As most of the "Smith River Regulars" know, the Smith is noted for gin clear water which allows the fish to detect movement or shadows that could signal a predator such as a hawk, heron, mink , or fisherman. Once they scoot for cover it is very difficult to entice them to bite. However, the Smith continues to reward those that can cast a fairly long line and know how to read the water. This was very apparent at the end of last week.
On Thursday I arrived late in the morning to discover that the COE had revised the generation schedule so that it forced me to fish downstream beyond the Hwy 220 Bypass. (Call 276-629-2432 for the latest schedule) The day was nice, but breezy. You could tell that a change in weather was coming. It took me awhile to hook my first fish but they were soon coming to the Allieworm in regular fashion.
I reached double digits before arriving at a good "get out point". By this time the generation surge was about to descend on me so I drove further downstream to the Koehler area and made a few quick casts up through the well known riffle that runs in front of "Garfield's Chicken In The Basket". This particular riffle and surrounding area is sometimes tricky to wade because the bottom is constantly changing from the force of the generation flow which repositions the sand and sediment. Sometimes you only get wet up to your knees and other times you have to hug one side or the other and stand on your tiptoes.
The Kohler area is also a well known stocking truck stop. The last stocking of the lower river was about three weeks ago and it appeared that most of the easy fish were already gone. I did catch three Browns, one of which was the large fish of the day - about a foot long.
Early the following morning (Friday) I picked up a gentlemen who had stayed the night at one of the local motels and we headed for the lower end of the Special Regulation Section. Our intention was to fish up through the flat water to the Rosemont Rd parking area, arriving there before the early generation flow reached us.
It soon became apparent that casting ability was going to be an issue. The water was very clear and there was no way that any self respecting fish was going to commit suicide that close to the end of the rod tip.
We quickly regrouped and moved down river to some water with a good section of riffles which allow closer presentations because the fish can not see up through the broken water as easily as they can smooth water. While demonstrating techniques I hooked and landed a small handful of fish - this was encouraging because it showed the river really did hold fish and the Allieworm was capable of fooling them.
Try as we might, I could not get the gentleman to hook up with a fish. He turned a couple but could not close the deal. We finished the morning by working on his casting and showing him how to "read the water". In defense of all, I should report that a cold front had blown through during the night. It had rained for a couple hours just before dawn and the temperature had plunged to a cool 40 degrees at daybreak and did not reach a high of 55 all day. Not exactly conditions that bode for good fishing.
After a quick lunch we headed for a "no name stream" which is also called a "blueline" because is often shows up on a map as just that. This stream requires a good hike but it also contains at least one fish in every little hole or plunge pool. You usually get one shot at them. If you miss, you move on to the next pool.
My favorite set up for this stream is a long rod with a short leader. The reason I use a long rod is that in most cases I just dangle the leader off the end of my rod tip and dance a brace of flies through the fishy looking plunge pools. I tie a bushy dry fly on as an indicator and tie a small section of 5x or 6x tippet to the bend of the dry fly. I then tie a small nymph to the end as a dropper. In this case I tied on a #16 Ray Charles for my client and I used a nymph fashioned from some gray hair that came from my kitty cat.
We were soon into fish. They were not big ones but if you approached the pools correctly you could usually entice a vigorous strike. Smiles all the way around!!
Despite the slow start on the Smith, the day was a success. After several of these the fellow said, "I guess I'm a small stream kind of guy"!!!
We had fun, the client learned a few things and most important we wetted his appetite for more fishing. He remained at the hotel for a second night (Martinsville folks take note - two nights in hotel, meals, gas and who knows what else - just what the area needs). Early the following morning I received a call at my cabin asking about the generation flow rate. He said he was about to step into the Smith for some more fishing on his own at one of the locations I had shown him the day before. --- We might have another "Smith River Regular" in the making!
