In this episode of Smallmouth Season Prep, Mike runs down his choices for rods, lines, and leaders for pre-spawn bass fishing. Looking to get any of the gear in this video? Give the shop a ring at 734-544-1761
I’m with you man, running 6’s,7’s, and 8’s depending on the fly, the water/current conditions, and the mood of those little brown, camoed up, angry footballs! Also running 230 grain 6wt line on my 7 wt rod and wondered if I was the only one out there doing it, guess not….. Great video series, keep it up man!
Most of the time when I’m fishing smallies I run a 10’7 weight for the big rivers with a roughly about a 7 foot leader. Most of the time I’m running a type 5 sink tip for the deep holes but I also have a 9ft 6 weight with a floating for clousers and crayfish then I have my 9’ 10 weight rigged with a short and stout leader for musky. Most of the time I have a big popper on for Muskies that push a lot of water and on the 7 weight I also running the swingin d which the fish on the west branch of the susky and juniata river love. Caught several fish in the high teen range but got two over 20 inches
How often are you running lower weight line on heavier rods and why? I know you mentioned conditions a lot in this video but is that more flow/wind related and just making sure you have enough backbone for bigger fish? or have you found it just as successful year round for a more stealthy approach?
Just clarification on your Airflo line recommendation. I assume you are specifically talking about the Airflo Sniper 4 Seasons Ridge 2.0, is that correct? If so, which of the 3 intermediate lines do you recommend for normal conditions Intermediate Head - Floating Running Line, Inter/Di3 Head - Floating Running Line or Di5/Di7 Head - Intermediate Running Line? Thanks
I don’t want to speak for him but here is my answer, I he’s specifically talking about that line in particular due to the heavy nature and make up of that particular line. If you research some similar lines from other companies you will see that sometimes there’s a big difference in the head grain weight. This also will depend on what rod you’re using (power and action will change between sticks, in turn they will like different weight lines to perform their best). And the big question, the best for “normal conditions”… this is impossible to answer because normal conditions are beyond subjective. Fish a lake? Shallow slow river? Fast deep river? Etc. will require different lines and presentations and leader lengths. My normal conditions are usually a river of moderate to slow speed and fish 5 foot and less. I also fish shallow sections of lakes as well and for both my go to is the intermediate head, I can change the length of leader and weight of fly to achieve 1-3 ish feet deep. Otherwise I like the Di3 to get down a bit deeper faster with unweighted streamers and a short leader or if you want to work the fly faster but keep it up near the top. The Di7 would be for deeper pools or fast water where you gotta get down ultra quick. I’ll use this type of line in the spring streamer fishing browns in high fast water with small holes where i gotta get the fly in the game immediately. This is just my opinion and what works well for me, others may have different thoughts and may work equally as well or even better. Hope this helps you.
