Smallmouth bass are one of my favorite fish of all time. They fight well and eat flies like fish are supposed to. They can be picky from time to time, especially if they are a solo fish on the hunt. Having so winner flies in box will help make your next outing a success instead of a struggle. Over the years these are the flies for me that do the best on PNW smallmouth.
Clawdad (Variation)
I wrote an article for Fly Fishing & Tying Journal about smallmouth diets and the flies that focus on their main prey which are crawdads, crayfish, or mudbugs, they’re all the same thing. If you average a smallmouth’s diet nearly 70% of it will be crawdads. So I tie a variation of the clawdad that was first tied by Chuck Kraft. I tie mine on a modern hook and use silicone legs and sparkle chenille on mine. You can get the claws of the famous clawdad here or you can cut your own out of ultrasuede (synthetic leather) or Exo Skin like @7wt_thrower on instagram does. There are other claws out there like the claws from Saint Maries Flies or Semperfli which are also made from ultrasuede.
What makes the fly special and so effective is the weight and how you fish it. A good crayfish fly in my opinion has to be heavy. You want a fly that will give you a concussion if it hits you in the back of the head on a cast. This fly is the more impressionistic pattern that I fish. The sili legs are important because they don’t break down in UV light like rubber does. I use a jig hook from Ahrex and with the lead eyes the fly has a very crawfish presentation especially on a floating or sink tip line. You could add to it by adding foam to the claws so it sinks and lands claws up. Another free tip I would offer is use 2-4 yellow silicone legs with the rest of whatever color you use. Smallmouth like yellow legs for some reason so adding them only helps. If you know hwy please comment down below!
Huda’s Creek Crawler
If the clawdad is my true love, the creek crawler was my first love. This fly has gotten more violent takes than any other fly I fish for smallmouth with. This fly blends the most realistic features of lighter patterns but still is able to pack in a lot of density into the body that it sinks well. Crayfish live on the bottom of the river or lake so that’s where you want a fly. Most shops don’t carry this fly and it is an expensive fly to buy either from a fly shop or from a local tyer, so tying your own is usually the way to go. There are youtube videos out there on this pattern and if you’re a magazine horder it should be in there as well. If you want my step-by-step recipe let me know, maybe I’ll put it on the blog.
Slow Jig Clouser
This is my go-to bait fish. Around the PNW the typical baitfish is a round fish and not a flat fish. Baitfish are categorized in two profiles, flat or round. An example of this would be a chub is a round fish and a bluegill would be a flat fish. This pattern has a profile of a round fish and smallies in rivers like the Columbia, John Day, Umpqua, and Willamette are focused on round baitfish over flat ones. It can be tied in a any color combo you want but I have the best luck with white and using markers to color it up to give it a dark back. I’ve also done well fishing a perch colored one and a rainbow colored one.
Game Changer
This is another bass fly that checks the box for baitfish perfectly. I personally like the finesse game changer. I tie mine with 4 – 10mm shanks, 1 – 15mm shank, and a 1/0 short shank hook. I like the colors white and tan because of how clear the water is here in Oregon. One of the perks of the PNW is the clean water. Other places in the country where you might have muddy or tannic water you might find black, brown, or olive to be more productive. Yellow is also a good smallmouth color so don’t be afraid of an all yellow fly. Also you can experiment with markers and different colored tails.
The key to a game changer is the head and tail working together. The head needs to push a lot of water so when that water moves around the head, collapsing on the tail, the tail will kick and swim like a fish. The angle of the head shape will also determine how it comes to rest after every strip. I like to strip it hard twice before “killing” it. Almost all my takes are on the pause.
Clouser
The king of flies needs to be mentioned. If you showed up with a clouser, a cray, and a popper you would rule the river or lake. I personally tie all of mine on the B10s from Gamakatsu. I vary the hook and eye size to match the fishing conditions. As far as colors go it is hard to beat a chartreuse/white clouser for smallmouth. There are other colors I like, such as; chartreuse/yellow, olive/white, purple/gray, blue/white, chartreuse/orange, pink/white, gray/white. If you didn’t notice white is an important color. I always tie mine with the dark color on the top and light on the bottom like a natural baitfish.
There are other patterns out there that I like and maybe I’ll write a blog about them on a later date. I didn’t even mention surface patterns or nearly everything in my box. Stay tuned and if you want more smallmouth content let me know! They are my favorite invasive species in Oregon.
Like always let me know if you have any questions down below, through the comment page, or on social media.
