Many of the serious smallmouth fishermen back when I was growing up saved their vacation time for October. They would fish all day, every day for two weeks looking for that large bass.
They would gather every evening at the gas station and brag about the large bass they were catching. Then tell stories about the huge smallmouth that had gotten away from them. Secrets were kept about their favorite fishing holes but not the baits they used. All of these fellows used live bait and their favorites were hog suckers, sculpins, and stonecats (madtoms).
After I graduated from Pharmacy school at the Medical College of Virginia, I returned to Edinburg and opened by pharmacy and fly shop. Remembering the success the bait fishermen had with the live baits, I decided to tie flies which would match them. These are the Murray’s Magnum Hog Sucker, Murray’s Sculpin Marauder, and Murray’s Stonecat Streamer all in size 4. Today these are three of my personal favorite smallmouth streamers.
Where to Fish These Streamers
I have great success by fishing these three streamers in the sections of the streams where the bass are accustomed to feeding on these real minnows. Be sure to impart actions to them which duplicates the actions of the real minnows.
Hog Suckers
The hog suckers often live and feed along the drop offs of the gravel bars. A very effective tactic to fish for the bass feeding on the hog suckers is to wade or float downstream 50 feet out from the gravel bars. Cast a Magnum Hog Sucker up on the gravel bar where the water is 2 feet deep and strip it 6 inches every 5 seconds to swim it 20 feet out from the gravel bar. The strike usually comes just as the streamer enters the deep water beside the gravel bar.
Sculpins
The Sculpin minnows live primarily along the stream bottom in the riffles. When I was a youngster we would seine many of these to use for bait. My favorite way to fish the Murray’s Sculpin Marauder is to position myself on the side of the river right below the riffle and cast straight across the riffle. After it sinks deeply, I strip it a foot every 10 seconds. This swims it along the cobblestones on the stream bottom. After I fish out each cast I wade downstream five feet and repeat the same streamer-swimming action.
Stonecats/Madtoms
Large numbers of the stonecats live among the cobblestones on the stream bottom in the tails of the river pools. They come out to feed at dusk and the bass feed heavily upon them. The last two hours of daylight I head to the tails of the pools and start about 100 feet above the riffle. I cast my Stonecat across stream and strip it 4 inches every 6 seconds to mimic the swimming action of the natural stonecats. Often many large bass will feed in one area so after you catch the first one systematically fish that whole area and you will probably catch several others.
I learned a lot as a youngster and have caught many large bass from the valuable lessons learned.