I needed to tie on for the whole trip.

In bigger water the bass are more or less distributed throughout the entire stream, with some pockets holding groups of fish and pools holding the bigger bass and schools of smaller fish. In a small stream like this, where the only water that is really able to hold fish over 10 inches are the deep holes, that's where the bulk of them are. Find a deep pool or run and in a small bass stream and there will be a bunch of them in there. Play it right and you can catch four, five, maybe six smallies out of each deep hole. I tend to use less than traditional methods to catch these fish.

Nearly every one of the bass I catch on these small streams is spotted before I make a cast. When I see a good bass or a group of them I make a cast in their general area and let the fly drop the whole way to the bottom without manipulating it. The first three or four casts into a pool that holds smallies will, if placed right and made with a fly that grabs the fish's attention, nearly always result in a reactionary strike. If not, the fish knows you are there and it's going to take some convincing. I like to drop the fly right down to the rocks. Bass are used to eating nymphs, helgramites, and craws that are crawling right on the bottom. If you make a cast and the bass notice your fly hit the bottom they will likely come over and investigate. Several scenarios may play out here. If the fish is very hungry and in an aggressive mood, It'll grab it shortly after it hits bottom. If not, you're really in for some fun. These bass can be VERY picky. If I've grabbed the fish's attention and it's giving my fly the stare down, I'll start making tiny, tiny twitches. If the fly moves more than two inches you're moving it too far. If you move the fly along the bottom just right, the fish is going to commit. It'll follow the fly along for a couple of twitches, glaring at it like it's trying to light it on fire with its mind, and suddenly when the fly looks like it's going to escape under a rock... WHAM! This is really fun, engaging, and challenging fly fishing. After doing it for a little while you will forget all about the fact that the fish you're targeting are tiny little bass. It works on trout too, btw.

I caught 15 smallies, lost 5 including one that was probably 13, maybe 14 inches. I caught two holdover trout too, one brown and one rainbow, and saw plenty of others. This has been a good year for spring stockers to survive the summer. The rainbow I got was fun, he would not fall for the slow bottom presentation. He kept looking at the fly leaving then coming right back. After two casts I knew  would fool him I fish fished the fly with a fast retrieve, and sure enough I did. The fish ran over aggressively, turned away then came back and smashed the Ugly with reckless abandon.

In the evening there were some bugs about. As usual for this time of year there was the normal early fall isos. midges, and tiny caddis, but what made no sense at all were these:

Light cahills and sulfurs made up the bulk of the bugs on the water. Somebody forgot to tell them it's September.