The past few weeks has been outstanding topwater fishing for smallmouth bass. The annual cicadas have started to die off from the cooler nights. Since a cicada is a easy to catch piece of protein, smallies are paying attention to the surface more and ready to inspect what just fell on the surface. Blue, black, and solar flare Boogle bugs in size 4 are doing the work for me lately. Unfortunately we only have about two weeks of topwater fishing left. Once the nights get colder the bugs like dragonflies, damselflies, and cicadas will be gone to next Summer.
Once Fall arrives or officially feels like Fall for our area most anglers start thinking about trout fishing but the smallmouth bass bite gets really good. With the cooler temps and the bugs gone they turn their attention to baitfish. Smallmouth bass can be extremely aggressive during the Fall months. Their starting to feel Winter coming so they know now is the time to put the feed bag on. So if you missed out on the Summer fishing or still looking for that trophy bass, Fall can produce high catch numbers and size.
I normally don't guide for trout during the Summer months but did get out a couple times recently on the Jackson River tailwater. The mornings will produce some hungry trout but as the mid day arrives the bite will slow down to a crawl until we get out of the Summer heat. So if you decide to go with temps in the 80's for highs I would plan on starting early so you can beat the mid day heat and sun. Fall is just around the corner so this will change very soon. Cooler air temps will help the water cool down and provide the trout with more comfortable conditions. Now is a great time to throw terrestrials like beetles, ants, and hoppers. During my last trip we had few come up and eat the hopper but majority was on the nymph dropper as usual.
Hope to see you on the water!
