Ever used bass skaters while smallmouth fishing? One hot July afternoon on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River I decided to experiment. I saw many smallmouth leaping into the air in front of me. I tried streamers, nymphs and poppers but nothing worked. Finally I saw one large smallmouth jump six inches out of the river and grab an adult dragonfly out of the air.
I put on a Mr. Rapidan Skater size 8 and dressed the fly and leader with dry fly floatant. Casting out to where I had seen the bass jump, I raised the rod tip making the fly dance across the surface of the river. Instantly the bass jumped and took the Mr. Rapidan Skater. Ten feet further downstream other bass were jumping to grab the adult dragonflies in the air so I waded downstream and tried the same technique. It worked and I caught several more smallmouth. To switch it up, I tried a Murray’s Olive Dragonfly Skater. It worked just as well.
Hot spots are the tails of the river pools and the 4-6 feet deep cuts between river crossing ledges. I’ve even had success with this technique when I have not seen bass jumping.