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EARLY SUMMER: PACK YOUR THERMOMETER!

Tim Holschlag

By the time the late spring/early summer period finally arrives most smallie fans are eager to get out and pound the water. However, too many anglers make the mistake of basing their early summer fishing on the calendar rather than the water temperature. In reality, smallies don't give a hoot what our calendars say, rather as cold blooded critters their biological rhythms are governed by water temperature.

And different water temps in the early season will mean the fish are in very different biological phases. If temps are only in the mid to upper 50s, the fish will still be in a pre-spawn mode, if the water has exceeded 60 degrees many fish will have built nests and started their reproductive duties, and by the time the water reaches 70 many smallmouth will be in their post spawn recuperative mode. Angling tactics should be modified for each of these stages, so using a thermometer to help you figure out what the fish are doing is essential.

Pre-Spawn
This period doesn't last long, but it can produce phenomenal big-bronze angling. When water temperatures reach the mid 50s, fish activity increases and both sexes start moving near their spawning sites. More than once, I've landed several smallies over 18 inches from a single river eddy or lake bay. Pre-spawn smallies in lakes will hold in 5 to 7 feet of water very near the shorelines where they will soon spawn. In rivers look for them in large deep eddies.

Both males and females will readily strike a variety of subsurface offerings if your retrieves are slow. The Ice Bugger, Holschlag Hackle Fly and Clouser Minnow all do well during this period just before the spawn. The key factor is accurately targeting the fish-holding zones and not retrieving your fly too quickly.

Spawn
This is the time most anglers dream of when they think of early season smallmouthing. As water temperatures approach 60 degrees, reproduction becomes
primary and male fish start fanning out nesting sites along stream banks or lake shores. Then over the next several weeks they engage in a rigorous ritual. First they spend days defending their site from other males and coaxing a female to lay eggs in the nest. After egg laying, the female plays little role in parenting and quickly drifts away from the nest to recuperate.

But the male's duties are far from over. Each male diligently guards his eggs for several days until they hatch, then works around the clock for an even longer period of time to protect his swarm of newly hatched offspring. The most amazing part is that these devoted dads don't eat during this period. A biological adaptation to avoid accidentally ingesting their young, spawning bass attack, but don't eat, intruders, including your flies.

Where the water is shallow and the surface flat, topwater fishing is often effective and exciting around nests. The secret is getting your fly close to the target and not moving it away too quickly. If nesting fish aren't willing to come up, and subsurface alternative is the "Slow-Sink" technique. It requires a bulky, slow-sinking pattern, such as a lightly weighted rabbit bugger. Cast the fly to the far edge of the nest and watch as it slowly settles towards the bottom. Some strikes will occur on the initial drop. If not, when your
fly gets about a foot from bottom start retrieving it ever so slowly, with short (6-inch) twitches and pauses. And no mater how you catch them, immediate release of spawning smallies is essential.

Post-Spawn
I call this period the "post-spawn funk." It's when the majority of fish have just finished nest-guarding, so they are sluggish and recuperating from the rigors of reproduction. On some waters it only seems to last a week or so, other places it can linger over two weeks. And honestly, post-spawn smallmouthing can be mighty slow. However, there are a couple ways to score during this period. One way is to thoroughly work deeper water adjacent to spawning areas. Ever-so-slowly, dragging a fly right along the bottom will invariably tempt a few sluggish bronzebacks.

There's also another way to counter the post-spawn blues-- fish fast! Quickly covering water using a fast and erratically retrieved fly often produces the most post-spawn bronze. I know this seems counterintuitive (since many fish are lethargic) but it often works.

Slow-flowing pools and large, deep eddies, as well as rocky flats in lakes,
are good for post-spawn fish. Try a moderately weighted Shenk's Streamer
fished rapidly with sharp twitches. This type of retrieve often elicits strikes
when nothing else will.

