Hi Folks, Heck of Sunday and Monday guiding for the Catfish. Mixed up the fishing between lake and river fishing. The river fishing was a lot more productive than on the still water front. Terribly hot Sunday with a bit of a cool down on Monday. We avoided thunderstorms as they seemed to be south of where I was guiding up north. Sunday morning the lake we visited had a surface temperature of 69 degrees with very little wind. Big bright sun made the fishing tough. I have found on this particular place that a little chop with over cast is ideal. The fishing was most productive for the first couple hours of light. It was a combination trip with fly and spin fishing. We had some large smallmouth come to a surface fly, but the action was limited. A black deer hair fly drew the most interest as the bright colors were largely ignored. It appears that the bass are now in a post spawn mode on this body of water. We did have some fun catching pan fish with a silver beetle spin tipped with a root beer colored Mr. Twister. In the afternoon, things turned around as we caught a lot of healthy river smallmouth bass. Water temperature was 72 degrees. Incredible for the end of May. We landed 10 smallmouth casting and stripping a #6 cream colored bunny bugger with a red cone head and a #8 white zonker. We did have a large salmon swipe at the cone head bugger without hooking it. Never saw the salmon come back again. In the morning I revisited the same river with different fly clients and a young spin angler. After the evening rain, the water cooled off to 68 degrees, but flows were still the same. We caught almost 20 smallmouth and a nice healthy steel head as well losing a couple land locked salmon in 12" to 14" class. Cone headed muddler minnows stripped and drifted worked extremely well. The water is so low and clear you could see most of the takes. My spin angler kept casting a small brown trout rapala and could not miss. I think it looked like a young salmon per to the fish. Really good fishing! Been getting on the water at sunrise and fishing into dark. Looks like the weather is changing back to more seasonal temperatures and we should see some cooler night which will help with lowering water temperatures. On the insect front still seeing lots and lots of #14 caddis hatching in the morning and a few fish rising to them. There have been a few sporadic #10/#12 March Browns throughout the day. At dusk there have been #14/#16 sulhurs hatching as well as egg laying caddis and some #14 rusty spinners. Floating in the drift boat tomorrow, should be fun. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
