osprey, heron, and big river bass

Hi Folks, Guided fly anglers yesterday morning on the lower Lamoille for smallmouth bass.  Another hot sunny day and we still need rain.  Looks like record heat for today and we need that like a sharp stick in the eye.  Water temperature was 74 degrees and as you can imagine the water is pretty darn low.  Some good wild life viewing yesterday morning with ospreys flying over head fishing and big Great Blue Herons stalking the shallows for an easy meal.  The fishing was pretty damn good as well.  We landed 22 smallmouth bass with half the fish weighing over the 2lb class.  We cast poppers in red/white, chartreuse, and several salt waters patterns that were foam sliders.  The top water bite was good for the first part of the day as we landed several big bass off the top.  However, when we rigged rods with #8 stonefly nymphs  and #6 Bitch Creek under an indicator and  we really began to tug on fish.  We nymph fished the tail outs of pools with incredible success.  The takes were aggressive and the smallmouth were really pulling back.  Good fun with a 5wt. and 6 wt. fly rod.  Off to chase smallmouth from the boat this morning.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  have Fun, Willy