Steelhead vs Smallmouth.

S

Sylvaneous

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Disclaimer: this post involves Euronymphing, which the author barely equates with fly fishing.
So I was doing THAT recently when I got into many prespawn smallies. I'm using exactly the same gear from reel to tippet that I used on Steelhead a few months ago. No Steelhead I caught since December fought as hard, overall as any of the 13-14 " smallies I caught. I'm an hour away from Steelhead creeks and they are impressive and the fishing is good in an otherwise down time. And I'll leave it there
 
I'll never forget one night fishing the Susquehanna around 10:00 pm during the White Fly hatch. I was standing on a huge rock opposite a buddy of mine standing on another huge rock when I hooked a bruiser...

At the time I only owned one "smallmouth suitable outfit" so it was my a 9'0" 8wt Orvis Power Matrix, a very stout rod. Well, it took a lot of my muscle and that rod's muscle to land that fish. I don't remember exactly how big it was, but it was over 18" as measured against my rod.

I remember yelling over to my pal after I released it, "I didn't think I was going to land that fish...

With an 8 weight!!!"
 
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I used to think smallmouth or carp when it came to fight were the best. But after I started fishing for bowfin my mind was instantly Changed. I admit I love bowfin. Something so cool about fishing for dinosaurs. I know I’m weird 🙂.

I vote bowfin. They put everything else I have caught to shame. Bowfin make smallmouth seem like a rock bass fight lol.
Even a small 7-9 pound fish easily breaks 20, 30,40,50 pound test line. 10 and 11 pounders break 100lb test leaders even wire like it’s nothing. They straighten the thickest heavy duty hooks like they are made of playdough.
Jumps like a smallie, long drag burning runs like a carp. Head shakes like a channel catty, alligator rolls like a giant brownie. It’s like hooking a tarpon in Freshwater. Except it’s in thick weeds or stumps. Super bony mouth, almost impossible to get a hook into. Very rare to land one even after it’s hooked. We usually land like 1outta10 that bites. I highly recommend trying for bowfin if you ever get the chance. I’ll admit options in Pa are fairly limited. But the surrounding states have some incredible options. If they tasted like walleye, I have zero doubt they would be a much more popular gamefish.

~5footfenwick
 
5footfenwick said:
I used to think smallmouth or carp when it came to fight were the best. But after I started fishing for bowfin my mind was instantly Changed. I admit I love bowfin. Something so cool about fishing for dinosaurs. I know I’m weird 🙂.

I vote bowfin. They put everything else I have caught to shame. Bowfin make smallmouth seem like a rock bass fight lol.
Even a small 7-9 pound fish easily breaks 20, 30,40,50 pound test line. 10 and 11 pounders break 100lb test leaders even wire like it’s nothing. They straighten the thickest heavy duty hooks like they are made of playdough.
Jumps like a smallie, long drag burning runs like a carp. Head shakes like a channel catty, alligator rolls like a giant brownie. It’s like hooking a tarpon in Freshwater. Except it’s in thick weeds or stumps. Super bony mouth, almost impossible to get a hook into. Very rare to land one even after it’s hooked. We usually land like 1outta10 that bites. I highly recommend trying for bowfin if you ever get the chance. I’ll admit options in Pa are fairly limited. But the surrounding states have some incredible options. If they tasted like walleye, I have zero doubt they would be a much more popular gamefish.

~5footfenwick
Click to expand...
In my part of PA, we have Bowfin coming out the the wazoo and you're more than welcome to my share of them.... They fight well, but I'm not real keen on them. They have teeth all the way their rib cage and cost me about 50 bucks a year in LMB poppers (it would be 3 times that if I didn't make all my own poppers).

So far as steelhead vs. smallmouth, I don't think it's any contest. SMB by a mile. If smallmouth got as big as steelhead, it wouldn't be safe to go near the water..
 
5footfenwick said:
I used to think smallmouth or carp when it came to fight were the best. But after I started fishing for bowfin my mind was instantly Changed. I admit I love bowfin. Something so cool about fishing for dinosaurs. I know I’m weird 🙂.

