When I got back from Florida, my friend Tom was anxious to show me some of the smallmouth bass spots he'd been scouting with some luck. This is on a small river in central Illinois. He showed me how he presents the fly on a greased line swing, which proved to be the ticket! Tom is a great angler who has a couple decades of flyfishing under his belt. He likes classic flies tied with natural materials. I like whatever works in a given situation.
In this case, we were using crayfish imitations. I tied on the only crappy rendition of a Barr's Meat Whistle I could tie the night before.
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| They've gotten a lot better looking since, trust me. |
The first smallmouth of summer was a beautiful 18" bronze
And there were a lot of bites when you could find them.
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| Tom also despises my homemade stripping basket. He's never fished the mid-Atlantic surf... |
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| I love those red eyes.
This month they've switched modes to prefer baitfish patterns. Tom is a big fan of fishing two-fly rigs all season. Mostly he uses a 9' tapered leader + 2' tippet + weighted crayfish pattern, beadhead bugger, or Clouser minnow + muddler minnow, wet fly or unweighted bugger.
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| I like my pictures like I like my potatoes--mashed.
Whatever Tom does, I try to imitate. It's worked so far. And it's almost time for steelhead around here--Tom's favorite. I'm hoping he calls me...
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