Hi Folks, Been a solid smallmouth bite the last couple of days on my trips. River fished and then boat fished yesterday morning. Lost another afternoon trip on Monday due to heavy rain and thunderstorms. Our rivers are up again and the best bet would be the small streams currently. In addition, water temperatures are on the rise so the big rivers are now becoming to warm to trout fish. We finally have some hot humid weather for July. Im okay with it as it really turn on the smallmouth bite. They are a warm water species and truly show their colors when the water reaches 70 to 75 degrees. July this season has been odd from a weather standpoint. The trout fishing remained really good because water temperatures were suppressed with all of the cool damp weather. So, now that things appear to be returning to normal, the bass bite has really improved. Good top water action the last few days. I had a father and son who were keen on learning to fish. We fished the good old floating perch rapala and a series of poppers. Nothing better than watching a good sized smallmouth crush a surface presentation. We also fine tuned fishing rubber along the bottom. Good to have an up and down offering for the smallmouth as you need to be adaptable as are the bass. It appeared that a surface lure with an orange bottom was the most appealing. 5" Senkos in baby Bass and Watermelon Red Magic were extremely effective. In the river, the fish were holding in slower deep pools. They appeared to be tight to cover such as downed wood and large boulders. In the lake, the larger fish were in 15' of water off the first drop from shoreline. Once again, a hard bottomed area. Well, until things cool down, I will be small stream trout fishing and chasing smallmouth. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
