Havasu Bass

Archive for December 12th, 2009

This fish is widely known as the hardest fighting fish, pound for pound, that swims in freshwater, and for good reason. If you’ve never had the pleasure of hooking into a three to five pound Smallmouth Bass, put it on the top of your list. Hooking into a Smallmouth this size is as much fun as can be had with your clothes on. For the purposes of this article I’m going to discuss some fishing tips that are helpful when fishing for Smallmouth Bass in the moving water of rivers and streams.

Prior to embarking on your smallmouth fishing expedition it’s better that you first understand their characteristics, smallmouth bass are customarily bronze to brownish green in color. It has dark vertical bars on the sides. Unlike the largemouth, the upper jaw of a smallmouth does not just extend beyond the rear margin of its eye. The eye of the smallmouth is reddish in color. It contains 13 to 15 rays of soft dorsal fin. It’s length extent from 12 to 22 inches. And it usually weights 8 ounces to 7 pounds.

Below are some guidelines on how to get significant catch of the smallmouth bass:

* Smallmouth are better caught in the rock edge that drops off first from about 6 to 12 feet.
* Suppose you are fishing for the smallmouth in northeast, especially in Maryland, you’ll discover that smallmouth does not stick much to cover their presence. This is apparent in some of the relaxed water reservoir. Smallmouth relates more to an abrupt change in depth when they seek cover.
* if you trap a smallmouth that’s above four to five pounds, try to swim along with them and make your presence not noticeable.

The second tip I have for fishing for Smallmouth bass in the flowing water of a river or stream is to always present your bait in a natural manner. For example, a live worm should look like a live worm, not like a “worm ball”. And what does a live worm look like? It looks like a worm, outstretched, the way God intended. And what’s the best way to present a live worm outstretched, the way God intended? Through the use of a set of gang hooks. Gang hooks allow you to present live worms outstretched and naturally, which increase the amount of bites and hook-ups that you receive, it’s as simple as that.

The following list shows some of the best water flies you can use to catch a smallmouth bass:

a) The Stonefly Bugger – size 6
b) The Bead Head Wooly Bugger- size 6
c) The Sneaky Pete – Size 4
d) The Clouser Minnow – size 6

Smallmouth tend to be more active I cold water, that makes early spring the perfect time for fishing.The way to set up your rig is this: begin by grabbing the end of your line and attaching a small barrel swivel (size 10 or 12). Now attach a pre-tied set of gang hooks to the opposite end of the barrel swivel. The goal is to have your offering bounce off the bottom, as it flows naturally with the current, so add a couple of split shot sinkers to your line above your barrel swivel for weight. The number of split shot will vary with the current flow, so this is a judgment call. Experimentation is the key to getting the proper amount of weight. Once the proper number of split shot is achieved, your offering will “bounce” along the bottom as it flows downstream. Telling the difference between bottom and a bite is easy with a little practice. The last thing you need to do is add a live worm to your set of gang hooks (if you happen to be using night crawlers, simply pinch them in ).

If you use the rig explained above, you will begin catching more Smallmouth Bass. These fishing tips aren’t at all complicated, as a matter of fact they’re simple, but that doesn’t make them any less effective. I’ve been fishing for Smallmouth Bass using both of these tips for many years with almost amazing success. Never forget what Steven Wright said of us anglers, “There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore looking like an idiot.” I couldn’t agree more, and these simple tips will help you avoid the ‘looking like an idiot’ part of that quote.