Some basic smallmouth locations

Here at point A we have a typical riffle in a stream. Right in the riffle, the water is too fast for bass to stay in for extended periods of time unless there is something to break the current. Instead bass will move in and out of the riffle feeding on the large amount of food there. Think of the riffle as the main dining area in a river. Just upstream of the riffle we have the tail of the pool immediately upstream.
As the river shallows and the water quickens to go over the riffle the force of the water keeps any silt from settling on the bottom. And the two things smallmouth like best are a bit of current and a hard bottom. If this tail is a smooth glide into the riffle as many are it's a great place to throw a topwater. Spinners and crankbaits also are effective here. I sometimes think that tails of pools are what roostertails were designed for. C and D are side eddies where water swirls back and travels upstream losing much of it's force. While these can contain feeding fish at times the seam where the eddy and the fast water coming downstream is the money spot. If as in F this seam extends downstream for quite a ways and there is a distinct line between the fast and slow water you can expect this to be a spot a better fish might feed at. Spot E is a fish staging behind a rock on the bottom of the run between the riffle and the pool. Most of the time these underwater rocks will betray their presence by a boil or slick on the surface, A sudden dip or depression in the bottom will also cause a slick on the surface and just like the rock create a spot for a fish to lay out of the current and ambush prey. Spots F and E scream grub or swimbait to me. One thing to remember about rocks is that smallmouth will sometimes have a tendency to hold extremely tight to them. Try bouncing a crankbait or a jig right off the rock on the retrieve, this can sometimes trigger a strike.

 

 

 

                                                                                            

 

 

smallmouth nymph fishing

What exactly is the hellgrammite? You hear everybody talking about them for smallmouth but in my experience most fishermen have never seen one. Well, this guy is actually the flat many legged larvae of the ferocious looking Dobson fly. Both the larvae and the adults can pinch the heck outta you so handle them with care. Actually its only the female adults that can hurt you. Just another example of how fishing is like life. Hellgrammites spend up to three years underwater in the larvae form before crawling out on land to become a Dobson fly. They only live like a week as an adult. The larvae lives under rocks and leaves on the stream bottom where they are miniature monsters devouring smaller insects. I cant imagine the horror of being a little bug and having one of these monsters crawl over and grab me. I'm always a bit afraid of them when I seine one myself. But to the bass they are like french fries, just with lots of little legs and pincers. When drifting hellgie nymphs, I use a floating fly line, long leader, weighted nymph, and strike indicators. I like the little pinch on foam strike indicators for this. Ill set one indicator about a quarter of the length of the leader up from the leader butt and then another about halfway. Then as the fly tumbles into deeper water, I can first watch the one indicator then the other as the fly sinks. You want the fly tumbling along as deep as you can get it. preferably just ticking bottom every now and then. Set the hook on any pauses or jerks during your drift. Use a short cast, as short as you can get away with without scaring the fish. (Its a trade off longer casts wont scare fish but you miss most of your strikes.) Cast upstream and across in the run right below a riffle. With only twenty feet or less of line out, you can follow the line with your rod lifting the rod to keep as much slack out of the line as possible without dragging the fly as it sweeps down and past you. Ill use Twistons to get the fly down if I have to. Twistons are little lead strips packaged in little cardboard books like matches. They make casting awfull but your only casting a few feet. (In really swift water in can become the old chuck and duck.) I generally tie my own hellgie flies, just generic black wooley buggers but with something like swiss straw tied along the back. Examples of better known flies I'd imitate a hellgie with are the EZ Mite by Orvis, Woolly Bugger, Murray's Hellgrammite, Delaware River Hellgrammite, bitch creek bug, Michael Verduin's Mighty Mite Hellgrammite pattern, or Braided Stone Fly Crawler by Percy's flies (worlds best prices on flies BTW) all in as big a size as you can throw on whatever rod you have.

