Jake Villwock
Jake Villwock has been an industry professional for over 14 years. Growing up in a commercial fishing family on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, fishing has been part of his life from day one - so it should come as no surprise that he has chosen a career in the fishing industry.
After graduating from High Point University with a business degree, Jake worked as a deck hand and fly fishing guide in Sitka, Alaska. He spent the winters dog sledding in both Fairbanks, AK and Deep Creek, MD. Moving back to the east coast in 2009, Jake worked for TCO Fly Shop at the Reading, PA, and Bryn Mawr, PA locations. Jake has helped open and manage their newest location in Boiling Springs, PA. After 8 years as a full-time retail manager with TCO, Jake decided to start his own business. Relentless Fly Fishing, which will serve as a contract guide service for three of TCO Fly Shop’s locations.
Listen to Jake Villwock's Shows...
Smallmouth Bass Top To Bottom
Jake Villwock is a professional guide working in Pennsylvania. He hooks up his clients everyday with big smallmouth bass. Listen in and learn about the flies he uses, how he ties them and how he uses them to catch trophy smallies.
Just a few of the questions asked and answered during the interview:
- Do smallmouth prefer living in pods or are they a solitary fish?
- Do smallmouth hold in similar lies as trout?
- What is a good weight rod, line, leader and tippet for smallmouth?
- Why do you use swivels in your terminal tackle setup?
- If you could only have one surface fly and one streamer for smallies what would they be?
- What are the trigger colors for smallmouth flies?
- Do you use weed guards on your flies?
- What topwater flies do you use besides poppers?
- What color combinations work best for streamers?
- What crayfish patterns do you like?
- What color is a must have on your crayfish patterns?/li>
- How do you fish crayfish patterns on the bottom?
- When an how do you fish crayfish patterns mid-column?
- Do bigger flies attract larger fish?
Topwater to Bottom: Cracking the Code on Smallmouth Bass
Smallmouth bass aren’t just aggressive they’re strategic. Jake Villwock breaks down how to consistently catch more fish by targeting all three feeding zones: topwater, mid-column, and bottom. He reveals how modern fly design—from foam bugs to articulated baitfish and lifelike crayfish has transformed the game. Whether you’re chasing explosive surface eats or dialing in subsurface tactics, you’ll learn how to fish smarter, adapt faster, and unlock the full potential of smallmouth on the fly.
Just a few of the questions asked and answered during the interview:
- What first drew you to smallmouth bass on the fly, and what keeps you obsessed with them today?
- What are good weights of fly lines and leaders for both topwater and wet fly fishing for smallmouth?
- What size leader do you use?
- What are the biggest mistakes anglers make when fishing surface flies for bass?
- For anglers new to bass on the fly, what are the top three surface flies they should always carry?
- Your book mentions how modern topwater flies have evolved from bulky deer hair bugs to more refined foam and articulated patterns. What drove that evolution?
- What about a dropper off a popper suspended 18”-24”. What depth of water would that be successful
- What conditions create the perfect topwater smallmouth bite?
- How important is observation when determining what bass are feeding on at the surface—mayflies, frogs, damsels, baitfish, cicadas, and so on?
- What are your favorite retrieves for poppers, sliders, and waking flies?
- Moving into the mid-column zone, can you explain what a “swim fly” really is and why this style has become so effective?
- When fishing mid-column flies, how do you decide between floating, sink-tip, and intermediate lines?
- Crayfish patterns are a major focus in your book. What makes crayfish such an essential forage for bass?
- Do you use a lot of crayfish patterns, and what about sculpin patterns?
- Looking ahead, where do you think smallmouth fly design and tactics are headed over the next decade?
Jake guides in PA and NY for trout, smallmouth, and steelhead. He has a true passion for warmwater, it is hard to find him anywhere but a smallmouth river from early spring to late fall.
When he is not rowing a boat, he is most likely crawling around a local spring creek chasing picky wild fish.
In addition to guiding, Jake is the author of “Smallmouth Bass Flies Top to Bottom”, Fulling Mills Signature tier, blog-writer, contributor to Fly Fisherman magazine, and Eastern Fly
Fishing magazine, and serves on various pro-staffs of leading industry companies such as Hatch Reels, Scientific Anglers, Simms Fishing, Clacka Craft Drift Boats, Scott Fly Rods, and Regal Vise.
He lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
