There is something about a stream or river that just hits differently. And there is something about a stream or river smallmouth that also hits differently. River smallies can fire up and turn on at times, and they can also get very picky at other times.

Over the years, I have found that in streams, there is one trump card that you play when nothing else will work. In case of emergency, break glass and feed them some bugs!

Did you ever wade a stream or river and turn over rocks? Well, what lives on the bottom of a healthy river is not for the faint of heart. Some of the creatures are nightmare fuel for those that don’t like bugs.

Crawfish are among the things you will certainly find when you turn over rocks, and smallies love craws. But when they are in a severely negative mood or the water is very cold, bass don’t even want to fight a craw to get dinner. But they just can’t pass up an easy meal. The river candy for smallmouth is bugs!

There are many bugs in smallmouth river environment. All are generally nymph or larval stages of terrestrial insects that spend much of their lives underwater.

Once they venture out or become, dislodged, they are easy targets. They crawl or swim poorly and are no match for smallmouths.

And they are good for them, too! These aquatic insects are nutritionally dense prey items. Bugs are high in protein, fats, minerals, and fatty acids. As gruesome as they look, they are health food for smallmouths.

Here is the list of bug food in Wisconsin waters: Stone fly nymphs, caddis fly nymphs, dragon fly nymphs (very ugly), Dobson fly nymphs (hellgrammites, the ugliest), bloodworms, and I’ll throw larval-stage salamanders (look like tadpoles) and tadpoles into the mix as well. These are all easy pickings for bass.

Trout anglers literally match the hatch with these bugs, and if you fly fish for smallmouth in streams, you probably have a fly box full of these delicious imitations.

But the selection is much smaller for spin fishermen. We rely on soft plastics and hair jigs to match our hatch.

Let’s start out with tackle, because all these items are small and light. Go with a lighter rig for all the lures and presentations we will discuss. I swear by 5-pound Cortland Master Braid for my “far and fine” setup. You can sail a 1/16-ounce jig a mile with that line and you will not break it. Six feet of 6-pound fluorocarbon leader is perfect for the business end. I like a 7-foot or 7’ 6”, medium or medium-light rod and a 1000 or 2000 reel with a smaller spool to get the most out of that light line. If you don’t feel comfortable with 5-pound, go to 8-pound, but not more than that.

For spinning fishermen, “bug” options for lures aren’t as plentiful as I would like them to be, but luckily several companies make hellgrammite lures. They all make some bigger ones, but a hellgrammite in the 2- to 3-inch range is perfect, and smallies love hellgrammites.

A hellgrammite is the larval stage of a Dobson fly. They love to hang under rocks, logs, or any river debris, waiting for unsuspecting prey. Their prey is other larvae, minnows, worms or anything they can grab with their large mandible pinchers. I believe the reason they are such a great food source is that they are active all year long here in Wisconsin. From ice-out till ice-on, a hellgrammite will play for smallies.

I like fishing them on a 1/16-ounce round head or football head jig. A jig with a size 1 or 1/0 hook is perfect for a 3-inch “hellgie.” Go with heavier heads if you are dealing with stronger currents, but the lightest you can get away with without losing bottom contact. We will talk about retrieves, but remember that bugs are an ultra-finesse presentation.

Roland Martin once said that any plastic worm is good as long as it’s purple and 6 inches. The same is sort of true for hellgies, but black and 3 inches. You can’t ever go wrong with black. That said, watermelon or olive can be great if you are going through a run a second or third time, or when the water is crystal clear.

Another creepy crawly creature available in soft plastics is the dragonfly nymph. Most of them are not perfect, which is fine, because they are just great, non-committal representations of many aquatic nymphs. River smallies just see “bug” and eat.

Talking non-committal, a marabou hair jig can imitate nearly all of them, and even a few other river and creek critters. To look like most nymphs, the bodies are put together with segments. A traditional marabou “hair jig” is a jig head with hair tied right behind the head. It’s meant to be a swimming lure and not a stationary, bottom bait. That’s why I prefer crappie jig construction with a marabou tail and some type of body, whether it is chenille (classic crappie jig) or one of the new, more buggy materials available. Last year, I did a piece on my ultimate hair jig construction. If you are not a jig tyer, a traditional crappie jig is a very good smallmouth jig for this application.

Tadpoles and larval-stage salamanders are similar-looking creatures and also easy targets for stream smallmouths. Berkely makes a tadpole, and the most famous for smallmouths is the Nikko Zaza Tadpole. Both are petite lures for bug-eating bass.

Let’s get into retrieves. Most often, I fish all these baits on a jig head. These bugs crawl along the bottom, so that’s where you want this presentation. A very short drop-shot can work as well, but I prefer a jig about 95% of the time. As mentioned, pick the lightest jig head weight you can while still staying in contact with the bottom. When you are really in the zone of the perfect presentation, you are riding that fine line between having the jig stay stuck on the bottom and having it tumble downstream.

The great Mark Zona made another, very effective presentation famous: “cracking”. When the bait gets to the bottom, you only shake slack line! Don’t move it for 10 seconds. If nothing happens, move it two feet and start cracking again. Strikes are subtle. As you are cracking, the feel will get firm. Set the hook. It’s a deadly tactic in cold water…and even all summer when things get slow.

Bugs and bug larvae are a constant food source for stream and river smallmouths. When things get tough and the small jaws get lockjaw, offer them some bugs. They can’t resist the easy meal.

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