Summer opens the door on our great smallmouth fishing hard bugs. I usually stock over 20 different hard floating bass bugs in my fly shop.
For my personal surface smallmouth fishing, I usually start the day with the Shenandoah Blue Popper size 6 for the simple reason that it seldom lets me down.
When teaching our Fly Fishing Schools on the river, our instructors stress the importance of learning to read the water. This is a three-step process which lays the whole process right in front of the angler. First the student evaluates the water before him and reflecting on the depth of the stream, the nature of the stream bottom and the shade, he tries to determine where he believes the bass will choose a feeding station.
After the angler has determined where the bass will locate the feeding station, he chooses where he wants to present his bug. With this information in hand, he now must select where he wants to position himself to make his presentation to the bass.
These flies are my go to flies for the summer months of June-August.
Includes : (1 of each fly)
- Shenandoah Blue Popper size 6
- Shenandoah Chartreuse Chugger size 6
- Murray's Crayfish, Olive size 6
- Bass Stonefly Nymph size 4
- Bass Caddis Nymph size 6
- Shenk's White Streamer size 6
- Murray's Pearl Marauder size 6
- Murray's Magnum Bluegill size 4
- Murray's Madtom Sculpin size 6
- in a 6 compartment fly box