Dodging floaters.

Last summer, I hit up a stream thinking that since school had just begun, that floaters would more than likely be done for the season. Boy, was I wrong. I've seen a lot of folks on this stream and although it wasn't crazy busy with just recreational floaters, there were a lot of kayak anglers too. Most fisherman bypassed the same areas and fished the same spots. Kind of interesting how almost all the anglers got out of their kayaks to wade about a 10 yard stretch of water that never yields anything - and after totally skipping about a 60 yard stretch of stream that I almost always catch smallmouth bass.

 Get it? - This was late last summer. Luckily, we received a lot of late July and early August rains that brought the Smallies out of their hiding holes. And as usual, I tied on my trusted "Shucker" streamer and caught some fish. Fortunately, it seemed that all the "party floaters" had gone back to school or college or work and I did meet quite a few kayakers. Some had their dogs and others had to be pulled off of timber at the same log jam. One guy mentioned that he had been fly fishing just as long as he'd been married - HA HA.

 Typically, I do my best to avoid floaters and for good cause - the one time I actually decided to scout some waters I'd been eyeballing for ages, it would seem that almost a whole school just kept floating by and I just could not wade fish that section of the stream - which is in fact also a party river in which you've either got to fish early or late during the summer vacation months. I did catch a few fish that day. My best fish (pictured above) was in that 60 yard stretch of stream all the anglers skipped.

As you can tell, this fly has been hit hard.  It's my "Shucker" streamer.  I use this fly more than any other pattern.  You can find tying instructions here.  http://purposehere.blogspot.com/2013/05/tying-shucker-warm-water-fly-tying.html

Tight Lines.