Haliburton Smallmouth
As with many long weekends I headed up to the family cottage and spent some time out smallmouth fly fishing in Haliburton…
I’ve noticed that having a Fiance has seriously cut into my fishing time on weekends… So I suggested to her this weekend we should spend some quality time together - in the boat. Chunlee didn’t really want to fish so she offered to row for the night! That was a pretty sweet deal. It was like having a guide drift your own boat around all the structure while you get to fish and not worry about position 
We had some great conversation and some excellent fishing. The evenings were calm and warm. There were lots of caddis and mayflys hatching, but I didn’t really try to match the hatch. Invariably, if you try fishing those bugs you’ll catch rockbass.. Sure you’ll get some smallies, but the rockbass are just teaming in those lakes…
I have a fly that I made in the past year which imitates the plastic twister tails. The fly is made out of marabou tied in at the tail, then twisted and wound up the shank. I typically put a lead base down and add a wire rib for weight and durability. With bass the raspy teeth really quickly wear down a fly. The key colour I use is hot pink. If you are fishing with a buddy, have a white fly ready to toss in right away… When smallies are fighting they let loose a lot of partially digested food - often minnows - which appear all white. Other smallmouth in the area will be paying attention to whats happening and will quickly eat the items released. A white fly will frequently pick up a good fish…
Here’s a smallie which seems to have run into some trouble in its past (notice the large scar on its side). The picture also clearly depicts the fly I was using.
I like to work rock beds, points, humps and all the normal places you’d expect bass to be. I also love to fish water that is only a few feet deep when dusk is approaching. Smallies come in and cruise the shallows looking for food at that time.
Here’s a shot of yours truly playing a smallmouth:
I was using my Sage SLT 3wt which was just gorgeous to fight smallies on. If I was planning on using larger streamers 
I’d go up to my 5wt., but that just wasn’t neccessary this weekend.
Here’s the fish I was working in the pic above:
I went out saturday evening on my own (I guess Chunlee had enough conversation for the weekend). I had another great evening. Caught a few jumbo perch off a weed point along with a couple largemouth.
It seemed like a few years ago the smallmouth population was down quite a bit. I thought the combination of the introduction of pike along with the increased fishing pressure was taking its toll. It seems like the past couple years have been a lot better for smallmouth fishing. I’m quite happy to see that.
Here’s one of the fish I caught on saturday evening.
In early July the average evening will see about 10-15 smallmouth landed… I was using a pretty light tippet and broke off a few bruisers. The pink fly stripped in steadily at a quick pace seems to eliminate the pesky rockbass… Occasionally I’ll pause the retrieve and let the fly sink down. Often fish will pick up the fly on the drop so you have to be careful to keep some tension on the line - otherwise you’ll miss the tap. Bass will suck a fly in and spit it out very quickly without getting hooked - so you need to know when to set the hook. A white flash, the hot pink fly missing from your view, etc all indicate a fish
I’m looking forward to reading some of the reports from other people this weekend. I’m sure with the warmth the Grand must have had loads of insects hatching…
Take Care,
DanJ
BTW - this is the fly I caught most of my steelhead on over the past year… It’s a versatile pattern. More importantly - its quick, easy and cheap to make. I try and keep lots of them in stock..