I vote bowfin. They put everything else I have caught to shame. Bowfin make smallmouth seem like a rock bass fight lol.
Even a small 7-9 pound fish easily breaks 20, 30,40,50 pound test line. 10 and 11 pounders break 100lb test leaders even wire like it’s nothing. They straighten the thickest heavy duty hooks like they are made of playdough.
Jumps like a smallie, long drag burning runs like a carp. Head shakes like a channel catty, alligator rolls like a giant brownie. It’s like hooking a tarpon in Freshwater. Except it’s in thick weeds or stumps. Super bony mouth, almost impossible to get a hook into. Very rare to land one even after it’s hooked. We usually land like 1outta10 that bites. I highly recommend trying for bowfin if you ever get the chance. I’ll admit options in Pa are fairly limited. But the surrounding states have some incredible options. If they tasted like walleye, I have zero doubt they would be a much more popular gamefish.

~5footfenwick
Click to expand...
I do know what you mean. Bowfin are fairly prevalent in the swampy lakes in NWPA. I've caught them while flipping weeds for largemouth and have been deeply impressed by their fight.
Syl
 
I usually don’t fish much for Smallies until the heat of Summer. After catching nothing but Trout all Spring, the first Smallie I hook into each year seems to pull like a freight train and I swear I have a whale on. Pull it in and it’s like 9” long. Gets me every time.
 
Dear Syl,

I'll agree on the smallies vs. trout or steelhead, but I'm weighing in with bluegills. Their problem is that in the vast majority of PA lakes they rarely attain decent size. When you do find good ones getting two 9" bluegills on a popper dropper rig is quite the fight, especially when you hook them in weeds or lily pads.

When I lived in upstate NY I had a few lakes where 9" bluegills were common once you located them. In Minnesota where I have fished they were common too. I broke an 8wt when two of them went in opposite directions around a pad of lillies. That was operator error for the rod break, but even with 10# tippet, there was no moving them once they circled the lily pads in opposite directions.

I wish I could go back to the lake I found on the Flora-Bama line outside of Marianna FL 40 years ago. The lake was crystal clear, spring fed with a white sand bottom, filled with stumps and had GINOURMOUS bluegills in it. They were between 12 and 15 inches and looked like swimming cast iron bacon frying pans. I tried to get them to hit a Beetle Spin for hours and got many follows, but no takes.

Maybe one day I'll get back there!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
 
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Smallmouth all the way ,I pulled one about 16-17 inches long in the trophy trout area of clarion river 2 springs ago m
 
Sorry slippy fingers My guide absolutely thought I had the next record book Brown trout on ,Lol
 
I would say Smallmouth, but I’ve never had the opportunity to fish for native steelhead out west. I can imagine they fight better than great lakes steelhead, especially given the larger rivers.
 
nymphingmaniac said:
ok. hear me out. do they pull harder or do they use their broader body and current to feel that way?
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Dear nymphingmania,

They pull harder, they just do.

If a 15' smallmouth was tied tail to tail to a 20+ inch trout and dropped in the water the trout would be torn apart in 60 seconds.

It's kind of like how a 3-pound bluefish pulls harder than a 10-pound freshwater fish regardless of the species.

When you live in a world where there are predators that can easily eat you then you grow up tough and mean.

Think of this song.


Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
 
I think they both fight hard, they just fight different. With steelhead, you’re trying to turn around a 10lb fish on a 6lb leader and bring it back. SMB are a tug of war. I’ll take either one.

Steve
 
if we are comparing steelhead in Erie Streams to small mouth in Erie Streams.. Smallies wins all day long.. If we are comparing Steelhead 5 miles out of Walnut in 65ft of water in the first trench and Smallies in Lake Erie. It could be a draw but smallies are one tough fish. Steelhead in Erie creeks have little to no water, and you're shoulder to shoulder with Putin's army.
 
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