Early in the season we often catch some of our largest smallmouth bass. Three factors govern their feeding habits in the cool spring water and thus our fishing tactics.
1. They do not want to fight a heavy current.
2. They will not move far to capture the food they eat.
3. They want a big mouthful.
The protected back water below the riffles along the banks opposite the fast current is one of our most productive parts of the river to catch these bass. These back waters may range from 10 to 40 feet in diameter and from 5 to 10 feed deep. The easiest way to fish this is to anchor a boat on the river side of the back water but they can also be fished by wading down the bank side.
Some of my most productive flies are the Murray’s Black Madtom Sculpin 4, Murray’s Magnum Hogsucker 4 and Murray’s Magnum Darter 4. I get my best results with a Teeny 200 Sinking Head Line with a 5 or 6 foot leader. I like to methodically cover the whole back water by swimming my flies right along the stream bottom, stripping them 6 inches every 20 seconds. These areas are so productive that I’ll devote a half hour to fishing a back water that is 40 feet in diameter.
These bass are quite lethargic and their strikes are very gentle so if you feel the slightest bump set the hook firmly with both your line hand and the rod…it could be your largest bass ever.
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