Smallmouth bass are dangerous. Wherever you find them, they cause headaches for fly fishers who normally pursue trout. They change everything. Once these strong, fast predators make inroads, you can be sure that they’ll impact your angling.
Why? You’re going to forsake the gentle creeks for the big rivers. You’ll have felt the pull of a smallmouth. You’ll have seen the surface explode under a popper. How are you going keep anyone down on the stream once they’ve seen river bass?
Pound for pound, inch for inch, smallmouth are perhaps the most well-rounded freshwater fish. Some fish might pull harder, but don’t get as big or chase the same variety of flies. Other species grow to gargantuan sizes only to fight with significantly less gusto. A smallmouth bass will eat anything and everything, run hard, jump high, and fool you into thinking you’ve hooked into something much larger every time.
They’re dangerous to trout anglers, though. Particularly when they’re found in rivers, fishing for these bass is a simple transition. Aside from retrieved surface flies like poppers, sliders, and gurglers, fishing for smallmouth is essentially the same as fishing for trout. And while the dramatic strikes and active angling of topwater patterns is productive (and a real thrill), you’ll catch more smallies if you do fish for them like trout.