Tim Holschlag

BIG FISH!
They fire our imaginations and quicken the pulse like few other matters in the piscine world. And I think hooking a big smallie is the absolute ultimate in angling excitement. All smallies are special, but those over 20 inches are truly amazing. There's no slowing down for these big boys. The larger they get the stronger their runs, higher their jumps and greater their stamina. They are pure unadulterated power. 

And there are definitely things you can do to significantly increase the numbers of big fish you catch. Best of all, these aren't difficult or complex techniques off-limits to the average angler. Here are 6 simple strategies to put bigger bronze on your line.

1) Follow the Big Fish
Going to where the big ones roam is one straightforward way to score. While many places hold fine fish, at any given time only select rivers and lakes offer the very best chances for lunkers. To make good destination choices you gotta both figure out which waters are truly good (rather than simply hyped) and which ones are fly-fishing-friendly. Besides reliable, up-to-date local sources, a good place to start prospecting is my new book Smallmouth Fly Fishing, it describes 100 top smallmouth destinations in North America.

Staying late in the evening and fishing during a prime period (late summer in this case) paid off with this 4lb 10oz fish.

2) Prime Time
Choosing the best time is another easy way to increase your big fish percentages, yet it's often overlooked by fly rodders. Average-size smallies can often be caught year-round, but on most waters the prime "big bronze" period is abbreviated. On lakes and clear rivers, it's often the late pre-spawn period. On unusually turbid rivers, late summer is prime time. And in most other places, the mid-to late-fall period is the most consistent for the serious lunker hunter. 

3) Prime Lies
Of course, even in the most fish-laden water, only a tiny percentage of it will hold the big ones. Rather than trying to cast everywhere, concentrate on just the very best spots. On many rivers, identifying some of the best big bass hangouts is surprisingly easy. Simply look for the best pools, best rock and best wood (esp. the biggest deepest pools and largest logs). 

Less obvious big-fish lairs are large subsurface boulders. Everybody likes to flail away at rocks that jut out of the water, but those at least a couple feet below the surface are much better producers.

4) Big Fly, Big Fish
It's a cliché you've heard before, but it's true-- big flies equal big fish. Not always, of course, but often enough to make the big fly concept a viable strategy. In the realm of subsurface offerings, going up to 3 1/2, 4, sometimes even 4 1/2-inch long flies will increase strikes from the 18-inchers. These larger-than-average flies are particularly effective in low or moderate visibility water. 

Another fly tactic is using unusual patterns or uncommon colors. This tactic is especially productive in clear streams that receive substantial angling pressure. Old fish in these environments have seen a lot of lures. So if spin boys mostly throw white jigs, offering the fish a black or olive woolly bugger can pay off. In fact, in these heavily pressured waters, an extra fuzzy pattern (like an extra-bushy woolly bugger) in subtle colors often triggers a response.

5) Top or Bottom
Keeping your fly in the top or bottom of the water column is another proven big-fish strategy. Anglers love to work the middle of the water column and fish become acclimated to these presentations. This is particularly true of the biggest fish. So to fool the big ones, fish either the top or bottom, depending on the place and conditions. If depths are under 5 feet and few others are using topwaters, trophy smallies can be suckers for a large-profiled slow-moving topwater. Conversely, where surface fishing is common, scraping bottom is a better way to go. 

6) Stay Late
This is an easy way to dramatically increase hefty hook ups no matter where you fish. Staying on the water through the last hour of light can turn a mediocre day into a spectacular one. So often rivers and lakes come to life at sunset. Even on crystalline summer streams, big fish almost magically appear where only dinksters roamed earlier in the day. No longer hugging the bottom, the biggest smallmouth leave their lairs and hunt aggressively.

Now is the time for a large topwater, a stout leader and keen anticipation. And when you manage to outwit that lunker of your dreams, take some quick measurements, get its photo and slid it back into the water. That way you, I and the other guy can catch it again. 

Until next time.  

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Holschlag Archives:

Early Summer Smallies
BIG FISH