June and July started off one of the wettest Summers I can remember. Come August this year the rain stopped and I mean stopped. That was ok though because we had great flows through August and about mid September the water started to get lower. Not my first rodeo with drought since its been a low and clear for the past three years especially in late Summer and Fall timeframe. This smallie season has been likely the best I can remember especially for citation size bass which in Virginia is 20 inches or 5 pounds for smallmouth bass. I'm not sure how many citation bass were landed this year by clients but I do know one of my regulars landed four 20 inch or better fish in 5 trips this year! A lot of 18's and 19 inch fish hitting the net this year as well, plenty of personal best fish for my clients this year, I can't ask for much more. I would believe next year will be even better and hope we get through Winter quickly so I can get back smallie fishing come March for pre spawn bite.
This Fall I stuck with fishing topwater flies way longer than normal. With the crystal clear water the bass still noticed them and ate them without hesitation of course if they were hungry. One of the problems with the clear water related to streamer fishing is the fish have a lot of time to inspect the fly and find every reason not eat it. I've seen this behavior many times when the water is gin clear. For some reason topwater works best in these conditions because the smallmouth bass are seeing a profile above them and maybe can't quite make it out like a streamer in their face. At least thats my theory and it has worked! With the cool down of Fall the smallmouth bass becomes more comfortable meaning their metabolism is slowing with cooler water temps. When they eat a decent meal they may not feed for awhile unlike in the Summer their metabolism is burning hard and eating as often as they can. So the feeding windows become smaller and more spread out through the day and sometimes like now with colder weather the afternoon is typically best with high sunshine warming them. Over my past few trips the morning has been much slower with afternoon being the best and it should continue this way until the water drops below 50 degrees then its time to go trout or musky fishing. Also I love to bowhunt so this means more time in the woods!
With November a few a days away my focus will turn towards trout trips and musky as water conditions improve from hopefully some rain. I have ran a few trout trips this month already with great success on the Jackson River tailwater. Likely I will run a few smallmouth trips until it gets to cold for the those anglers that can't get enough of bass fishing! Hope to see you on the water and as always thank you for the support!
