Perfect Fly for Smallies?

[halomidge]

This summer (between trout/steelhead trips) I spent experimenting with fly designs for the Willamette smallies. I've been able to catch a number of fish but none of my experiments have proved a successful design. I've read all the appropriate information (Shewey, Murray etc.) but the suggestions don't seem to fit our Willamette fish.
Does anyone have a successful design specifically for the Willamette fish they would like to share?
By the way ... these fish can be a blast when you tie up to a 18" smallmouth with a 5 wght.

[Mojo]

Try a woolly bugger, in black, brown, or olive. If that doesn't work, try a size 4 (3XL) black wolly worm with black hackle, and one wrap of chartreuse chenille at the back.

As far as surface stuff goes, a slider or a deer hair popper. I like the sub surface stuff myself.

[bacon_to_fry]

back home in the midwest, we fished a subsurface fly callled an HHF, or Holschlag Hackle Fly.

basically, a root beer brown wooly bugger tied on a eagle claw jig hook with lead eyes so it rode upside-down. not only will the light hook bend out of a snag, they're cheap enough that breaking off (and you will break off if you're fishing it right) isn't too expensive.

add two or three yellow rubber legs to each side and some flash to the tail. last, paint the eyes bright red. that seemed to be quite effective. i'm sure you could find the pattern on the internet.

we fished them with a midwest technique called The Hop. take a long, (up to 14 foot, depending on how deep you need to get down) level leader of 10 lb. maxima, tippet to 8 or 6 lb, and put a corkie at the line/leader junction. fly is tied on with a loop knot for better action.

cast up and across, and let the line form a downstream belly. use an upstream jerk of the rod tip to give the fly action. don't strip line. sounds odd, i know, but if you use the water tension on your line to move the fly (instead of picking the entire line up), it's moving in a vertical jig presentation down the seam, much like a natural crayfish. as a side note, it's far easier to do this from a boat.

also, as the water went clearer in summer, olive produced better than brown.

i know this sounds odd, and i don't know if this technique's made it out west yet. we midwestern natives, uh, we're slow people but fair to middlin' smallmouth flyfishermen. don't even get me started about popper fishing....

[halomidge]

Bacon - I like the concept and will experiment next time out. I did have some very good success on my last experiment with a crawdad imitation on the bottom with stiff raised claws. As a test I ran a storm crawdad with scent etc. right through the same slot and the fly out performed it 6 fish to zero.

[bacon_to_fry]

wow. you know, you're potentially starting a fly vs. plastics arguement with that one... that's killer. wish i could say i've had the same success, but about the time i'm thinking i'm hot snot for wailing a bunch on a fly, my brother comes through with a scented tube jig and smacks my smirk all to heck.

oh, i forget to mention the function of the yellow corkie, though it's likely obvious. that's your indicator, but the smallies don't always jump the thing like a trout. most of the time, it's a slow pull like you're hung on a rock, but it starts moving away. occasionally, a wily smallie will just jettison the thing sideways and better yet, sometimes, they'll eat the corky. then, it's pretty much surface time. sort of a good confidence builder in spring when the temp's got you fishing subsurface flies and you're wondering if there's a topwater bite yet.

that said, i'll be interested to know how The Hop works for you out here. i think it's a deadly technique and back guiding in the midwest, it was a great way to get people fishing subsurface flies with a bit of confidence. otherwise, i think an upstream presentation with a weighted fly's a real guessing game. trying to tightline the fly by stripping it moves it across a seam instead of down.

last, give those yellow rubber legs a chance. you might be surprised...

good luck, and thanks for letting me spout off. i don't have much to offer about steelheading, but i've certainly spent many hours chasing copper thunder.

[Downstream]

For what its worth, I hammered a few on the Willamette this weekend on an orange and black beadhead bugger with white rubber legs-size 6. Nothing else I fished was touched.

[rob allen]

deer hair poppers and clouser minnows

[halomidge]

downstream - it sounds like you were throwing an Oregon State Beaver... any chance you're from WSU? Is that a black body & orange hackle or orange body & black hackle?

[happybrew]

Olive wooly bugger is my go-to fly for smallies, switch if for some reason it's not getting hit, so I can blame some other fly for not catching anything!

happybrew

[deefly]

Ive always thought a slightly weighted Reverse Spider pattern in Crawdad colors might be a great way to go. What action! :shocked:

[BrokeItOff]

My favorite is a black and yellow bumble bee with a little yellow/black marabou for a tail. Works well on the Umpqua and Snake rivers, also on smaller hooks works great for blue gill.

My 2 cents worth...