Seasonal Technique for late summer…
LOVE THOSE HELLGRAMMITES!

The so-called dog days of summer can be one of the toughest times of the year to catch smallmouth bass on impounded water.

One summertime remedy is to switch to flowing water where smallmouth are: (1) more easily accessible in terms of depth location and (2) feeding more often than in lakes and reservoirs.  But even in creeks and rivers, catching smallmouth may prove somewhat difficult at times.  The surest guarantee for brown bass under these circumstances is use of indigenous live bait.

Live bait?  I can hear murmuring in the ranks of some bass anglers.  A decade ago I would have frowned on live bait for bass because its use resulted in substantial smallmouth hooking mortality.  But after being introduced to circle hooks, I have discovered it is possible to fish live bait with nearly 100% live release survival.  (Details of circle hooks will be a future topic on this page.)

To anglers who believe live bait taints the fishing experience, I say, “Get real!”  Live bait is as traditional and as pure as you can get in angling!  If you are not tournament fishing but simply out to have fun, give it a try.  There are times of the year (mid summer on rivers being one) that the proper live bait will outfish artificial bait.  If I had the choice of connecting with a dozen or more stream smallies by using bait or catching only one or two bass on a lure, I’ll use the live bait – as long as I can insure a high survival rate for bass when released.

But do not use store-bought bait.  It must be indigenous bait from the watershed you are fishing.  And during mid to late summer, no other live bait is as effective as the hellgrammite.

A hellgrammite is the larval form of a dobsonfly, with the largest species found chiefly in the Eastern U.S.  They reach 2 to 4 inches when mature and ready to morph into a winged insect.  Hellgrammites have a soft leathery body with a hard shell on the head and collar.  A large pincer is located in the center of the head.  If not handled properly, hellgrammites can inflict a painful pinch to your fingers that may draw blood.

Hellgrammites live under rocks in the riffles and fast water chutes of warmwater streams and rivers.  Its flat body clings to the underside of rocks with the aide of their six legs and grippers on the end of the abdomen.

Almost any fish living in a creek or river will eat hellgrammites, including walleye and rock bass.  Smallmouth absolutely cannot get enough of them.  But the delicacy is available to them only when the larvae are dislodged from the rocks and carried with the current.

Collection of hellgrammites from fast-water riffles is a two-person operation, using specific tools.  First, obtain a 4’ x 4’ fine mesh minnow seine and affix it between two poles or long broom handles, with the weighted end of the seine flush with the bottom of the poles.  Also have available an ordinary garden rake or hoe, and a container. 

When collecting bait and when fishing, I prefer a flow-through minnow bucket that can be connected with a cord to your belt thereby keeping hands free. If holding hellgrammites for a trip later in the week, store in an aerated minnow bucket or in an insulated bait box with very damp moss.  Do not overcrowd hellgrammites.  Check out www.Frabill.com for a great selection of all the items needed.

Wade into a riffle area or chute that has a water depth of 10 inches to 30 inches.  One individual positions the net in the current below some likely-looking book-size rocks and the other person uses the hoe to turn the rocks and stir the bottom sediment.  Current carries various nymphs, darters, hard-shell crayfish and hopefully hellgrammites into the net.  Lift the seine for inspection.  It may take considerable testing of different riffles to locate one with a strong hellgrammite population.

When picking up hellgrammites, be sure to grasp the hard collar area.  Otherwise they will twist around and pinch your finger. 

I strongly recommend a circle hook be used to reduce hooking injury to smallmouth.  Mustad’s Extra Fine Demon Circle Hook size #4 (Model 39951BLN) is my choice.  Check out the hooks at www.mustad.no.  Run the point of the hook from the bottom up through the hard-shell head or collar.  Do not hook in the softer part of the body.

Hellgrammites must drift or tumble with the current.  They are not effective when fished in still or slack water.  You must read the flow, make your best guess where smallmouth are holding in current breaks, and cast the bait so it drifts into the smallmouth’s feeding position.  Minimal weight is used, usually no more than one or two split shot.  A float may be used if the bottom depth if fairly constant through a long run.

Long, fairly flexible rods – such as light-action steelhead outfits – are practical for drifting bait with six-pound line.  My favorite outfit is a Fenwick HMXS 86L-2 with an Abu Garcia Cardinal C602 reel, introduced to me by Tennessee guide Jim Duckworth who uses the same outfit for the float-n-fly technique.  Check out www.purefishing.com for details.

The trick to fishing with circle hooks is not to jerk, snap or sweep the rod forcefully when a pick-up is detected.  Nor should you permit the fish to take line.  Instead, with the bail closed, simply let the bass being swimming away thereby taking up slack line.  Then simply raise the rod and wind.  The mechanics of the circle hook design will hook the fish in the corner of the jaw about 95% of the time.

Don’t overlook hellgrammites for summertime fishing on creeks and rivers.  Anglers have got to love ‘em…because smallmouth find ‘em irresistible.

Past Articles

EAST MEETS WEST ON LAKE ERIE
TACKLING RIVER SMALLMOUTH IN THE FALL
INDIGENOUS BAIT
SUPER SHALLOW SUMMER
CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
CRANKY SMALLMOUTH
TINY TORPEDO
LAKE ERIE “BEST” FOR SMALLMOUTH BASS
HOW TO CATCH THE BIGGEST SMALLMOUTH OF YOUR LIFE
IN QUEST OF CENTER HILL SMALLMOUTH
LOVE THOSE HELLGRAMMITES!