Ask a smallmouth what it wants to eat and the answer, most of the time, is a crayfish. These bottom-dwelling crustaceans are a primary food in the rocky rivers and lakes smallmouth love, so a fly that looks and moves like a crayfish, crawling and darting backward along the bottom, is one of the most reliable patterns you can fish for them.
What it imitates
Crayfish flies, Bob Clouser's crayfish among the best known, imitate a crayfish either crawling along the bottom or darting backward in its classic escape. Good patterns ride hook-point up to slip through the rocks, and carry weight to stay down where crayfish live.
How to fish it
Fish it on the bottom. Cast it out, let it sink into the rocks, and work it with a slow crawl punctuated by short, sharp strips, the backward dart of a fleeing crayfish. Around boulders, gravel and ledges in rivers and rocky lakes is where it shines.
Tip Fish it slow and stay in contact with the bottom. Crayfish do not race around; a fly that crawls, ticks the rocks, and occasionally darts back looks far more natural than one stripped steadily through open water.
Sizes and colors
Match local crayfish, usually olive, brown, rust and tan. Seasonal color shifts matter (crayfish can be more orange after molting), so carry a few tones and sizes. For a more general searching fly, the Woolly Bugger also passes for a crayfish.