Spring Bass

Sometimes conditions align and offer a great day of fishing. When that happens with the Smallmouth then you know you've experienced something special. And that was the case this past weekend. The water temp was finally up, the fish were in the shallows staging for the spawn, the wind was light, the water clarity was good...

With everything in place we had what we needed to slay Smallies on the fly and we will not soon forget how many one to three pound fish were brought to the boat.

If you've ever fished in the high desert then you know how beautiful it can be. The clean air, the sound of the birds, the smell of Sage, sand, and wildflowers... It gets in the back of your brain and remains there, making it something you have to periodically seek out.

We started at daybreak and ended at dark. We ran the bay boat at top speed from cove to cove. We were warriors pitting skills against the feisty Bronzeback. What fun...

Aggressive Smallmouth will always have a place in my heart. And I will continue to seek them out in the spring when sunshine finally arrives to warm my moldy western Washington heart. And I will continue to bore my friends with tales of skill, which they will demote to tales of luck. And I will still grin, remembering the good days such as those experienced on this trip...

Amber Lake in the Cold Month of May

A gray, blustery day made for heads-down, determined fishing. It took a couple hours but once the water warmed a bit, the fish began to move and we found success here and there on various patterns - Adam scored first on Chironomids, then I picked up a couple with a black Sealbugger. We had to search to find fish but they came steadily, if slowly. In the early evening, just before we quit, I tied on two Boatmen in tandem and took the 17-inch fish pictured below on the first cast.

I love stripping flies for aggressive Rainbows.

It had definitely been an early season, cold-day experience. But it was still satisfying to weather the 15 MPH winds and come up with as many trout as we did...