Lure selection for the Little Miami River

I think that one reason river fishermen dont painstakingly match the hatch with exact copies of the forage that bass eat is that rivers are so daggone complicated. In the LMR over a hundred different species of fish have been recorded and most of them are small fishes that could serve as bass food. And the abundance of these can vary wildly over the 110 mile plus length of the river. But since the Little Miami is designated a National Wild and Scenic River it has been studied rather extensively. Sampling surveys over the years have shown definate trends that can help you with your lure selection depending on where you are fishing in the river. Many minnow species like the central stoneroller and the various darters and shiners are found throughout the river but the population densities of each are different in different sections of river. In the lower LMR, say from Loveland/Milford to the Ohio River, shiner species such as the emerald shiner greatly outnumber other small fishes. So what does this mean? Well, shiners have a completely different shape and profile than other small fishes. They are long with a thin profile and look slightly flat being taller than they are across and silvery in color. In other words alot like classic floater diver minnow plugs such as the Rapala or AC Shiner. In the lower river you might want to fish soft plastics with this profile too such as the Mister Twister Sassy Shad. Shiners also spend alot of time in open water and close to the surface so topwaters like the pop-r are also great where shiners are common. Also the closer to the Ohio the more shad you will find. In the middle reaches of the LMR you begin to find higher and higher numbers of darters in every survey till they become the most common small fishes found on some stretches. Darters are very very colorful and on average smaller than shiner species. Darters also spend most of their time under and around rocks in swifter sections of the river. This is why rock cover becomes more important as you progress upstream and sandy gravely cover less so. Also riffles produce better in the middle LMR than the upper or lower LMR. Lures in brighter patterns with a bit of red or orange produce well in the middle LMR. Instead of a silver rapala like you threw in the lower LMR, a slightly rounder bait like a smaller rebel minnow in a "rainbow trout" pattern might be a better place to start. At the top of the middle LMR, say from Fort Ancient to the Narrows, the number of darters and shiners equals out somewhat with more plain minnows like the stoneroller than anything else. Here it becomes an anything goes affair dependant more on where you are fishing, a riffle might be full of darters but next to a pool with shiners, chubs and minnows in it. In this stretch carrying a wide lure selection can really pay off. Further upstream the river becomes a minnow factory with high numbers of darters and minnows such as the stoneroller. In some pools the number of stonerollers is staggering, well into the thousands. Here generic minnow lures like inline spinners and metalflake grubs really shine. These are just general guidelines and you might find smallies feeding on darters in the lower LMR and on shiners in the middle LMR but it gives you somewhere to start. The particular spot you are fishing is just as important as the section of river. If your fishing a riffle you might want to fish a bottom hugging smaller brighter lure while a bigger silvery plug might be the ticket in a big pool. Some common small fishes of the LMR... Central Stoneroller The most common small fish in the LMR, Stonerollers are stout brownish gray minnows with short, rounded fins. The snout is bluntly rounded and projects beyond the nearly horizontal mouth. Their mouth is always white in color. Males during breeding season have some orange and black on fins, large pointed bumbs on their head, and orange eyes. Stonerollers spawn in spring between March and the end of May. Males dig spawning beds just above or below riffles and aggressively chase other males away. The eggs are sticky and become lodged in the gravel and the nests abandoned prior to hatching. While they can reach seven inches most stonerollers are around three or four inches in length. Stonerollers feed by scraping algae from rocks on the riverbottom. The LMR is also home to other minnow species such as the tonguetied, suckermouthed, bluntnosed, fathead, and bullhead minnows. These are some of the most common small fishes in the pools of the river. Shiners The LMR is home to something like fifteen or sixteen different species of shiners. Shiners typically have a long thin profile and look slightly flat being taller than they are across. Shiners as a whole tend to hang out in open water like pools and often high in the water column. Shiners typically eat tiny insects and other various aquatic invertebrates, and terrestrial insects that fall in the water or fly just above the surface. Often when it is still and wind is not blowing you can see them dimpling the surface feeding on tiny insects like midges. Most shiners are three to five inches long but a few can reach up to ten inches in length. Darters The LMR is home to around a dozen different species of darters. Darters run two to four inches in length for the most part and are among the most colorfull fish you will ever see. When breeding most darters become very bright with fins edged in orange or red and bright blues as well as spots or bands of bright colors on their bodies. Darter species on the LMR include the greenside, rainbow, fantail, least, johnny, and orangethroat darters as well as the logperch, varigate, banded, channel, blackside and slenderhead darters plus maybe an additional one or two that I may be missing. Most darters inhabit swifter riffles in the LMR often hiding under flat rocks in the swift current. Darters eat mostly small crustaceans and aquatic insect larvae. Sculpins and Madtoms The LMR is home to five species of madtoms as well as the mottled sculpin. Like the darters these guys spend most of their time glued to the bottom of swifter riffles and runs or at least right on the edge of such places. Ferocious predators they are almost like tiny three to five or six inch long shovelheads, eating whatever they can fit in their mouths. More camoflaged than darters they are usually colored to blend in with their surroundings. Chubs The LMR has around seven or eight species of chubs. Chubs mostly have a thich rounded body and can grow fairly large, up to a foot in some species though most are around five or six inches in length. Chubs eat small invertabrates and insects but large ones can even take small crayfish. Chubs grow big enough to be caught on hook and line and are often caught as shovelhead bait. I almost dont want to get into crayfish because I'm going to part ways with 95% of you on this. First off they are very important as smallie food. So important its almost impossible to overstate their importance. That being said heres why I hardly ever imitate them! Even though I'm constantly fishing for smallmouth that are feeding on them. First off, pick a day in June. Then there are really only two sizes of crayfish in the river as far as a smallmouth is concerned. Great big ones left over from previous years and ones hatched this year. The old ones may vary in size but to a smallmouth they are all the same size...too damn big. Every study I've seen says that smallmouth are constantly selecting small crayfish and leaving the big ones alone. Or if they take a big one they circle around it a while or pick it up and blow it out several times till they get it facing tail first. Several studies suggest that the very biggest smallmouth are the most selective for size. Ok so that leaves me that years crayfish. In midsummer that years crayfish reach a size that smallmouth love. In one study in Wisconsin crayfish were 14 percent of food volume in May but a whopping 83 percent from July to September. So after July if you catch a smallie he's probably looking for a craw. So heres my problem. Smallmouth arent selective about minnows in the LMR, they come in all shapes, colors, and sizes so they cant key completely on just one. But young of the year craws are all the same size, the same color, almost exactly. And this size changes constantly. In their first year crayfish molt something like ten or eleven times because they are growing so fast. So every craw looks the same, is the same shade at the same time in that hole and every smallmouth knows it. So I cop out. If a smallmouth is nosing around looking for a craw and a tasty minnow imitation like a three inch grub swims along he's not going to pass it by. Ok so why is the rebel craw such a great lure? Look at these two pictures...

