When wading a stream or small river for smallmouth I’ve always waded down river. Should I be wading up river?

You should wade upriver so that the debris and mud you stir up aren't being washed down into the water you're fishing, dirtying the water and alerting the fish to something out of place being in the water above them. 

I do both with success....I just try and walk quietly....your in there home.  There was an exception back home in Oregon on this trout stream that cattle would cross frequently.  I called it the Crooked River Shuffle.  You drug your feet across the bottom as you walked and then fished below you.  Was crazy good.  Trout waited for the cattle to cross for their food to be stirred up.  So....I too stimulated the hatch!!!

Walk Like an Egyptian

 

 

I walk both ways , I have to get back after all .

You can do either. I've found that some presentations are easier one way but other than that it really doesn't matter.

 

The best argument for upstream imo is safety especially if you are wading at waist level or above and can't see the bottom. You don't have the current pushing you if you trip over something, are in a shelf like area or step into a hole or a soft bottom muck area.

9 hours ago, Otter17 said:

When wading a stream or small river for smallmouth I’ve always waded down river. Should I be wading up river?

Yes!

+1 for wading upstream

Trout and bass both face into the current waiting for prey to come down to them, that is how your lure should approach. Casting up current is easier when wading up current and you don't alarm fish as easily from down stream. If the stream is wide enough you can wade down current and cast across up current effectively and drift lures into eddies.

Tom

 

I vote for wading upriver.  It leaves considerably less mud, debris, etc. to alert the fish AND when you cast upstream (and across), and retrieve (or drift), it's easier to pass a bait in front of a fish (upstream- where it is facing).  Also, and as you get older, this will seem more important, if the banks are steep and brushy and you can't walk on the shore, walking WITH the current (when you are done) and "back to the car" will be sooooo much easier than walking upstream.

I only wade in to cast, unless the bank is impassable. I'd prefer not to wade downstream, but sometimes it's a necessity.  Often though, I will hike upstream, looking for fish or spots, reading the water as I go, and return as travel back downstream.  I suppose I wade fish similar to how a drift boat would operate.  Cast are usually made perpendicular to current, and I let the bait swing into high percentage areas.  In the case of something like a shallow lipped crank or minnow bait, there's a point where you don't even have to reel line in.  At that point just let bait do what it does.

I have tried both methods and have found that when I wade up stream past where I want to fish and do a little fishing for a bit and then come back down stream slowly and softly as I can and cast down stream I get a lot more bites.  I am guessing that the fish are facing towards me and the lure is smacking them in the face in the current.   

 

One of the big factors is where is the sun..  I keep my shadow behind me.  I have tested putting my shadow in front and a fish chases the lure and gets close to my shadow and takes off bc I am a huge predator silhouette.

Good stuff.  That backhand cast is very useful when you're in the back of the boat with a right handed boater that typically casts off the port side.  The spinning pitch is also great for getting under docks.

You know what they say about fly fishing. 

Once you try it, you're hooked ?

3 hours ago, Brad Reid said:

A little bit off topic but if you like stream fishing, love to see a master at work with spinning tackle? Grab your lunch and watch this angler at work.

 

Brad

 

Accuracy counts!

?

Depends on how I am fishing. If I am fishing live or artificials on a dead drift, then I will work my way upstream. Cast upstream and drift it back. 

 

If if I am fishing moving baits that I want to swing, like a crank, or spinnerbait, etc, I would work my way downstream. 

 

If working downstream, keep in mind that the fish are likely to be facing upstream, and will see you or your shadow before you’re able to present a bait to them. Not really a big deal, you just need to be a little more cautious and strategic as you’re moving around. 

One tactic that can work well if you are wading downstream is to intentionally shuffle your feet to stir up the critters on the bottom that can get bass feeding. 

8 hours ago, B-Dozer said:

You know what they say about fly fishing. 

Once you try it, you're hooked ?

One of these days, I'm going to try this.

 

However, I'm a little concerned about it becoming an obsession that will completely take over my life.  I know my limitations....

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

One of these days, I'm going to try this.

 

However, I'm a little concerned about it becoming an obsession that will completely take over my life.  I know my limitations....

Same exact reason I’m holding off as well man.

10 hours ago, B-Dozer said:

You know what they say about fly fishing. 

Once you try it, you're hooked ?

Unless of course you have been a Fly fishing guide for over ten years and get sick of guys showing up with their vented shirts telling you how they have fished sun valley Idaho, Patagonia, Jackson hole, Alaska, blah blah blah. They usually can’t throw a fly past the rod tip!!! Give me a bass boat and a baitcaster any day. 

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

Unless of course you have been a Fly fishing guide for over ten years and get sick of guys showing up with their vented shirts telling you how they have fished sun valley Idaho, Patagonia, Jackson hole, Alaska, blah blah blah. They usually can’t throw a fly past the rod tip!!! Give me a bass boat and a baitcaster any day 

Yeah well I guess ya gotta know your limits. 

The short answer, imo, is that there are times for both and that more importantly, current changes the way you present more than anything else.  

4 minutes ago, B-Dozer said:

Yeah well I guess ya gotta know your limits. 

I used to love Fly fishing from about age 12-25, and I still do, but guiding opened my eyes to the “elitist” dark side. Yet I still do it! TO me, fishing is fishing but I can’t convince the vented shirt crowd of that

I'm in the walk upstream camp. I never fished downstream except for at the spot where I entered the stream.

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

One of these days, I'm going to try this.

 

However, I'm a little concerned about it becoming an obsession that will completely take over my life.  I know my limitations....

There are much worse addictions, but it's bad.