Smallmouth bass are the perfect fly rod fish. They’re challenging, aggressive, and widely available in many streams or rivers in the United States. Smallies are not as finicky or picky as trout and as opportunistic features, they’re willing to strike a well-presented fly. 

Which flies work best for smallmouth bass? In this article, we’ll break down the best flies for smallies that will help you hook more of these hard-fighting fish. 

Having a versatile range of flies is necessary to hook more smallmouth bass. Starting at the surface and ending on the bottom, we’ll break down topwater flies, mid-column flies, and flies to bounce along the bottom. 

Also, check out our review of “Smallmouth: Modern Fly-Fishing Methods, Tactics, and Techniques” by Dave Karczynski and Tim Landwehr

Surface Flies

Fishing topwater surface flies are an addicting way to catch smallmouth bass. The anatomy of a smallmouth suggests that they were evolved to eat on the surface, as the bottom of their jaws extend further than the top. This gives them an advantage over other species of fish to consume their prey when it is above them and years of anecdotal evidence suggests that given the right conditions, smallies excel and often prefer to feed on top of the water’s surface.

When to Fish Surface Flies

While smallmouth may be excellent topwater feeders, there are certain conditions that need to be met. The 50 degree water temperature is a good marker to use to determine if smallies will feed on the surface.

You can also fish surface flies using context clues. If you see bait on or near the surface, smallies will be sure to be near and willing to elevate to eat. Splashes on the water’s surface is another great sign. If you’re fishing a streamer pattern and find that your fly is getting immediately eaten when it hits the water, that’s a good sign to switch over to a surface fly. Additionally, if you see smallies follow your fly a long distance, that would suggest their willing to climb to the surface in order to feed.

So, which surface flies are the best? Here are some of my favorites:

Poppers

Poppers are the Wooly Buggers of the surface. The ever-present popper style fly has been around since balsawood and fishing have coexisted. No fly box is complete without a variety of poppers and seeing a smallie inhale a popper like a Boogle Bug is as addicting as watching trout sip your dry fly. 

Of the following surface flies, poppers are arguably the most “aggressive,” making a relatively loud noise when hitting the surface of the water and capable of moving the most water with each strip. This can be extremely useful in cloudy, murky water when more noise may be needed in order to get the fish’s attention. 

Gurglers

Gurglers are a fantastic surface fly when you want a more quiet, subtle presentation. These style flies typically have a softer, less rigid foam bill that creates a quieter “gurgle” on the surface as opposed to a chaotic “pop.”

Mr. Wiggly Flies

Surface flies with wiggly legs like the Mr. Wiggly fly are another essential surface pattern for smallmouth bass. Unlike a popper or a Gurgler, wiggly flies don’t create a commotion, subtle or obvious, on the water’s surface. Rather, the power of wiggly flies comes from the tantalizing rubber legs that lure in smallmouth. 

The Mr. Wiggly can represent several things, a dragonfly, a damselfly, or even a grasshopper. Whatever the bass think it is, they think it’s an easy meal to digest. Fish these in slower, calmer, clearer water and let the legs do their magic.

Tips on Fishing Surface Flies

• Don’t fish surface flies too aggressively. Many anglers believe they need to create a huge commotion in order to attract smallmouth bass, when the reality is that a more subtle presentation is often more effective. Small pops or even letting the fly drift naturally is the preferred method when fishing surface flies.

• Land your surface fly and let the rings clear. Many anglers will immediately pop the fly, but the landing of the fly is essentially the first “pop” and by immediately imparting another, you’re not accomplishing much other than taking the fly further away from the fish. 

• Use a tip of fluorocarbon when fishing surface flies. Fluorocarbon sinks and adding 6-10 inches of fluoro greatly improves the “pops” and action of your surface flies.

• Different types of surface flies make different types of sounds on the surface. Surface flies with harder bodies (like poppers) create a more aggressive sound while flies with softer bodies will typically make a softer sound upon landing. Let the fish tell you what they want!.

• Focus on the area around your fly, not the fly itself. You’ll see more fish this way and be able to judge their reactions.

