Looking to fill your fly boxes with easy-to-tie smallmouth flies? Fly tying is an enjoyable and rewarding way to prepare for your next fishing trip, especially when you have reliable patterns ready to go. 

Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been tying for years, having a stash of simple, proven patterns can make a big difference when you’re chasing smallmouth bass. These flies are quick to whip up, reliable on the water, and perfect for a variety of conditions. From trusty streamers to lifelike crayfish imitations, they’re designed to tempt even the pickiest smallies. And you can tie a bunch of them, so don’t worry about breaking off!

So, grab your vise and let’s get going- In this post, we’ll spotlight some of the easiest and most effective smallmouth patterns that deserve a spot (or several) in your fly box. 

Clouser Minnow

The Clouser Minnow is one of the most effective and versatile fly patterns for smallmouth bass and can be tied in whatever color you want.

The success of the Clouser lies in its simple yet lifelike design. The weighted dumbbell eyes create a jigging action as the fly moves through the water, mimicking the natural darting motion of baitfish. The bucktail fibers create a subtle fluttering movement that has been driving fish wild for decades.

This action, combined with its sleek, streamlined profile, triggers predatory instincts in smallies, making it irresistible in both slow and fast retrieves. The fly also rides hook-point up, reducing snags and allowing it to be fished near the bottom, where many predators feed.

Tying the Clouser Minnow

From a fly-tying perspective, the Clouser Minnow is wonderfully straightforward to create, making it an excellent choice for beginners. With just a few materials—dumbbell eyes, bucktail, thread, and some flash—you can produce a fly that catches fish in a wide range of conditions.

I love tying Clousers. You can really fill up your box quickly with this effective pattern in variety of colors and weights. 

The tying process emphasizes simplicity, requiring basic techniques like securing materials and wrapping thread. Its minimalist approach not only makes it quick to tie and highly customizable. This ease of construction, combined with its proven fish-catching effectiveness, makes the Clouser Minnow a go-to pattern for anglers looking to stock their fly box with confidence. 

Clouser Minnow Recipe:

Hook: Size 4-8 streamer hook

Thread: White or chartreuse

Eyes: Dumbbell eyes (size appropriate for your hook)

Body: Bucktail (white for the belly, chartreuse or olive for the back)

Flash: Pearl Krystal Flash

Tying Steps for the Clouser Minnow

1. Attach the thread and secure the dumbbell eyes near the hook’s eye.
2. Tie in a small bundle of white bucktail below the hook (belly).
   • Wrap it all along the hook chank.
3. Add a few strands of Krystal Flash on top.
4. Finish with chartreuse or olive bucktail on top. Whip finish and cement

Extra Tips for the Clouser Minnow

• The color combinations are endless for Clousers- just keep in mind that if using two colors, the lighter shade is generally used on the bottom to mimic the natural patterning of baitfish.
  • Baitfish usually have white/yellow/some lighter shade bellies, so our flies should be the same.
• Feel free to sub-out bucktail for Craft Fur. If you’re looking for a more flowing, undulating action to your Clouser, Craft Fur is a great substitute.
  • Along those lines, any long fibers can be used as Clouser bodies. Use whatever you have on hand! 

Wooly Bugger

The Wooly Bugger’s natural movement and profile allow it to imitate many of these prey items, making it an ideal choice in most fishing conditions. Whether you’re fishing rivers, streams, or lakes, Wooly Buggers produce strikes from aggressive smallmouth bass in both fast and slow water.

Long story short, if you are fishing for smallmouth bass, you simply cannot go wrong fishing a Wooly Bugger.

Tying the Wooly Bugger

Smallmouth bass are known for their aggressive strikes, and the Gurgler’s commotion and silhouette make it irresistible, especially during low-light conditions or when bass are actively feeding near the surface.

The Wooly Bugger’s slightly forgiving nature allows tiers to experiment with different colors, sizes, and weights to create a wide variety of fish-catching variations. The Wooly Bugger’s simplicity, combined with its unmatched effectiveness, makes it a must-have in any smallmouth angler’s arsenal.

Wooly Bugger Recipe

Hook: Size 2-10 streamer hook

Thread: Black or olive

Bead (optional): Gold or copper bead for the head

Tail: Marabou (black, olive, or brown)

Body: Chenille or dubbing (matching the tail color)

Hackle: Saddle hackle feather

Tying Steps for the Wooly Bugger

1. Slide a bead onto the hook if desired. Start your thread at the hook’s bend.
2. Tie in marabou for the tail (length equal to the hook shank).
3. Tie in chenille and saddle hackle. Wrap chenille forward, followed by the hackle.
4. Secure with thread, whip finish, and add cement.

