When the smallmouth rivers get low in the summer and fall, I usually wade upstream and fish upstream to help keep from scaring the bass. Last summer, I was about to violate this practice: I waded into the side of a large flat pool I planned to fish and as I was tying on my Shenandoah Blue Popper, I glanced out over the pool in front of me. I was shocked. The tell tail waves resulting from where I waded into the river were radiating over the whole pool, even reaching the far bank 150 feet away. I knew I had spooked all of the large bass within casting distance.
In order to give myself a better chance, I hiked upstream on the bank until I came to some faster water below a riffle and slowly waded into the river. My bank was well shaded by large oak trees, so I stayed with my ploy of wading upstream and fishing upstream. I cast my Shenandoah Blue Popper up and across the stream so it landed close to the shaded bank. Using a slow line hand stripping action that moved the popper downstream just slightly faster than the current, I caught many nice smallmouth. There are times that I do fish the large flat river pools when the river gets low. This is because historically I know some of the pools hold many large bass. I usually save these pools to fish at dusk and make long casts as I wade slowly upstream.