I start fishing the smallmouth rivers in March and continue until December. In order to get success throughout this whole season I’ve found that it is necessary to use three different fly lines.
Frequently early in March the rivers carry a high water level resulting from the run off of winter snow and rain. I use a Teeny 200 sinking head fly line at this time to help me fish my flies close to the stream bottom were the bass are holding. With this line a 5 foot 10 pound test leader is helpful in getting my flies down deeply.
I find that a very productive tactic with my Teeny 200 line at this time is to cast streamers across stream at a 20 degree angle downstream. After the streamer sinks deeply I swim it slowly across the stream bottom by stripping it six inches every 10 seconds. By wading slowly down the side of the river I pause every five feet to repeat this fly swimming tactic. I find this method very effective until the river drops which is usually in May.
I use a Scientific Anglers Mastery Sink Tip III WF7 F/S line starting in May and continue using this throughout the season when my floating line will not let me get my flies deep enough. In May the volume of water in the river may require that I use this line. However, even in the summer I find this sinking tip line very useful when I fish the fast water between river crossing ledges and below riffles. I use a 5ft. 10# test leader with this.
From late May until October I use a Scientific Anglers WF-7F Mastery Magnum Textured Floating fly line on my seven weight bass rod. This new line enables me to fish all of my surface bugs. It also does a fine job with nymphs and streamers unless I’m fishing water over 5 feet deep or runs that are very fast, in which case I go back to my Sink Tip III line.
With my floating line I use my Bright Butt Compound Tapered 9ft. 2X leader. By mid October when the rivers start cooling the large bass undergo a mini-migration to the deep water. This often calls for going back to my Sinking Tip Line or my Teeny 200. Thus I carry spools in my vest with these three different lines so I can switch back and forth as the stream conditions dictate.
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