Extra Tips for the Wooly Bugger

• For an in-depth look, check out our Complete Guide on Fishing Wooly Buggers for Smallmouth Bass
• The Wooly Bugger is very versatile and can mimic a variety of natural forage. Tying it in a multitude of colors can help hone in what you are trying to key in on a specific food item:
  • Olive: General, all-encompassing color
  • Black: Leeches
  • White: Baitfish
  • Brown: Crayfish
• Go crazy with your customization of Wooly Buggers. I personally like to stick with the marabou tail, but make some changes to the body/hackle.
  • For the body, I like flashy dubbing. I think this gives the fly an accent of flash without being too aggressive.
  • For the hackle, I like mixing it up with Schlappen, especially on my larger buggers. The flowing movement matches the marabou well and gives a bigger silhouette to the fly.
    • If you’re feeling aggressive, Flashy Medium Palmer Chenille adds some flare to the body of the fly. 

Craft Fur Baitfish

The Craft Fur Baitfish is a highly effective fly pattern for targeting smallmouth bass, particularly when they’re keyed in on baitfish. Its success comes from the lifelike motion of craft fur in the water, which mimics the natural swimming action of small minnows, shad, or other forage fish. 

The rounder profile, subtle flash, and undulating movement makes the Craft Fur Baitfish a standout pattern for clear water, where smallmouth are often more selective.

Its lightweight design allows for long, accurate casts and a versatile presentation, whether stripped quickly to mimic a fleeing baitfish or fished slower for a wounded, struggling appearance.

Tying the Craft Fur Baitfish

Craft Fur Baitfish patterns are also incredibly beginner-friendly to tie. With minimal materials—craft fur, thread, and a bit of flash—this fly is simple yet highly effective. 

The process emphasizes basic tying skills like layering materials and creating a tapered profile. Craft fur is easy to work with, forgiving for newcomers, and available in a wide range of colors, allowing for endless customization to whatever you’re feeling.

For this recipe and to achieve the larger profile, Craft fur is “reverse tied,” essentially meaning that the tips of the material are tied in with the tips facing forward and then swept backward. This creates a bulkier profile that “pushes” water, sending a signal to every fish in the water that it is meal time. 

While not quite as straightforward as some other flies, the reverse tying technique is an important foundational skill to build and the Craft Fur Baitfish is a great way to learn how to do it.

Craft Fur Baitfish Recipe

Hook: Size 4-6 streamer hook

Thread: White or gray

Body: Craft fur (white for the tail/lower wing, olive for the top)

Flash: Holographic Flashabou or Pearl Krystal Flash

Eyes: Stick-on or 3D epoxy eyes

Tying Steps for the Craft Fur Baitfish

1. Start your thread at the hook shank and tie in a small bunch of white craft fur for the tail.
   • Add a few strands of Flashabou or Krystal Flash if desired
2. A little further up the hook, take another clump of white craft fur and tie it in with the tips pointing forward
   • Sweep the fibers back and tie in place.
3. Tie in olive fur with the tips pointing forward for the top wing.
   • Match this with white or gray (or red for a “gill” look) on the bottom, again with the tips pointing forward
4. Sweep the wing fibers back and hold them in place
5. Build a tapered thread dam to hold the wings back.
6. Attach stick-on eyes if desired and secure with UV resin or epoxy for durability. Whip finish and cement.

Extra Tips for the Craft Fur Baitfish

• The Craft Fur Baitfish is similar to the Clouser Minnow in the sense that they both mimic baitfish. The differences lie in the more flowing, pulsating movement that craft fur creates vs the more subtle, quivering profile of the Clouser. 
• As mentioned above, craft fur is a great material to learn the reverse tying method. This is a slightly more advanced technique, but is a useful skill to have.
  • Reverse tying materials can give your fly a much larger silhouette that can match the thicker, meatier baitfish you may have in your waters. Or, it can just be a bigger meal for hungrier fish. 
• The color combinations are endless! The recipe above is a good, standard patterning that mimics a variety of minnows. But don’t let that hold you back!
  • Similar to Clouser Minnow, keep the darker shade on top and the lighter shade on the bottom when using two-toned materials.
• For an even simpler version of the fly, check out this video showing a different method!

Simple Crayfish Fly

While there’s no actual “Simple Crayfish Fly”, any fly resembling crayfish is a staple in any smallie box. The following is a solid, easy to tie pattern that will mimic a small crayfish, a favorite smallmouth snack.  

The effectiveness of crayfish flies lies in the realistic profile and bottom-bouncing action, which mimics the natural movement of a fleeing or defensive crayfish. The fly’s weighted design ensures it sinks quickly and rides hook-point up, allowing it to be fished near rocks, logs, and other structure where smallmouth often hunt for crayfish.

Stripping the fly with short, erratic pulls imitates a crayfish scurrying along the bottom, while a slower drag presents a tempting, vulnerable prey item that smallies can’t resist.

