Greg C

Rat tail is a "chenille", I guess you would call it, that tapers from larger to smaller. Edgewater makes a fly that is a combination of a foam head fashioned in a slider configuration. Then you attach the rattail material to taper from about 1/2" diameter at the back of the head to the tail (about 1/8"). All together, about 5"-6" long. Not sure of all the color offerings.

I have been catching them on chartreuse sparkleminnows. I ONLY caught them targeting deep, slackwater pools, with exposed rock on the bank. Any location that fit this profile, produced fish. Any place with current did not.

Actually, that is not entirely true. It is not of great value in the summer. However, it is my "go-to" method in winter. I could work a favorite stretch in any manner you would like, without a single hit, untill...I use a dead drift presentation. One you might recognize from trout fishing. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I trout, and smallmouth tactics are comparable. But, in this one instance, it does have a place. Amen, to that! I will usually make my sprkleminnows with a mono weedguard. This not only allows me to slip through rocks on the bottom, but I can cast right into woody cover near the surface I otherwise might avoid getting too close to. BTW, this will apply to bugger patterns as well.

I just spoke with a CPO today, and he said that state biologists have decided to stock only smallmouth bass in Clinton Lake. No largemouth will be stocked there, from now on. I have to double check this, but Clinton Lake has received limited stocking of smallmouth for a few years, now. I also found out that they are not going to stock hybrid striped bass there anymore, either. They will, instead, stock the pure striped bass. Again, gotta verify this, but it is big news.