Harry Murray’s Podcast on what to expect when fly fishing in August for smallmouth bass and trout.
Bass Fly Fishing
The aquatic grassbeds are developing. The smallmouth are feeding heavily on the shiner minnows that live in these grassbeds. During the middle of the day many of the large bass feed on shiners in the water which is 4 to 5 feet deep right beside the grass. The Murray’s Heavy Shiner Streamer size 6 is especially effective in these areas.I cast this in tight against the grass. After it sinks deeply strip it 6 inches every 10 seconds to swim it out 30 feet. As I wade or float down stream I make successive casts every 10 feet in against the grass and swim my shiner out.
At dawn and dusk the grassbeds that form along the shaded banks often provide the best fishing of the day. As the sun gets off the water at dusk I watch these shallows closely. Often I’ve seen dozens of bass feed on shiner minnows along these shallow beds.
Fly Fishing with Poppers
The shaded banks over cobblestone streambottoms is giving us good fishing. I like to use these 3 flies: Shenandoah Blue Popper, Shenandoah Chartreuse Chugger and Shenandoah Sunfish Slider. Cast these tight against the bank and experiment with various strip-pause-strip actions.
Trout Fishing
At this time of year the mountain trout streams can get low and the trout are wary if we don’t continue to get rain. One way you can give yourself a slight edge to prevent scaring the trout is to fish the high gradient sections of these streams. You might even have to go to your hands and knees as you approach each pool. I do not false cast over the pool I’m about to fish. This scares the trout. If I need to make a measuring cast I do it to the side of the pool.
Slack Line Cast are a great help in getting a natural drift with flies. My favorite slack line casts are the Puddle Cast and the Lazy S Cast. Listen to my podcast for an explanation of these casts.
There are a variety of terrestrial insects along the streams. The Murray’s Flying Beetle has been working really well. I have also had success with the Murray’s Oakworm, Housefly, Yellow Jacket and Inchworm.
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