Hi Folks, Guided smallmouth bass yesterday in the morning and the evening. Fly fished and spin fished both morning and evening. Been some good fog early in the morning which keeps the sun off the water longer. Pretty windy afternoon with a steady gust from the west/northwest. The wind did lay down by dusk and the fishing really picked up. The river temperature in the morning was 68 degrees and the lake temperature was 73 degrees. The river conditions were less than ideal with off colored water and high flows. All caused by thunderstorms from Tuesday night. The spin anglers stole the morning while the fly anglers struggled a bit with getting fish to eat. We caught smallmouth on a floating perch rapala and 3" baby bass Senkos on red #1 octopus hooks. We were only able to get 1 fall fish to eat a popper on the fly. Due to the conditions the smallmouth were holding outside of the current in the pools and on the slow seams. In the afternoon, we picked off a few fish with a 5" watermelon black magic Senko and missed a few big fish on a popper. Conditions were initially tough until the wind settled. The smallmouth were holding in deeper water off rock ledges and points. Around 8pm, we witnessed a massive hatch of #6 Hexagenia along with a good number of egg laying spinners. The bass and large yellow perch were rising and coming out of the water all over the place. We hammered them with a #8 yellow bottomed frog popper. It was the light switch effect as all of sudden everyone was eating off the top. Lots of nice 1.5lb to 2.5lb sized smallies that just fight like crazy. Pretty intense hour of fishing and we quit because we could not see any longer. Nice cool down should make for good trout fishing the next few days in the mornings. Lots of grasshoppers around along with other terrestrials. Start looking for#14-#22 flying ants and been a decent hatch of #22/#24 Tricos every morning for the last 10 days. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
