Iowa Smallmouth Bass, 9-26-2015

I headed up to wade and flyfish a river for Smallmouth Bass on Saturday morning.  Fished from @ 8:30- noon.

The water in the river has been high to very high most of the summer.  The water level has been falling, but it was still a bit high and fast and not very clear.  The high water all summer seems to have scoured the river deeper, and there are lots more trees in the river, including some biggies that have fallen off the bank and nearly blocked the entire width of the river!

Wading in the deeper water wasn’t much fun, and the whole experience seemed a lot more like WORK than enjoyment.  But I really wanted to make one more trip up there this year, and this was my opportunity.  I saw 8 Wild Turkeys fly over the river, which was pretty cool.

I caught 8 Smallies, 2 Creek Chubs, and 1 Striped Shiner.

I waded out into the river in one spot, went up over my navel, and decided to back up before I went even deeper.  I walked back up onto the sandy tributary creek delta I’d just walked out on (had maybe 4” of water flowing over it), and the surface sand gave way and I went thigh deep into the sand, which instantly locked up solid around my leg and ankle.  It was weird.  My other foot was calf-deep in it.   At least when my deeper foot went down, it seemed to stop at a fairly solid subsurface.  Wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get out of that mess, but I wasn’t in a hurry.  Somehow I even managed to get out and still keep my shoes on!

I waded down to the next tributary creek, and saw another fly angler wading just downstream of me.  I saw him catch a decent smallie, so figured he knew what he was doing.   I got out and left.