I learned the "smallmouth game" in Virginia on the St. Johns and Shenendoah Rivers. Harry Murray is the master of the game back there and we fished for them exactly like trout. We matched hatches, nymphed, fished streamers, stripped steamers, swung flies, droppers, skated dries, dead-drifted dries and the whole shooting match. Check out Harry Murray's fly shop online and you can get coached up on the smallmouth game real fast. Tight lines Coach

 

the question is where in washington is there good smallmouth fishing?

 

When the season is back in full swing, Lake Whatcom up here in Bham has plenty of good sized small mouth bass. However, not a good idea to eat them since the mercury content is so high. But hell, most of us C&R anyway..

To the OP, I mostly use poppers for smallies but have also caught them on the same flies I catch trout on.

 

The Snake and most tribs, the Columbia. Spring is a great time to look for smallmouth puking smolts as they hang out in the lower rivers in feeding frenzies. Coach

 

right in the tri cities, mouth of the yakima, lower yakima, columbia river in the same area, mouth of the snake. of course there are more places than this, but this is where a ton of big fish are coming from, and its my favorite cause i barely have to drive at all. ive never heard of playing the dry fly game with them though

 

I've had pretty good success in Western Wa on smallies using adult damsel, dragon fly and hopper patterns. Fish them like you would a popper. Once the fly hits the water, just let it sit there. Don't twitch or strip it. Let it sit for a minute or more if possible. The smallies can eyeball it for a good amount of time before committing to taking it.

 

you will need to use larger dries if you use them, the best time to use stuff on the top of the water is during the post spawn cause they will just sit on the bottom staring at the surface. do large foam spitting flies count as dries?

 

You could give Banks Lake a try for smallies, lot's of 'em and they love poppers early in the morning.

 

wholy sheet gentelmen......have i have news fa you!!

like it is said above...smallies come run up the tribs of the snake and SLAM anything that comes their way

Last summer in June on the RONDE, my father and i had a hell of a time fishing BIG ASS floating deer hair mouse patterns with our five weights....you better believe i will be back there again

PLUS...nobody's there

 

:beathead:Ever wonder why no one is there?bawling: not anymore:beathead:

 

I know you were looking for people with experience on western waters but I thought I would share that I have fished for smallmouths in the northeast U.S. using dries by matching the hatch. Not just poppers and hoppers, etc. I have caught 3-4lbs smallies on flies as small as 14 -16 so it does happen-just depends on the water.

 

Now that everyone has thrown in some great info, go look up Harry Murray and his flyshop. I don't care what part of the country you are fishing for smallies in, he will clue you in. Coachptyd

 

ahhh, shoot, forget what i said....ahhh, no smallies in that river...just suckers and the occasional ****** and chub....

my bad gentlemen....shoulda used some discretion on that one...

probably shouldnt post anything, after 5 beers and feeling some deep longing to share a story

anywho...back to what i was saying....all I caught that day were suckers

 

Never tried smallies on drys but used to catch some nice largemouth on mayfly spinners . I found they like some sort of motion though,which is sometime a little tough.Fun takes though!

 

LOL, if that river gets crowded when it's 90-100 out I'll lay a gold egg. Like I saud, smallies are all over the place and there is really not much motivation for any quasi locals to dirve far to fish for them. And anyone in MT/West WA usually has better things to do than drive out to the furnace that is the canyon in the summer and fish for bass.

Share all you want, I was just busting your chops

 

A few years back I fished a private lake that, among other things, held largemouth. The owner urged me to take any lmb that I caught. I caught several good sized fish on large bushy flies and their stomachs were all packed with adult dragon flies.

That information was valuable later on when I fished Banks Lake for smallmouth. Although it is huge I fished Banks just like i would a small pond cruising along the edge in a tube looking for small inlets and bays with reedy or weedy areas near the bank. There, with cars ripping by just a few yards away were lots of nice smallies that took large dry flies aggressively. Ive

 

....in my neck of the woods, the John Day River(Oregon) is one of the best west of the Mississippi. Havent actually used a dry fly, but small poppers work stellar. Can catch 50/day easy. My largest so far is a 4 1/2lb around 22" or so.

 

thanks guys!!! tons of good info... I am definately going to fish some smallies this spring.

 

One other thing I've found lately. If you do some research and a lake is listed as having only LMB, don't be suprised if it also has a SMB population. The bucket biologist have been pretty busy the past few years.

 

Like Coach, I grew up in VA fishing for them on the Clinch, the Holston the New and the James. Like he said, they fish much like trout in many situations, but the best thing about them is that they are bass, and they ain't picky.

As for advice, you can call Harry, or check out his books. He's a good guy, and would be glad to help.

 

and they ain't picky.

iagree

 

A real sleeper smallmouth lake in recent years has been Chopaka. Coach

 

the hanford reach is also a very good place, its where the record of the state came from.

 

Sharp, you ever fish the outlets of the various wasteways in the reach? I've heard of some big fish (including walleye) coming out of them.

Just curious.

 

i would love to catch a walleye on the fly, i have a couple of places around moses lake im going to try to this spring.

 

If you catch Marble eye on the fly you are going to have to get a sweet mexican nick name... It's just the way it is.

 

i personally havent fished much there due to lack of a boat, but as soon as i get one i wonder if ill be able to leave.

 

The "Gear guys" hold tournaments for them on Lake Sammamish every year. Fast, phallic like metal-flake boats and everything, just like on TV! I've heard a plastic worm fished 30' deep off the docks works great.
I've caught them there with streamers and nymphs, but never tried dry flies for them.

 

Isn't it funny that people hardly even get a nibble when asking about salmonid fishing, but bring up the (admittedly introduced but also under-rated) smallmouth and suddenly everyone opens the flood gates. Not necessarily a criticism, just trying to understand the difference in mindset. Is it even possible in the case of smallmouth to "love 'em to death"? They seem like freakin' swarming, starving mosquitos some of the places I've fished them. Seems like they must do a lot of damage to native fry stocks, I don't know... Any lessons to be learned re conservation from the folks back East where smallies are native?

 

Isn't it funny that people hardly even get a nibble when asking about salmonid fishing, but bring up the (admittedly introduced but also under-rated) smallmouth and suddenly everyone opens the flood gates. Not necessarily a criticism, just trying to understand the difference in mindset.

I thought the same thing. Kinda funny, however I feel that we spill it on smallies and other non-salminoid speices because they are non-native and very invasive and are a threat to native species. Not to mention a blast to catch and can get real big.