Smallmouth Bass Streamer fishing for bass is a lot of fun. When streamer fishing for bass we are going to use anything from a 9’ fast action 6-weight to 8-weight, not because we need it to control the fish, but because some of the flies we are throwing are big and bulky.
A 7-8 weight rod turns these Smallmouth bass streamers over with ease.
A 6-weight is okay with streamers, but if you were to throw topwater with it you might struggle.
A 7-8 weight rod is also going to help you really drive that hook into a bass’s mouth. Bass have pretty tough mouths made to crush and kill their prey, especially Largemouth that have two huge, tough crushers located on the top, back portion of their mouth.
Poppers and divers have a lot of wind resistance and it’s not a bad idea to bump up a line weight if you are going to designate a rod just for topwater bass. An intermediate line is a good starting point when streamer fishing, then we can add a sink tip or split shot to get our stuff deeper if need be. I simply run about 4 feet of 20lb Maxima off my fly line or sink tip. This allows the fly to turn over very easily because of the shorter leader and stiffness of the line.
A non-slip mono loop knot is used to give the Smallmouth bass streamers a little more action. Check out our knots page to see how to tie this knot.
I use the SA Titan Taper or Bass Bug which are the same taper, but the Bass Bug has a resin made for warmer temperatures. These lines are good for turning over those big, oversized flies because it is over-weighted two-line weights and has a huge head that sends just about anything you can tie on the end of your line.
I recommend sticking to the rod weight as this line is already bumped up two rod weights, so stick with the line that is true to your rod weight.