Ozark Bronze Battles on a Seven Weight

Iam bringing my seven weight—do I need anything else? Nope, he texted back. After that brief text conversation, I was off to a remote Ozark stream to try to land an old-growth smallmouth on my fly rod.

Ryan Walker, Ozark streams guide and founder of Ozarks Smallmouth Alliance, fishes many bodies of water every year around the Ozarks. If there was a person in Missouri to teach you how to land a feisty bronzeback on a fly rod, it is Walker. I was excited to meet up with him.

After coordinating drop and removal points, we were on the water by 7:00 am. Cool, shadow covered Creek produced nothing early. “Sometimes they need to wake up,” Walker told me. “It seems on this water once the sun gets high is when the bites pick up.” He thinks it is a combination of the water warming up, triggering feeding behavior, and the fact the fish may be full. “I always see spider webs full of mayflies and other bugs in the summer here when I start in the morning,” he said. “I think they hatch at night and the fish gorge.” After a few attempts swinging a fly he calls the Meathead, we started to float downstream to another spot.

A root wad surrounded by deep blueish-green Ozark water called his name. “Pull in over there, we are fishing this,” Walker instructed me with a finger point. After a few casts with the Meathead, he summoned me to the bank to tie on a fish-catching fly—the White Trash.

I pulled some line out, flipped the fly out. I let the fly swing under the root wad, keeping tension. As it came out from under the structure, a distinct “whack” and a jump of my line indicated a fish took the fly. I missed. “Do it again, you usually get two chances at a fish on the fly,” Walker told me. I swung it again and thump. This time I did not miss. After quite a battle, my first smallmouth on the fly was in the net.

During the six hours of fishing, I landed 18 fish, with many being 12-14-inches. I put two 16-inchers in the net and missed a couple of 18-20-inch fish. They hit, but as any fly fisherman will tell you, there is a lot needed to go right when swinging a fly. Too much of a belly in the line, lack of feel, etc. all doomed me. Although out of one deep hole, I threw a large fly and three times, a giant fish came up and attacked it just below the surface. Each time, the fish just did not get the hook in him. “Oh man, that was a TANK!” Walker shouted after the last drift. I concurred. Such is life!

We concentrated on quick, deep water for the duration of our trip and swung our flies through it. Almost every bite came on the swing, as the fly came up from the bottom. Trout fishers know this is a reactionary bite. And when a smallie is feeding, they cannot resist it. Do not get concentrated on one pattern, though. “It can change every day on this creek,” Walker noted. “Two days ago, we had to strip our flies hard out of parallel timber—obviously that is not working today. You have to adjust!”

Walker ties his flies and has developed quite a few of his patterns to target Ozark smallmouth. He specializes in taking clients fly fishing, but he also has spinning and baitcasting outfits if those suit you better.

“Usually, the first third of my day is instruction and safety, which is necessary when taking folks out fly fishing for these fish,” he stated. “Once they get it down, the fun begins.” Walker does no half-day trips, only a full day, which is usually six hours. “But if you want to fish all day, let’s go,” he said with a smile.

Catching an old, beautiful smallmouth on an Ozark stream was a goal of mine for a while. The fight in the fish is unmatched in the Show-Me State. “A 10inch smallmouth will demolish a 15-inch rainbow when it comes to fight and tenacity,” Walker said. After landing nearly 20 of them, no truer statement exists. Ryan Walker was the first name to come to mind for getting me my first fly rod smallmouth, and he should be the first name you think of as well.

You can contact Ryan Walker for a trip or hand-tied flies at 417-366-3617 or follow his Instagram, Facebook pages.

Ryan Miloshewski

The fight of the smallmouth bass is unmatched in the Show-Me State. (Photo: Ryan Walker)