Recently a very nice gentleman came into my fly shop. He stated that he wanted to learn to fly fish for smallmouth bass. He explained that he had previously lived in Montana and that we was moving to Virginia. All of his previous experiences had been fishing for trout in the Rockies.
Since I was planning on fishing that evening, I invited him to accompany me for a quick “learn to fly fish” lesson on smallmouth bass. While driving to the Shenandoah River I asked him what type trout fishing he enjoyed in Montana. He said that some of his favorite fishing was with the Bitch Creek Nymph on the Yellowstone River. I explained that I could show him similar water within a mile of my shop. We decided to try that first.
Jim was an excellent fisherman and by using the Murray’s Heavy Hellgrammite he caught many smallmouth. He fished this fly upstream dead drift just the same as he fished his Bitch Creek Nymph for trout on the Yellowstone. I went on to explain that there were many similarities between fishing for trout in the large streams in the Rockies and for smallmouth bass in Virginia’s rivers.
Sculpin Fishing
To prove my point, I took him downstream a half mile to a large pool below a riffle. I asked him if he ever fished Sculpin Streamers on the Yellowstone. He nodded and smiled. That is exactly what we do in Virginia. I gave him a Madtom Sculpin and he skillfully landed eight large smallmouth.
I suggested we fish some grasshopper drys similar to the way we fish them on the Madison River. The Murray’s Bass Hopper helped him catch many smallmouth that evening.
As we drove back, I asked him if he felt comfortable in using his western trout tactics for smallmouth bass. His response, “They certainly seem to work and I can see that I will grow to have as much respect for the smallmouth as I do for the western trout.”
The tactics that we teach in our Learn to Fly Fish Smallmouth Bass Schools can be used on any large western trout stream.