Fourth of July

The Fourth of July was hot this year. People were passing out from the heat at the parade. While they were watching our public servants pass by, I was in a stream watching small mouth bass dart from under my feet. The stream is the best place to cool off on a hot day. Wading without waders keeps your feet and legs cool. The shade of streamside trees protects your head from the searing heat. These are the days of summer when I love to fish for the always hungry rock bass and smallies. 

  This stream was stocked with trout this year. I hoped to locate them. It did not take long to find rising creek chubs hitting on brown caddisflies so that's what I started with. I practiced my fly placement and strike reflex. I soon got bored of these 6“ minnows and moved downstream into some very nice flat water. Here, I could get some distance with my backcast.
















 I tied off a black-nose dace and started pulling out a few smallmouth, not big, but fun on the fly.

I continued downstream and fished all morning. Each swell in the river bottom held one or two bass. I found a patch of grass and caught a bass that had obvious scaring from a previous encounter with a larger fish, possibly a pike.
While free wading, I spooked a black bass, maybe 12 to 14 inches in length.

By the afternoon the action shut right down.

I hiked back to my vehicle and reviewed each of my photos.

 Each photo renewed the enjoyment of catching fish where I wanted and when I wanted on Independence Day.