Chunky Juniata River smallmouth bass
I keep meticulous fishing records and try to use them as as starting point every time I hit the water. Water temperatures, time of year, water levels, body of water, etc. it’s all contained in my Anglers Journal & Almanac.That being said, I always try to keep an open mind when I’m on the water. Most importantly, I try to pay attention and take cues from mother nature.
Today’s trip was one of those days when it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on. I’m not an expert on fly fishing or hatches so all I can say is that there was a hatch of biblical proportions today! I had a ton of the little critters hitching a ride on my kayak for the duration of the trip. Birds were beside themselves swooping down low to the water to pick off the little winged insects. I was certainly looking to take full advantage of the situation!
Water Conditions
The water was clear and at about perfect levels for fishing and paddling.
Weather
It was overcast all day with some light rain at times. The air temperatures during the four hours I fished stayed at about 53 degrees.
The Fishing
The smallmouth were acting like trout, holding in medium-fast water and raising to pick off the winged insects as they struggled to get clear of the water. The smallouth on this section of the river are still in pre-spawn mode. I saw no fish in the shallow gravel flats and non of the many smallies I caught had any tell tail signs of spawning activity.
The pattern was highly unusual. The smallmouth were holding in medium-fast current and raising to take the hatch-ling insects. I caught some fish on tubes right away but given the high level of fish activity the tube bite was slow. I wanted to find a bait presentation that would take advantage of this unique situation.
In the past, I’ve used 3″ stick worms when smallmouth are feeding on the surface. I do this for several reasons. First, the small stick worm offers a subtle presentation as it splashes down. Second, stick worms tend to be very dense and can be cast a long way for such a small profile bait. Last, the smaller stick worm has a very slow fall rate that triggers strikes from smallmouth bass when they are feeding “up”.
Once I switched over to the weightless stickbait, the fishing got fast and furious. It was one of those days when you loose track of numbers. It really doesn’t matter though on days like this because your primary goal is keeping you bait in the water! I caught a lot of nice smallmouth between 15 and 17 inches. I didn’t catch any “kicker fish” (18+ inches) but it was a great day on the water. All the fish were chunky and fought hard!
Sounds like I should have done two days on the J this weekend! That sounds like a place I wanted to be on Sunday for sure. Got the serious action on the big sticks in the section I was in on Sunday after the first couple of slow showers as the front moved in. The hatch down there was nothing like you are talking about here and there was no real surface action. Then again it was just starting at about 6 or 7. Your day sounds like it would have been a hoot for the “wiggle stick”. Learned a lot from you re those 3 inch worms. Typically only threw the bigger ones. I now keep a bag of the little guys “just in case” now in the deck bag! Good to see the smallie population is alive and well in J.
Sorry – should read Saturday as the day I fished.
Great fish! It’s funny you mention fly fishing, this is the PERFECT time to be throwing flies for smallmouth. If you want the fight of your life (with a smallie anyway
) try a fly rod sometime. If you don’t want to worry about matching the hatch, throw some ant’s in the summer, bass love them!
Great report Juan… You taught me something. I probably would have never thought about using a weightless stick worm this time of the year, but that really is the perfect presentation for how the bass were feeding. Glad you whacked ‘em!
How were you hooking the worm… wacky? or on an offset?
Toby, I’m actually nose hooking them. I typically will use one of three rigging techniques. Wacky, texpose, or nose hooking. It really depends on the presentation I’m trying to achieve and how the fish are taking the bait.
Nate, i did quite a bit of fly casting for smallies back in the day. tons of fun!
Ray, it was a great day. No big fish but some fighters! I’m working on an article now about stick bait fishing. I’m not sure were I’m going to publish it yet.
Very interesting, Juan. Do you like a small lite wire hook for the nose hooking? or something a little bigger.
I’m a fan of Gamakatsu hooks. Expensive but sharp. Octopus circle hooks are ok but tend to snag more frequently than I like. The past couple of years I’ve been using Gama’s drop shot hook. I use the 1/0 size on the 3″ worm. I’m not completely satisfied with the results but the hookup ratio is really high…but it could be better ( I like 100 percent
)I’m working on an article for smallmouths.com now about rigging stick worms and some basic presentation tips. It should be up there by the end of the week.