Tying a Simple Crayfish

From a tying perspective, the Simple Crayfish Fly is perfect for beginners and anyone looking to tie a quick, reliable pattern. 

Tying the crayfish pattern focuses on creating a realistic and defensive profile that smallmouth bass find irresistible. The standout feature of this fly is the use of zonker strips to mimic the claws, which flare upward when the fly rests on the bottom, setting it apart from most other fly patterns. 

This natural presentation replicates the defensive posture of a crayfish, keeping the fly highly lifelike. Combined with the subtle movement of the claws and rubber legs, this pattern is ideal for targeting wary fish that demand realism in their prey.

Simple Crayfish Recipe

Hook: Size 6-8 streamer hook

Thread: Brown or rust

Claws: Zonker strip pieces

Rubber Legs: Barred or plain in brown/orange/black

Body Wrap: Brown chenille

Claws/Body: Zonker strip pieces

Eyes (optional): Dumbbell eyes

Tying Steps for a Simple Crayfish

1. Tie in dumbbell eyes at the front of the hook using figure-eight wraps, then add UV resin to secure them.
2. Tie one rubber leg on each side of the hook at the back, angling upward toward the hook point. Secure them with thread wraps and trim the excess.
3. Cut two short pieces of rabbit zonker strip. Strip some fur from the ends, and tie one on each side of the hook near the legs to mimic crayfish claws.
4. Tie in a piece of chenille at the base of the claws. Wrap the chenille forward in touching turns to just behind the dumbbell eyes, secure it with thread wraps, and trim the excess.
5. Take a longer piece of zonker strip and tie it in at the base of the claws. Pull it over the top of the fly and secure it behind the dumbbell eyes with figure-eight wraps. Trim the strip just shy of the hook point.
6. Build a neat thread head behind the hook eye and whip finish.

Extra Tips for Simple Crayfish Flies

• I like to keep my crayfish flies in the brown, orange or olive color range. This mimics the natural forage more closely and stands out from most other flies in my box.
• Sub out the Zonker Strips for Pine Squirrel for a smaller profile
• Make sure you secure the dumbbell eyes really well. You’ll be throwing these around rocks, logs, and other structure that put your thread wraps to the test.
  • UV Resin or superglue add a layer of protection from the elements. 

Gurgler

The Gurgler Fly is an incredibly effective topwater pattern for targeting smallmouth bass, offering an exciting and visually stimulating surface eats that may make you not want to fish any other way.

Tying the Gurgler

Tying a Gurgler Fly is straightforward and beginner-friendly, making it a great addition to any angler’s fly box. There are some other fantastic topwater options out there, but the Gurgler is the easiest surface pattern to tie for beginners. 

The materials are simple—foam sheets, thread, a hook, and optional trailing materials like flash or marabou—and the tying process emphasizes basic techniques like layering foam and securing materials. The fly is highly customizable, allowing tiers to experiment with different colors, sizes, or tail materials to suit specific fishing conditions or preferences. The Gurgler’s durability and versatility make it a go-to choice for smallmouth anglers looking to experience the thrill of explosive topwater strikes.

Gurgler Recipe

Hook: Size 4-8 streamer or bass hook

Thread: White

Body: Crystal Chenille

Foam: ½ inch wide strips

Tail: Marabou or bucktail

Tying Steps for the Gurgler

1. Start the thread on the hook shank slightly past halfway from the hook eye. 
2. Tie in a tail using white bucktail, crystal flash (silver and pearl).
3. Cut a tapered foam strip and attach it along the hook shank with glue and thread wraps.
   • Ensure the foam is well-positioned.
4. Tie in crystal chenille at the base of the foam and wrap it forward to form the body. Secure with thread wraps, leaving space behind the hook eye.
5. Fold the foam forward, secure with tight wraps to create the lip, and fold back a small segment for support. Trim the foam into the desired lip shape.
6. Apply glue to bond the foam lip to the support and secure all parts. Whip finish and coat thread wraps with head cement.

Extra Tips for the Gurgler

• Experiment with your retrieves when fishing the Gurgler. I like to start with aggressive pulls that cause a lot of commotion, then slow down from there.
  • Be sure to add pauses as well. Lethargic bass may see your fly, but not pounce on it until its at rest.
• Don’t be afraid to try different color combinations.
  • Bright colors work better on clear, sunny days while darker colors work in low light conditions or murky waters.

Conclusion

Tying your own flies not only gives you the satisfaction of catching fish on your creations but also prepares you to adapt to the unique conditions you’ll encounter on the water. 

Whether you’re filling your box with Clouser Minnows, Wooly Buggers, or Craft Fur Baitfish, these patterns are proven winners that will perform when smallmouth season kicks into gear. 

So, grab your materials, fire up your vise, and start building your arsenal now—because nothing beats the confidence of hitting the water knowing you’re armed with flies that catch fish and the skill to make them yourself.