Wow! Part one of this two part series got a little deep and emotional. This post, however, is going to be different. This post will more into the nuances and details of our trip. So without further hesitation, let's get into it!
First of all, while Corey had been on some float trips in the Ozarks, he had never been on a float down an Ozarks stream where fishing for smallmouth bass was the purpose. Prior to arriving for this trip, Corey had never caught a smallmouth bass. I had slightly more experience that Corey but by no means was I significantly more experienced than Corey. And while I fly fish quite a bit more than Corey, he is no slouch. He has some serious skills and has years of experience with using a fly rod. What surprises me is how fast he is and was able to shake the rust off in regards to not casting a fly rod for awhile.
I have had the fortune of hitting the water with Ryan on two occasions before this trip. Each one was unique and special. There is a reason that I wanted to fish with Ryan for a third time as well as a reason that I wanted Corey's for smallmouth bass trip to be with Ryan. That reason is that Ryan is the most knowledgeable and skilled guide that I have ever fished with. It is an honor to say that Ryan has also become a friend. He is always helpful when I run ideas by him and encouraging when I share accomplishments with him. He's also great at sending me some pictures of absolute donkeys that he catches on a routine basis!
Before we launched, it was decided that Corey would be given the front seat of the raft. That seat is typically the one that sees the most action and that is what Ryan and I wanted Corey to experience. As fortune would have it, that was exactly what happened. An interesting side note is that when Corey moved to the back of the boat after lunch, he kept his momentum rolling. This was definitely Corey's day and it was a pleasure to watch it happen. His excitement and enthusiasm were genuine and appreciated by Ryan and I. I'm not afraid or ashamed to admit that Corey out-fished me by quite a bit on this trip and I couldn't be happier.
We caught every fish on this trip on streamers that we cast with 7 weight fly rods. Most of the time we used sink tip line and the flies varied from 5-8 inches long. We threw D & D's, Roamers, Murdich minnows and a few other files but the best producer can be seen in the first picture below. I was surprised to see that most smallies did not come off of structure like laydowns. A few came around grass that lined the banks and a few came from shadowed spots in the shallows. We even caught a few that seemed to be holding in the current and smacked our flies when we let them sink (on accident and on purpose) as well as near the boat.
The action was both steady and consistent. There wasn't flurries of catching a bunch of fish with lulls in-between. Corey ended up catching the biggest fish that was around 15-16 inches. It was also a beautiful representative of its species, but then again, a lot of the fish we caught that day were. Some of the eats were aggressive (which increased our catch rate) and some were more subtle (which caused a lot of misses on my end). The name of the game was quantity over quality. If you have spent some time on the water, you know that nature is going to give you what it wants and I was grateful for the gift that we had received!
If I have it my way, this will not be the last time that I hit the water with these two gentlemen. We swapped stories, laughed, and enjoyed a beautiful piece of water that Ryan graciously guided us through. I have to say, as much as I love fly fishing for trout, I am quickly falling in love with fly fishing for smallmouth. You never know, there just might be more smallmouth content coming up on this blog. In fact, I'm working on a post today that is going to open a lot of smallmouth fly fishing doors for me...stay tuned!
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