2 or 3 recommended smallmouth bass patterns

Clousers in chartreuse and white.

Black lite brite leech.

Adam, are you familiar with Ward Bean’s site, http://www.warmwaterflytyer.com/welcome.asp?  It is one of the best repositories on the net for warmwater fly fishing tips and tricks and patterns.

I fish the Todd’s Wiggle Minnow (TWM) very often for bronze backs.  That pattern has single handedly become one of my all time favorites for bass of any kind and also saltwater surf species.  Its movement is fantastic.  

I also use a big sloppy Hellgramite pattern (HellCraw by Anthony Hipps) and brightly colored streamers.  

Anthony Hipps is one of the finest fly tiers in America IMHO.  We are fortunate to have him in the SouthEast council.  His soft bodied poppers with HellCraw droppers are a deadly combination.  See link below.

90% of my smallmouth flies include the combination of 1)TWM, 2)Slider/Popper, 3)Hellcraw (Hellgramite), 4)streamer.

Note: there are two great podcasts on AAFF about smallmouth.  My favorite is Torrey Collins’ podcast http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/speakers/torrey-collins/torrey-collins.cfm.  The other is by Harry Murray http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/speakers/harry-murray/harry-murray.cfm.

FYI: the “Tequeely” pattern by Orvis (http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=002C), which is mentioned by Torrey in the podcast, is very similar to Hipp’s Hellcraw 😉  

Hipps Soft Body Poppers http://www.warmwaterflytyer.com/corner.asp?page=4

Todd’s Wiggle Minnow.  The yellow/orange/green fire-tiger schema is the most effective for smallies.

Black body and chartreuse tail/eyes also work well in low light.

Tim . . . I fish the TWM primarily with a floating line because that’s just what I have on most of the time.  However, a clear intermediate would probably be an option in the saltwater (but again, most of the time you will have floating line and just want to throw this on the leader).  

On the river, a 15 foot sink tip line cast over and across will pull the TWM right under and the holy commotion that goes on during the swing is like a circus show.  Lots of fun.  

Honestly, this fly is just about perfect and is good with any setup.  One tip if you tie your own – the more obtuse you make the head angle the deeper the fly will sink on the pull.

The shad schema is the most effective for saltwater.  Check out this bluefish and if you look closely you will see a TWM in the upper lip.  In general, fish will pull a 45 degree turn and chase this thing down once they see the action.  Unfortunately, they get chewed up quickly.

Thanks Neal, much appreciated advice.

I like a gurgler, clouser minnow, and a harry fodder