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Tied up some madtoms not sure if we have them here in Texas but these little cats were the "cats meow" in Virginia for trophy smallmouth. Getting to the end of the month and just using up those last bits of supplies before ordering more stuff. Also did some shrimpfish flies with some bling; guess they are more of an attractor type pattern rather than a match the hatch style fly.

Love the madtoms, never heard of that pattern. I think there are still some smallmouth in Texas. Lake Texoma comes to mind, but there are other places.



Sparkling, blingy flies seem to be just the thing at times. One trip, my buddy was killing it on a silver spoon, but the borski slider was getting very little love. I put on one of the silver eyelash yarn redfish cracks and that help me bridge the gap and get some eats.

Other times, flashy stuff seems to have the reverse effect. I put in flash in most patterns, then tear it out if I think it’s messing up the eat. Tearing out the flash works enough of the time for me to believe too much flash can cause problems. That shrimp pattern I do is an example. Too much flash in it really dials down the amount of eats it gets. It never seems to work with a lot of flash, but a bright and shiny eyelash yarn crack will.

The Madtom is not a particular pattern but what we called a small species of catfish found in the creeks in rivers in Va. Mostly mottled and the color varied between water bodies and water clarity though the little cats were much more populous in streams that ran clear 99 percent of the year. They were very much like a sculpin just scuttling along the bottom with large pectoral fins, hiding under rocks etc.... . But they do have a swim bladder so they will come off the bottom.
Used as live bait Smallmouth loved them but they would also take big largemouth and larger species of cats like channels and flatheads. Pickerel liked them too. Was just wondering if we had similar baitfish in Texas. I kept putting on some round black rubber for whiskers but kept cutting it off trimming out the profile.

Yes, madtoms are common in Texas. We have 2 species, Freckled and Tadpole.

Thank you, That's good to know. Do you know if they are a forage fish for the game species here? When I was stationed at Ft. Knox they were prevalent but often went ignored in favor of slow moving sculpins and larger creek chubs and darters.

bones,
That is interesting to know.
I am not sure about here. We have darters, no sculpins. Makes sense I suppose, especially when you consider the madtoms' stinging spines!
A few years back I came across a Diamond-backed Water Snake in the process of eating a fairly large one.
But, I would have to imagine any dark colored, bottom hugging fly should garner some attention.