Bronze Medals

If fish were medals the smallmouth bass would definitely be the Bronze.  Even though the bronze medal means you came in third, I wouldn’t rate the smallmouth bass (Bronzebacks) as a third place fish.  Smallmouth has always been my favorite fish in freshwater.  This week I started throwing topwater flies with clients and the smallies have been very receptive. Things were going good with a busy schedule and great water conditions on the James, until we received 3 inches of rain yesterday. The Covington, VA area received a lot more than that and the Jackson along with the upper James are in flood stage.  It will likely be a week or more before the James is back fishable.  The New river in Virginia did not receive the rain like we did, so thats still very fishable. Likely I will head over there until fishing returns here.  Here are the better fish we landed on this weeks trips.  Be safe out there!