Iowa Smallmouth Bass 6-27-2017

[FishnDave]

I had planned to take this coming Thursday off work to flyfish for Smallmouth Bass. The selected river had finally dropped into a marginally wadable level. But with 3 consecutive days of rain in the forecast, the river is going to go back up again for who-knows-how-long. So, I went last night after work and a quick dinner. Chad Mason went along, used spinning gear on a different river section (I fished the section upstream of the access, he fished the section downstream of the access).

I'm glad I went, but the river was higher, muddier, and cooler than I would have liked for wet-wading.
First cast with a popper caught the biggest Smallmouth of the evening (14").


6 Smallies and the Green Sunfish hit the blockhead popper, with 2 additional bass hitting a chartreuse-over-yellow Clouser Deep Minnow.



Near the end of the evening, I noticed something bizarre struggling in the water as it flowed downstream past me. I chased it down and lifted it from the water. A bat! Cute lil' bugger....I researched it later, and believe this is a Tricolored Bat. I put it on shore....Hope it survives its dunking!