• Keep in mind the depth of the water you’re fishing. If you’re fishing super shallow water, a softer presentation may be preferred while deeper water my require a more attention forcing thud.

Streamers/Baitfish Flies

Streams and baitfish flies are an essential element of successful smallmouth bass fishing. While there are certain conditions that need to be met in order to fish flies on the surface effectively, there is no bad time to fish a baitfish pattern. Baitfish flies are arguably the most versatile flies in your box and you could spend the most of your time fishing for smallmouth with a streamer. 

For more on streamer fishing, check out our Beginner’s Guide to Streamer Fishing

When to Fish Streamers and Baitfish Flies

There is no wrong time to fish streamers. Water temperature, seasons, and water clarity all play a factor but essentially, if you are out there fishing, a streamer is a good bet. 

Streamers can be especially effective when surface flies are not a viable option. If windy or rainy conditions create turmoil on top of the water, surface flies lose their effectiveness as they’ll be lost in the shuffle of all that’s going on up top. This makes for an easy decision to switch over to streamer style flies.

When it comes to streamer fishing, it largely comes down to confidence in what you’re throwing. That being said, different streamers can offer different profiles, silhouettes, or movement patterns that can elicit strikes depending on the conditions and the mood of the fish. The following are my favorite streamers for smallmouth bass.

Wooly Buggers

Well, what else did you expect? Wooly Buggers are an essential pattern to have in your smallmouth box. They can resemble baitfish, crayfish, leeches, or anything in the water that swims. There’s no arguing the effectiveness of a Wooly Bugger for smallmouth bass.

Wooly Buggers in larger sizes, 2 or 1/0, are my personal favorite smallmouth patterns. Based on experience, larger Buggers tend to catch more fish than the trout-sized ones. Even 6-inch smallies will inhale the largest Buggers and some of the biggest fish I’ve caught on the fly have been on a good ol’ Wooly Bugger.

While Wooly Buggers are a great fly for catching fish and prospecting new water, the only (and I mean only) issue with them is that they don’t create the large profile that some smallmouth tend to prefer. Some of my most effective smallmouth patterns, and some sworn on by guides and experienced anglers, can range up to 5 or 6 inches in length and the largest Wooly Buggers max out in the 3-or 4-inch length. No smallmouth box is complete without a variety of Wooly Buggers, but they need to be complemented with larger baitfish patterns as well.

Dahlberg Diver

The Dahlberg Diver (and other diver type patterns) are a well-known effective smallmouth fly. With a head full of sloped deer hair, the Dahlberg Diver are similar to a lipped crank bait or stick bait in the conventional fishing world. 

A unique feature of the Dahlberg Diver is its ability to dive down the water column and slowly float back towards the surface. The natural buoyancy of the deer hair allows it to mimic an injured baitfish or frog that swims erratically, but floats back lifelessly towards the surface similar to the natural forage. This signals to the smallies that this could be an easy meal. 

You can fish divers either on a floating line or a sinking line. On a floating line, the fly will naturally float on the surface, dive under with every strip, and then float back to the top. On a sinking line, the fly will dive deeper with every strip and float back toward the surface on every pause. 

I love fishing Dahlberg Divers when I am hunting bigger fish. Divers are typically a little larger profile type of fly that may spook smaller fish away, but can entice a larger fish to strike a tempting meal.

Kreelex

Kreelex flies are a highly effective pattern for smallmouth bass. Their flashy profile grabs the attention of smallmouth and accurately represents the shininess of lots of natural baitfish that swims in rivers and streams.

Murdich Minnow

The Murdich Minnow has quickly become one of my favorite smallmouth patterns. Its larger, flashy profile attracts fish and its profile in the water is surprisingly lifelike. 

Tips on Fishing Streamers

• Similar to surface flies, be conscious of how the fly lands- hard or soft. Some situations may call for an aggressive, loud landing while other may require a softer touch to the cast.

• If the fish immediately eat a streamer or very close to the surface, it may be time to fish poppers

• Dunk your flies in the water before you fish them. Even if they have weight to them, most streamers are too buoyant when pulled directly from the box. Soak them in the water for a few seconds so they absorb water and fish correctly on your first cast.

