Nice fall day for smallmouth.

Went out after we had some torrential rain and a cold snap. I didn't expect to do well. I went out to get some fresh air. Caught a few bass. Nasty currents. Cold water . . . and allergies.

Smallmouth on the Fly. Fly fishing for bass.

Just sitting here enjoying my coffee with some sort of egg and sausage casserole my wife baked . . . just dwelling on today's highlights. It wasn't a great day. Heck, the water temperature dropped darn near 20 degrees in a week. Fall hit us like that darn drought. Well, I hope it's Fall. I finally strapped on the ol' waders and hit the frigid stream.

Warmed up playing with some sunfish and bream. I crept onto a long stretch of smooth shale with some deep pools, hoping to play some bass with a crawdad I had tied on. I landed a few small bass and lost a decent one too.

As the weather began to warm up and the clouds rolled in from the east, I made my way to the secret spot . . . MY secret spot which nobody will ever find out about . . . ever. For now, he he. With my crawdad pattern, I was using floating line. The leader was short, so I piddled around a deep pool until I lost that darn thing.

So, I tied on a Rainy's Cricket. I got some of these flies from my dad about 4 years ago and have never used them. I landed a few small Ozark bass and a Shadow bass or two. Not much action as the past few weekends on this spot. I decided to make my way back upstream to drift the cricket. But before I left this spot, I slapped it down near the edge of where the deep pool turns shallow and the stream slows down a bit. SLAM! A bass leaped out of the water as it hammered my fly. I pulled back and he jumped back out of the water again. DANG! A beauty. Since I had lost a few big ones recently, I decided to play this fish out. It took about 10 minutes but I think he still wanted to play.

Yup, I was happy. So, I ended up losing that cricket in some rocks across the stream. I decided to put on my sinking line and tie on a chartreuse Clouser. Yep, landed a few more bream and smaller bass.

The wind changed direction and clouds were now coming in from the Northeast. I decided to hike back to the truck, as the wind was getting colder and clouds began to grow and darken.

Trying not to doze off, I sip on my coffee and nibble on my Snackimals . . . just thinking of how much time I have left before Mother Nature brings her chilled reminder of the holidays and it's droll responsibilities.

Flip-Flop Fly comes through again. Bass fly.

Went out today. The stream was running faster and the bass were moving about in the riffles and backwater. Due to our heat wave, the streams have receded more than usual. The fish were sure enjoying their freedom from the heat and murky waters.

I don't know why but this year has been awesome for me . . . at least in the way of catching bass. One interesting note, I was casting downstream into a swift current and popping my Flip-Flop fly against the flow - back upstream. AND the bass were hitting it. Not only was it a portion of stream that I have never caught bass in but I was using a technique that I figured was odd.

I also hit some backwater on the edge of the stream which was grown up with weeds and grass. Lots of rocks and logs. The water had risen enough for the bass to chase minnows and crawdads into this somewhat shallow retreat. September . . . and I'm still taking lots of bass on top water flies.