Blue River Fly Classic

Blue River Fly Classic
A One Pattern Fly Event

Sunday, April 5, 2009

In Search Of The Smallmouth - Part 1

This April, May, and June I fully intend to start an extensive and hopefully successful search for the smallmouth that reside in Blue River. I'd planned on beginning this weekend but the wind Gods decided otherwise blowing their steely breath at thrity to forty miles per hour. So, I stayed home and chose part of my arsenal that I will use in my smallmouth expeditions.



Ralph James gave me this fly just this week while we were attending the Wildlife Department's annual get-together at Blue River. Ralph hasn't given it a name as far as I know so for the time being I'm going to call it the Green Sunfish Fry because that is what it reminds me of. Although my photograph doesn't do it justice this is a nicely tied fly and to me it looks like it's going to produce many moments of fishing excitement.



For the larger smallmouth I have high hopes for this fly I call the Bass Buster. It's a beauty of a fly and I can see someone using this fly for stripers in Lake Texoma but I'll be fishing it at Blue.



Ahh the Clouser, one of the world's most famous flies and one that has produced for me in the past. Most certainly I'll be tying this on each outing.



It only makes sense to have a pattern designed after the smallmouth's favorite delicacy which in Blue is the crawdad or crayfish as some would say. This is a heavy metal fly tied so the hook point is up while drifting through the current. It's proved to be a killer fly in the past. This fly is tied mainly with Pheasant Tail fibers along with a little antron for dubbing and gold ribbing. Very simple tie it is.



Poppers are my favorite tool to use in my search for smallmouth and that probably goes back to the days when I was a kid. As a kid I was absolutely fascinated with poppers and collected them like other kids collected baseball cards. To this day I still hold my childhood fancy for the popper.

I plan on starting my smallmouth expedition at the extreme end of Area 1 and work my way upstream hopefully to the end of the Catch and Release area. I'll be covering six and a half miles of river as far as the crow flies. However, if I fish each braid, fork, run, pool, and pocket I most likely will cover twice as many miles.

I hope to start my search this coming weekend...if the weather permits.

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