Rigged And Ready At Ice-Out

Time-tested things that seldom fail for spring smallmouths include float-and-fly systems. Right at ice-out, or at a commensurate point south of the Mason-Dixon, smallmouths in reservoirs begin to suspend near wintering sites. In natural lakes, even in Canadian lakes, some smallmouths begin patrolling shallow-water spawning sites even before the ice breaks up on the main lakes. This is a foraging movement, and while smallmouths can be quite active, smaller and slower presentations often prove most appealing.

You need a long rod for float-and-fly presentations. G. Loomis recently introduced a 91⁄2-foot rod for this application, the SMR1140S-FF. The length allows me to fish down to 10 or 11 feet with a fixed float, which is critical. Making the fly (typically a 1/32-ounce synthetic hair jig) rise and fall in a series of small arcs is the predominant trigger in cold water, requiring a fixed float (as opposed to a slipfloat). Deadsticking the fly or letting it rise and fall gently in the waves tends to be most effective when manipulation of the fly fails to produce.

The SPRO Phat Fly and the TC Tackle Stubby Shiner are the flies I use most in spring. The SPRO Baby Bass pattern, a realistic fly, has accounted for a number of spring trophies on my boat. Forage tends to be small in spring, but even if the majority of forage items were larger, I believe smallmouths would continue to key on smaller shiners and fry in many environments until the water warms above 50°F, because small lures work so well, and because the metabolic processes within a cold bass are so slow. Small-diameter braided lines shine for float-and-fly mainlines, because they float and, potentially, cast farther, if you use the right line. I use 6-pound-test Berkley FireLine, which works well with the smaller Rainbow Plastics A-Just-A-Bubble, a sensitive float that casts for distance.

The fluorocarbon leader materials (attached to the mainline with a SPRO barrel swivel) should be in the 4- to 6-pound range. Toray Super Finesse and Raven Fluorocarbon lines perform admirably well when the idea is to hang something in space while making it appear unattached, because these are truly limp lines, unlike most fluorocarbons. The key to float-and-fly fishing in spring is to place the fly in their faces or a few feet over their heads in the lanes they travel most frequently between deep and shallow water.

A similar technique employs wacky-rigged plastics under a float. Again, in spring, the best tools tend to be small, and I like 3-inch Yamamoto Senkos and YUM Dingers on a #4 baitholder hook, presented on the same tackle and in the same way mentioned above. A wacky-rigged, cigar-shaped worm often tears free and is lost while battling a smallmouth, so Case Plastics has come out with the O-Wacky Tool, which facilitates the placement of a small O-ring around the exact center of the worm. Slip the hook through the O-ring instead of the plastic. Fewer plastics are lost this way, and far more bass can be caught on each worm before it tears apart.