I guided parties yesterday and today on a pair of my favorite bass fishing ponds. Both days had very good fishing and everyone caught a number of fish. It is always a pleasure to guide out of the Grand Lake Canoe. It is beautiful, adding something to the trip all by itself, and a pleasure to paddle. On Saturday the smallmouth bass were not overly eager but simply could not resist a well presented fly. One of the women liked to change flies even if she had one that was working. Not the way that I normally play it but a great way to see the range of patterns that will work on any given day. Most of the flies that worked were exactly the ones that I would have picked out of her box. But there were a couple of ringers. My big lesson for the day was that I don't think you could throw a fly on a five weight rod that would be to big for a smallmouth.
This morning I had gentleman along that has fished with me many times. We fish a second pond that I consider a smallmouth pond but has had largemouth bass introduced in the last decade or so. The smallmouth seemed to be hiding but the largemouth were very prevalent. He had two of well over 2 pounds and lost a third that I would guess at over 4. I was in charge of flies today and we started with a red and white, switching to a black bugger after the first few fish because I fished over a couple of places that I thought should produce fish without any results. The big fish was only disappointing in that it got off before we had it into the boat but it made several jumps so we got a very good look at it. It is not often that a freshwater fish needs the fisherman to handle it on the reel or puts the line into the backing but this one did both. I am looking forward to returning and trying that one again.