Hi Folks, Guided a large trip yesterday morning with the spin gear for smalllmouth bass. Nice morning with water levels still slightly high from Sundays thunder boomers. Water temperature was 68 degrees and the water clarity was pretty good. I do not do any large groups, but when, I have another guide help me out. Important for safety and quality control when taking more than 4 people in a river environment. We worked a few hard baits off the get go, but no smallmouth responding to Rapalas or poppers. So, the incredible edible Senko in 3" baby bass was the soup du jour. We fished slow water than appeared to be frog water. My fellow guide could not believe that the fish were holding in it I informed him that what makes the stretch of river so good is that the average angler would walk past such a place and focus on riffles to pools. Bass are lazy and do not want to fight current anymore than they have to. This stretch of river has a lot of downed wood and varying contours in the stream bottom. The fish cruise up and down it looking for food. It seems like they zero in on the Senko when it plops on the water as you can often see them dart towards the rubber as it sinks. Everyone in the family of 6 caught a fish yesterday. We landed 18 bass and probably missed or lost another dozen fish. The trick with the Senkos is to be patient on the hook set and they really set it. Lots of fun with the family dynamic, especially when it is not a competition. Looks like a cool down so I am going to take advantage of it and guide trout this afternoon. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
