After more than a few trips to the Potomac to catch a smallie on the fly, I was able to land my first two today. I’ve caught many species of fish to date, but this was my first Smallmouth Bass, a fish I’ve been after for a while — with not much success to date.

A 0X leader was able to make short work of getting the fish to the net, but there were a few attempts at runs by the bass. I image if I’d been on my 5 weight with something like a 3x leader, it might have been dicey & prolonged. An 8wt rod w/ 0X Trout Leader landed him pretty quickly for the photo & hook removal, and homeboy was on his way shortly thereafter.

I caught him on a Murray’s Marauder I bought from Harry Murray in Edinburg, VA after landing my first Brook Trout on a trip in the Shenandoah one morning last June — and for whatever reason, decided to finally fish it tonight instead of the many other patterns I’d tied for this water. Aesthetically, the fly was just not my cup of tea, but after tonight it’s growing on me.

I generally prefer natural materials and I don’t believe I’ve ever fished a fly made w/ Estaz before. I know I haven’t used Ostrich hurl before, either. Its an interesting use of materials — and clearly effective. I will no doubt continue with my deer hair & hackle, but am likely to come around on these materials as well.

Memorializing the phenomena: I cast upstream at a very slight angle, the fly sank for about five seconds before the slack was pulled out of the line and before the current had pulled the fly downstream of the casting position, a fish was on. (Seemed to take it on the sink.) Two strip sets in quick succession confirmed and the fish alternated between swimming toward and away from me.

The second fish was caught on a downstream cast, stripping back through the ‘swing.’ That fish, about half the size of the first, took the fly on the retrieve.

Hulking the fish to the net made me wonder if this is the more humane approach. With some time to think about it, I think it is. On lighter tippets with larger trout, it seems like there’s more of a ‘conversation’ where the fish delays and exerts more effort…running back into currents, heading for cut banks, etc., both of us believing that the outcome is less certain. The goal is to land the fish and release it; reducing the duration of the fight–as fun as it can be sometimes–seems best.

Notes on spawning season for the species: Temperatures have been above 70’F on average, since May 1st and is a large reason why I decided fishing today would be ethical. Temps first reached 58’F on April 11th. I believe the spawning season to be over at this point, but will continue to avoid fishing gravel beds anyway, opting for faster/deeper water, until the 15th, in case there are a few late spawners still guarding their fry. (noting that I saw none today while wading.)