Community
Smolt of the Month October
Small fish enthusiasts, once again we had a plethora of miniature entries during the October Smolt of the Month contest submission window. As always, picking one winner was tough, but our team of miniature-adept judges have unanimously awarded a worthy specimen.
The October Smoltie goes to… Bill Kempey and this highly aspirational mini-bass. Hopefully no gear was damaged during what we can only imagine was quite the tussle.
Bill writes: “Hi there! This little guy below is a highly aspirational bass that hit a streamer almost the size of itself! I caught this fish up in the Adirondacks on a lake that commonly features much larger relatives of this tyke. I will say—to its credit, the fish fought valiantly for its size, though ultimately it was no match for my 6-weight fly rod. Much drained from the battle, we just managed to snap this pic before, with a wriggle, the fish was back in the deeps. Tight lines!”
Above: The Flyfish Journal’s October Smolt of the Month, an impressively miniature Adirondack bass.
We’re sending tyke-sized congratulations to Bill; enjoy those tiny ass bragging rights. Here’s to many more loose-lined adventures of the smolt-sized kind. Go smolts!
All monthly winners are eligible to win a grand prize package from Decked—including a full set of their D-Co Cases (valued over $900)—as well as a trophy custom-made by The Flyfish Journal staff, in May 2025. Monthly winners receive prize packages including a Stealth Work Station from Patagonia Fly Fishing and good goods from The Flyfish Journal.
And, of course, tiny ass bragging rights.
A big thanks to our prize sponsors Decked and Patagonia Fly Fishing.
Head to the the main Smolt of the Month contest page for more information on how to enter your enormously small catches. Each monthly contest entry window will be open for the duration of each month, so go small or go home and get after it!
We’ve also compiled a runners-up list with a few outstanding entries in no particular order:
Above: A special moment as Kyle Huntley passes the torch to his daughter. Photo: Kyle Huntley
Kyle Huntley doing his part to pass on the stoke to the next generation: “My daughter hooked her first Redband rainbow trout in *Smolt Creek located in the *Smolt National Forest in Oregon. This strong wild trout inhaled the size 16 yellow humpy in the same run my father taught me to fly fish 30+ years ago. I feel very fortunate to be able to pass my passion down to my children. Tight Lines.”
Above: Small, alt-species smolts (smalts?) are an extraordinary size 14 prize. Photo: Alex Collier
Alex Collier writes: “The little guys fall into the Keep ‘Em Wet category too! This rosyside dace (I think…it’s too small for even Google AI to be 100% confident in identification) “smacked” the size 18 dropper while searching for Fall Brookies in Central Virginia. A second after the flies touched down on a very brookie-looking pool, the dry twitched ever so slightly and this size 14 fish was my prize for trusting my gut and setting the hook.”
Above: An itty biddy teenie weenie from the Rocky Mountains. Photo: Kent Vertrees
Kent Vertrees checks in with a lil’ guy from Colorado: “Hey team, thanks for running this SMOTM. Way cool. I caught this nice smolt on a caddis dry fly in one of the tiny downtown streams in *Smolt Springs. I’ve loved flyfishing for monster trout and other enormous species but got hooked on the itty biddy teenie weenie streams that hold these smolty type fish when the Friends of the Yampa started running their Headwaters Fishing Derby. This Derby is all about fishing the smaller headwater streams and collecting water temps and other data to track water quality in the headwaters. Cheers”
Above: Chris Walker in danger of losing a finger. Photo: Alex Blouin.
Alex Blouin is again in the Honorable Mentions with this smolt-sized toothy critter and keeps the story appropriately short: “Cuda slams slider with wrecked abandon.”