smallmouth bonanza

Hi Folks, had been shut out of fishing the last 2 days with the rain.  More rain was the last thing we needed, but we still took on another 1/34" of rain at my house in Stowe from Monday through Wednesday.  Our rivers are up and the Lamoille and Winooski are not approachable presently.  I have been exploring some tribs. on both rivers and thought they are high, they are very fishable.  Tonight I took a long time guest spin fishing for smallmouth out of one of my canoes.  We fished a high elevation lake that does not allow motorboats.  I think we were the only people on this body of water.  Nice foliage starting especially from the soft maples.  Dead calm on the water with a surface temperature of 69 degrees.  My guest was dialed in tonight and the fishing was excellent.  We never change lures as we stuck with a fire tiger colored floating rapala cast on a light spinning rod with 4lb test.  The first cast of the night produced a violent surface strike.  Usually a good sign.  We landed 15 smallies between 1/10thlb to almost 4lbs.  We landed 3 fish over 3 lbs.  My guest only missed a few takes and he really took advantage of his opportunities.  We lost a couple of decent fish, but all in all we brought a good percentage of fish to hand.  The pattern of the night was wood.  The water level is way up and the fish were in close to shore hanging off fallen timber.  We only had one long submerged rock point where fish were stacked up, but for the most part it was wood tonight.  We did have 2 very large smallmouth chase in smaller bass we had hooked.  Not sure if they were chasing the fish out of their area or attempting to eat them.  The bass tonight were just stuffed.  Big, fat fish full of piss and vinegar.  Some really good surface takes with lots of jumping.  I think it is safe to say that the smallmouth are preparing for the big cool down and are on the feed.  I will be chasing them again in the morning.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy