Hi Folks, Had a nice afternoon on the big water chasing river smallmouth with a long time guest yesterday afternoon. Water is still very low and warm. Water temperature was 76 degrees. We were fortunate to dodge afternoon thunder storms. Though storms to our south did help to provide cloud cover and some southerly breezes that made things a bit more comfortable. We worked for the 12 smallmouth and 1 Fall fish we landed. Lots of walking on a big rocky water. We had too slow down our approach with the #8 olive and white cone headed bunny bugger. Lots of juvenile bass in the shallow margins as well as crawfish. We also noted that on the first pool we fished a number of small silver/white bat fish coming out of the water. Letting the fly sink and working it as slowly as possible without getting snagged was the ticket. Towards dusk we tied on a #6 blue/white crease fly for some top water action. We caught several fish on the surface fly in slow glassy pools. Interestingly enough, we had a huge boil on the fly towards the end of the trip and missed the fish. Always funny how you talk about the ones missed. Pretty impressive regardless of the outcome. I like to say to guests that the most difficult part of fly fishing is getting the fish to eat. Well, good summer afternoon. I am off to chase brook trout with guests. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. have fun, Willy
