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.