Fishing Reports and Fishing Tips

Fisherman’s Corner
by jim bennett

I don’t know about you but I’m about fed up with winter and ready to hit some warm open water. When the last really cold spell hit a while back I found myself thinking of fishing! Fishing in fast moving water where hard hitting fish lived!! In my mind there was a fish on the end of my line. Not just any fish but a super fish. Pound per pound the toughest freshwater there is. Bronzebacks. Black bass. Smallies. A fish with many names smallmouth stand alone when it comes to fight!

Tim Holschlag knows Micropterus dolomieui better than anyone in the nation. He has been chasing bronze for forty years. To Holschlag catching a battling bronze in a wild river is more impressive than wining Olympic gold in Torino, Italy! If you?ve ever hooked into a big bronzeback you know what I mean.

Holschlag describes it best in his new book, Smallmouth Fly Fishing. “Barreling downstream, then just as quickly upriver, staging a spectacular leap, then another, followed by more finger-burining runs back and forth across the flow. Classic smallmouth battles like this thrill and excite me like few other occurrences in the piscatory world.”

Holschlag points out that he isn?t the only angler and writer to be awed by the smallmouth?s amazing power. Well over a century ago, a core of American fly fishers were already singing the praises of the “small mouthed bass” or “black bass” as they called them. The legendary 19th-century angler, James Henshall, lauded the species? sporting characteristics in his famous “Book of the Black Bass.” There he applauded smallies as; “Inch for inch and pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims.”

Holschlag and so many others, including this writer love the smallmouth for it?s fight, boldness and beauty. Not only the beauty of the fish but the places it swims. From wild rivers in wild places to cold Canadian lakes and in warm back yard rivers in metropolitan areas the smallmouth will call all of these waters home. And Holschlag, like so many other anglers like pursuing them most with a fly rod, popper, streamer and fly.

Holschlag is the first to inform you that smallmouth are not at all like trout like so many people wrongly think and write. In fact they are a completely different fish and should be fished in a completely different way than trout. His book will walk you through the best techniques, flies as well as take you to the best destinations from Minnesota to Missouri and from Wisconsin to West Virginia. Living in 48 states, only Alaska and Florida waters hold no bronze.

Holschlag fell in love with smallmouth bass when he was 10-years-old and he?s chased them all his life. His new book is designed to be the place to go for up-to-date, scientifically based information on any and all smallmouth issues. There are 15 chapters of how-to material covering rivers and lakes, on-foot and water craft fishing. Following that, Part 2 is an entire section devoted to fly patterns for smallmouth, featuring 40 favorite and proven fly patterns. Part 3 of the book are his favorite 100 places to fish that include the best black bass bastions in the nation, including the best places here in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Nationally renowned smallmouth angler, speaker and writer Tim Holschlag poses with his latest book “Smallmouth Fly Fishing.” Experts from around the country agree that no one knows smallmouth bass like Tim Holschlag. That’s why he is known as Mr. Smallmouth on the sports show trail. He shares all his secrets in his great new book! Photo by Josh Bennett.

I loved the book! It has it all. And Tim Holschlag is a great writer. A full time writer, part-time guide and angling instructor he has authored hundreds of magazine articles for publications such as “The American Angler”, “Fly Fishing Quarterly”, “Midwest Fly Fishing” and “Bassmaster”. His experiences on the water and his use of the written word will take you right into the streams with him in this great book.

The dozens of tremendous color photos are worth the price of the book alone.

You will be able to feel the surging power of the 21-inch fish in the photos and grin with those who?s smiles are biggest when holding the big fish. But the real value of this book are the tricks and tactics that Tim Holschlag shares with his readers.

For too long smallmouth bass have only been chased by tackle tossing spin fishers and bait casters. Smallmouth bass are designed for fly rods, flies and poppers. The rivers they inhabit are worked best like a trout angler uses a fly rod for trout. But that is where the similarity ends between the two fish with fly rod and reel. Techniques for trout and smallies are as different as day and night. Holschlag is the first to get that word out and he will walk you through the differences in his book that will give you tight lines!

You?ll learn the anatomy of a smallmouth stream and understand smallies so you can take advantage of their curious nature, what makes them bite and why they like it hot. You?ll learn how to take more and larger fish when you understand why exaggerating motions, right colors, noise and vibration work so well to bag a bronzeback.

And then there are the flies and poppers. Holschlag?s Blockhead Popper, Big Blockhead Popper and Tim?s Micro Popper are all proven new poppers designed by Holschlag. His flies are works of art. The Holschlag Hackle Fly is the best crayfish imitation I?ve ever seen. He understands what smallmouth eat and why so his flies and poppers are the best on the market.

And so is his knowledge of fly rods and lines. His secrets of matching the right lines with the right rods go against traditional techniques and weights fly rod trout anglers have grown accustomed to. But that secret is one you?ll have to learn when you buy and read the book. It?s a book that is really three books in one and they will make you and smallmouth bass as one.

You can explore Tim Holschlag?s world by logging on to www.smallmouthangler.com to read his current writings, learn more about his books, speaking engagements, his smallmouth fishing schools, the special fly in trips he guides and other related products. Once you?ve finished his book it?s just a matter of getting ready to battle bronze this summer!! It will be a whole new world of fishing pleasure for you. I guarantee!!!

WILDLIFE QUIZ – Where and when was the world record smallmouth bass caught and how much did it weigh?
Answer: On July 9 it will be 50 years since D.L. Hayes caught the world-record smallmouth bass, weighing 11 pounds and 15 ounces, while trolling a pearl-colored Bomber at Dale Hollow Lake that lies along the Tennessee-Kentucky boundary.

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