Summer · Updated June 2026
Best Smallmouth Bass Flies
Smallmouth eat almost anything that looks alive. The best smallmouth fly box covers four bases: topwater (poppers, gurglers), baitfish imitators (clousers, deceivers), crayfish patterns, and articulated streamers. Tie or buy in #2 to #6 sizes. Olive, black, white, and chartreuse are the workhorse colors. These are the flies that crush bass on Great Lakes water.
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Our Top Pick
BASSDASH 33-piece fly fishing assortment with nymphs, streamers, and wet flies for trout and steelhead in waterproof box.
Top Picks at a Glance
Buyer's Guide
Topwater is summer
Poppers and gurglers are first-light and last-light gold. Mid-day topwater works on overcast days and after thunderstorms. Buy them in #4 and #6, in chartreuse, white, and frog patterns.
Clousers cover everything
A weighted clouser minnow in olive/white or chartreuse/white catches bass at every depth. Throw it on a sink-tip or floating line, strip-pause-strip. The single most reliable smallmouth fly.
Don't skip crayfish
When the topwater bite shuts down, fish a weighted crayfish pattern dead-drifted along the bottom or slowly stripped through deeper structure. Smallmouth gorge on crawfish in summer.
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