The Ozarks Smallmouth Alliance: What It means to me......

Fishing is a... discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish.
-Herbert Hoover

What's it to you?

When I was approached about writing this I wasn't sure where to begin. I simply asked, "What do I need to do"? The answer was, "Just talk about your success on the stream and what the river means to you".

My name is Jerremy Schemel and this is what the river means to me. When I'm on the river I feel like time stands still. The river flows past my feet and creates the sweetest song my ears have ever heard. It's more than just a creek to go fishing in. The river is where I find peace that feeds my soul. It's the place where I find complete freedom.

What I like to use

Most people who know me know that I love fly fishing and everything that goes along with it. Whether I'm building a flyrod, tying flies, or spending time on the water fishing, there isn't one thing about flyfishing that I don't like. You won't find me at a stream without a flyrod. When I started flyfishing in 2012 I had every intention on becoming a trout angler. That all changed when I took my flyrod to a local warmwater stream and caught my first chunk of Missouri bronze on a size 8 Chernobyl Ant I had tied the night before.

Don't get me wrong now. I think trout are beautiful creatures and I do like to fish for them. However, there's something about smallmouth bass that just keeps me coming back for more. It's a thrill from the time they hit my fly and start pulling and tail dancing on top of the water all the way until it's time for me to remove the fly and release it back to its flowing home.

I mentioned fly tying earlier in this article. Hopefully I haven't bored you to sleep by now. If so, wake up for this part. Here lately most of my fly tying has been focused on patterns for smallmouth bass and some of them have been pretty productive. I started tying Whitewater Craws back in February (2016) and they're a pattern that I won't leave home without now. If I need to downsize my presentation, the Whitewater Craw is my first choice.

I love articulated streamers. It doesn't matter if I'm sitting at the vice tying them or standing in a stream casting and stripping them. Articulated streamers are just a fun style of tying and fishing. Don't be afraid to throw big streamers in small creeks. You'd be surprised about some of the fish you'll catch on them in a small stream.

My new go to streamer pattern would have to be Charlie Cravens Articulated Gonga. After tying a test batch of Gongas on Christmas Eve I was able to take them to my favorite local smallie stream the day after Christmas and try them out. I waded up stream to a big area of slack water and started casting. At 3 inches long these flies cast really well on my 5 weight rod. It didn't take long for this fly to get noticed. After a couple casts I had hooked my first smallie of the day. Once I had #Freedthefighter , I took a few more steps up stream and began the hunt again. I casted the Gonga towards the bank near a root wad and after making a couple strips with my fly line I felt the tug and it was game time again. With 2 smallies and 2 Largemouths within 20 minutes I knew right away that the Gonga was a producer.

When the warm summer weather rolls in then it's all about throwing big nasty poppers. Every time the line is stripped to make the popper dive it's like waiting for a jack-in-the-box to pop out. The thrill of watching a smallie explode on the surface and engulf a topwater fly doesn't compare much to anything else. For real, Who doesn't like topwater bronze on the fly? My go to for this is a block head popper. I tie most of mine on a size 1 or size 1/0 gamakatsu b10s. A little marabou, a hackle feather, some rubber legs, and a foam block head will have you ready for some fun top water action.

During the Spring and Fall I'll still start off throwing a popper but most of the time it's streamer fishing for me. When Fall starts setting in we can't forget about terrestrials! No, I'm not talking about small ants and beetles. I'm talking about the good stuff. The big foam hoppers and Chernobyl Ants. It may not be considered dry fly fishing to the elitist but we don't have to worry about elitist being on a bass page anyways. So don't stress, go out and try some hopper fishing in the fall. It's never disappointing seeing a smallmouth inhale a hopper.

Normally I'll fish a 5 weight rod with a floating weight forward fly line. It's good for hoppers and some small articulated streamers. When throwing big streamers and poppers I'll break out my 8 weight rod. Not for the size of the fish but for the ability to throw the larger flies a little easier.