Smallmouth Bass Fly Fishing Tips

The original range of the smallmouth bass included the Great Lakes and St Lawrence Seaway drainages, stretching from southern Quebec and New Hampshire to North Dakota, as well as the Mississippi River drainage as far south as Alabama. The construction of the Erie Canal in 1825 allowed the species to spread into central New York. During the mid-to-late 19th century, smallmouth were transplanted via the nation’s rail system to lakes and rivers throughout the northern and western United States, as far as California. It’s said that cooks transported them to waters along the railroad to feed railroad crews. In addition, on many traditional trout and salmon rivers, dams caused the water to warm and smallmouths were often stocked to replace extinct coldwater game fish.