Tactics

The mouth of the smallmouth buffalo is fleshy and projects downward, like most suckers. Smallmouth buffalo feed on the bottom, and eat mainly insect larvae and crustaceans. Smallmouth Buffalo can reach weights of over thirty pounds in our region. Both spinning and fly tackle may be used. Once again, the Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear is a good fly to start out with, although it's always a good idea to check under a few rocks before you start fishing to see what the local nymph population looks like. Look for smallmouth buffalo around current breaks in large rivers, or up in the gravelly shoals near the main river channel. Smallmouth buffalo spawn in the spring - consult the roughfish.com Sucker Spawning Chart for more information.

Smallmouth Buffalo will capitalize on whatever food is abundant.  Where drifting food (such as insect larvae or chunks of algae) are present and the water is clear, these bottom-feeders will take drifted baits well off the bottom, often suspended several feet up.  Drifting a float, baited with a chunk of nightcrawler or a wad of green algae (or both!) can really work well in these situations.  These fish have very sensitive mouths and will spit out the hook very quickly, so be sure to strike quickly when a buffalo takes your bait!