Big craws out of the LMR

Little craw out of the LMR Now lets be honest does a rebel craw look anything like either one of those? Does it act like them? I think a rebel craw is a crankbait that is just the right size for catching alot of fish in the river and it doesn't run too deep like something like a model A bomber does. It wobbles along at a good depth to fish below and above riffles and its a good size so it catches fish. Heck I fish one alot. I just dont really think I'm imitating a crawfish. Its generic fish food I'm imitating. When I'm bouncing a grub in the rocks or hopping a marabou jig along the bottom or fishing a suspending crankbait just off the bottom, thats when I feel like I'm fishing for smallmouth feeding on craws. Smallmouth are opportunists and theres too many minnow species for them to become selective so I'm not going to throw something like a really detailed plastic craw at them because thats the one and only thing in the river they just might be selective about. He might hit my big living rubber jig with a plastic craw trailer but he's going to really look it over and he might be just a bit afraid of it and suck it in and blow it out a couple times first but the same fish is going to confidently swim over and thump my smoke metalflake grub without a second thought. Like I said I'm going against the grain here but I dont try to imitate craws in the LMR when lure fishing. I think alot of the small dark jigs like marabou jigs or little living rubber jigs or even wooleybuggers the bass thinks is something else yummy like a hellgrammite in addition to a craw. The nice thing about fishing is people can look at things completely differently and both still be right some of the time. __________________ __________________

Fireworks and Fish...

After a big fireworks show in Lebanon on the third I had the evening of the fourth free to slip out for a few hours to fish the Little Miami.

The river was in fantastic shape(finally!). And the weather was great, a few stray raindrops, overcast, maybe not classic cookout weather but perfect fishing weather.



Right off in a big eddy below a riffle a big saugeye nailed a grub. I figured it was a drum right up untill it was close, then things got real exciting real fast.



Right above the big eddy was a great looking riffle which produced some nice bass on an inline spinner.





Then I walked down to the tail of the pool. This was the deepest pool in several miles of river and with nice fish biting I was pretty pumped. A long riffle too fast to stand up in stretched across the river here. About a third of the way across things shallowed way up and submerged weeds formed a bed right in the middle of the riffle. In a couple weeks this would be a tiny island about ten feet long but now was covered in a half foot of water and weeds. Past the island the riffle poured across in a run too fast even in late summer to wade. Above this things deepened fast. Here I cast a yellow rooster tail quartering across. Five feet into the first cast a big smallie nailed the spinner, then tail walked across the riffle and right into the submerged weeds of the island. The only thing to do was go in after. Somehow after slogging thru the riffle the fish was still on when I got across. Then the smallie swung into the slack water below the riffle and shot skyward. It seemed to me she jumped waist high, one of the prettiest jumps I can remember.
Finally lipping the fish, I realised the camera was back across the riffle on the bank! Back across with the fish trying to hurry but not drop her. I snapped a quick (and bad) photo before turning her loose. Working the fish back and forth in a shallow backwater, I was relieved when she recovered and shot off back into the river. A very good forth indeed.

Winter skinny dipping...

.
Every winter when I'm freezing on a tree stand trying to tough it out or maybe busting the ice out of my guides while sauger fishing I'm reminded of the winter Tecumseh spent jumping in the Little Miami. Even when he was a young boy the Shawnee sensed greatness in Tecumseh. Possibly because of this in the winter of 1776 Tecumseh's father the great warrior Black Fish summoned him and told him it was time to seek his Pa-wah-ka. A Pa-wah-ka was a magical object thru which one could talk to and recieve power from the Great Spirit. Black Fish told Tecumseh he must strip every day and run naked to the nearby Little Miami and plunge into the river before returning home. Well this went on day after day. Through snow or cold sleet and rain he ran to plunge into the Little Miami. As winter wore on he would have to break through the ice formed on the river's edge. All this barefoot and naked mind you. What a test of sheer willpower this must have been for Tecumseh. Finally in mid-January Black Fish told Tecumseh that the next run would be his last, that Tecumseh was to wade to the middle of the river and dive to the bottom and close his hands on whatever he touched and bring that back to Black Fish without looking at it. Tecumseh ran naked to the river, plunged in and returned with a small white quartzite rock. Black Fish declared this his Pa-wah-ka and Tecumseh forever afterward wore it on a cord around his neck. I imagine it must have been priceless to him considering what he endured to earn it.
.