• The stripping of a streamer often gets the fish’s attention, but the pause is often what gets the eat. Make sure you add enough pauses in your presentation!

• Unlike poppers where you want to let the rings clear upon landing, immediately impart action to your streamer when it hits the water. Streamers on the surface don’t look much like food, so give it a strip once it hits the water to engage the fish. Even if it’s just one strip, get the fly moving!

Bottom Flies

Smallmouth bass will occasionally glue themselves to the bottom of the river. When this happens, they act like swimming bricks, stuck to the bottom with little motivation to chase food that is not presented more than a foot away from them. This can be frustrating, but a change of tactics is all that is needed to give us an opportunity to hook a bottom-dwelling smallie.

Some of a smallmouth’s favorite food sources live along the bottom. Crayfish and sculpin are natural food sources that smallies will pounce on. Because these creatures typically live on or very near the bottom, we need to get our flies to down to appear like natural prey. We can do that in a variety of ways, typically with sinking lines, weight, or bobber rigs. 

When to Fish Bottom Flies

While you can certainly catch fish along the bottom during most, if not all times of the year, colder water is typically a good indication that we should fish deep. Fishing deep is usually a slower game, dredging the bottom or bouncing along the bottom and you won’t be able to cover as much water as you would with a streamer.

Cold water during the winter time or post-front conditions typically call for anglers to fish deep along the bottom. Smallies will seek deeper water in these conditions, as deeper water usually provides more ideal water temperatures and possibly more structure in which they feel safe. Because those fish are likely hugging the bottom in those conditions, we need to fish for them down there and fish flies that mimic the prey that lives toward the bottom.

Clawdad

The Clawdad is a classic crayfish imitation that has been extremely effective for smallmouth bass. It resembles the small crayfish found in nearly every river or stream that holds smallmouth. 

Clawdads can be fished on a sinking line, or a floating line with weight added to them. Crayfish are not the strongest swimmers, so fish Clawdads with longer, slower strips with lots of pauses in between. 

Sculpin Patterns

Sculpin are another favorite prey of smallmouth bass. Like crayfish and unlike baitfish, sculpin are typically found hugging the bottom of a river or stream. While many people say that the majority of a smallmouth’s diet is crayfish, no smallie will turn down an easy bite of sculpin.

To mimic these bottom swimmers, sculpin patterns are typically weighted and fished along the bottom. Retrieval speeds can vary, but typically if you’re fishing down low, retrieves should be slower than normal.

Nymphs

When we think smallmouth bass fishing, we don’t typically think of nymphs. However, smallmouth feeds on nymphs all year long and they can provide a solid method of delivering naturally appearing prey. When the water is cold, or we need to get down really deep, nymphs can be extremely effective to get lethargic smallies to bite.

When nymph fishing for smallmouth bass, small trout nymphs are not recommended. Rather, larger, bigger profile nymphs are typically more effective. Smallies are opportunistic feeders and won’t really care if the nymphs don’t exactly match the profile of the natural food sources in the system. Perfect drifts are also not necessary when nymphing for bass. Unlike finicky trout, smallies are not that picky about their food.

Larger stonefly, mayfly, caddisfly, or hellgrammites nymphs are the go-to’s for smallmouth bass. Realistically, any nymph in sizes 2 to 12 will get smallmouth to bite.

Tips on Fishing Bottom Flies

• Similar to nymph fishing for trout, set your bobber 1.5-2x the water’s depth and use enough weight to get down to the bottom.

• If possible, use flies with upward facing hooks. This will help limit the number of hang-ups and save you some frustration.

Conclusion

The world of smallmouth bass flies is extensive. Having a variety of flies is essential to success on the water. Flies for fishing the surface, mid-column streamers, and bottom bouncers are all necessary to hook smallmouth bass.

Smallmouth are not the pickiest eaters, but having a variety of flies to suit their needs is vital. Additionally, fishing with confidence is paramount in smallmouth bass fishing. You will gain confidence and trust in the flies you fish as you gain experience. Knowing what situation calls for surface, streamer, or bottom flies will help you in the long run and the exact flies you choose to fish will ultimately depend on what you fly you have confidence in.