finesse fishing the surface

Hi Folks, Guided another double yesterday with fly fishing for trout in the morning and fly fishing for smallmouth bass in the afternoon.  I got blown out this morning for river fishing as we just had a big rain storm push through last night and dirty up the rivers as well as the levels rose significantly.  We started on the main stem of the Lamoille yesterday morning as the water temperature was 67 degrees.  We did not even get a strike.  So instead of flogging a dead race horse we moved to a tributary where the water temperature was 65 degrees.  We experienced a hatch of micro caddis.  Size #20 tan bodied caddis hatching with very subtle rise forms form wild rainbows.  We lengthened our leader and fixed a 6x tippet to the end and cast and swung a #20 tan bodied x-caddis.  We had 5 fish eat the fly and landed two really nice wild rainbows.  Really subtle takes and you would not have realized the size of the fish until they were hooked.  In the afternoon I took guests to fly cast poppers in clear water for smallmouth.  Water temperature was 70 degrees and the water was extremely clear.  We had to pay attention to our approach and not step in the river to fish unless we had to.  We landed 9 bass all on frog colored and chartreuse colored poppers.  The fish were holding tight to cover in the river like downed wood, rocks, and clumps of fallen knot weed.  Spots out of the main current were the best.  Nice low light for surface fishing and the casting had to be good as bad casts put fish down in the clear water.  We missed another half a dozen fish.  Man, smallmouths really bend a fly rod and make some great jumps.  We had some slurps for takes but also some takes towards dark where the fish just crushed the popper.  Good fun.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy