A Summer Recap on the Smith River, VA with Matt Tuggle, Lucky Strips Fly Co.

Another great summer season in the books, a large thanks to all that came out and supported. I know we are not yet done with summer, but these recent cooler temperatures have already got us thinking of fall fishing and what is coming in the near future with these weather migrations. In this recap I will highlight several aspects that contributed to our success and the programs we ran throughout the season along with lessons learned and notes taken moving forward.

Summer Fly Fishing on the Smith River comes with plenty of memories and moments to anticipate and look forward to; abundant insect hatches, fish feeding with higher metabolisms, and ever changing weather forecasts.

5 Summer Fly Fishing Tips

1. All Shapes and Sizes: 

In seasons prior I had a revelation finding and understanding the function of differing profiles fly patterns possess and the advantages of replicating that. Seeing that sometimes fish are keyed in on a certain specific profile over others. I was glued to that trend and swore by it, until inevitably that one day or two it began to fail me. Thus creating the need to find change in my approach. Hindsight on the drive home is always 20/20, with all the should haves and could haves. I began to explore those should haves and what could have been. Sizing up and sizing down, throwing the kitchen sink at times. A trend that proved viable to this was when changing flies look more at changing profiles rather than focusing on “what color are they on today”. Keep your fly box fluid with various profiles for those days that don’t fall suit with a typical trend. Balance the thought of attractor vs natural patterns and begin to explore sizing from there. 

Profile is key

2. Targeting Positive Water: 

When discussing seasonal changes and trends this is always an area of large discussion. Targeting positive water is always a significant topic when discussing seasonal changes and trends. When fishing in the boat on a float trip you will continually hear me refer to finding that positive water. With that I look to identify trends in where and when we get attention from fish. Fortunately/Unfortunately, this pattern can have slight changes from day to day or week to week, even within the same season. For summer, generally speaking we find fish pushing into more oxygenated water or slightly off the side of it. With targeting those holding patterns, I like to focus more on using thin profile heavily weighted nymphs to plunge the head of pools and fish effective depth throughout them. As we do this we look to break apart that run covering multiple lanes or as I call them “Fish Highways”. I break them down into A/B/C lanes with B being the middle head of the run, and A and C being the inseam and outside seam respectively. Doing our best effort to slow our drifts down in the slower outside or inseam with constant mends maximizing the time our flies are spent in that prime location. 

This approach can be a key component of a good day, maintaining or holding our flies in slow pockets off to the side of swift current. This is done by continual mends (stack mends), or with the boat getting tight to the prime location and high sticking that productive water.

Other common summertime holding locations fish are found glued to include any structure, overhead coverage, or shade they can find to escape that aggressive summer sun. However,  there are still opportunities to find fish in slower deeper pools or tail outs. Typically, those fish tend to feed differently than those hanging in the faster water. When staged up in the slower water the fish can see much better and farther. They have a longer window of opportunity to decide whether or not they want to fully commit to your presentation than the contrary mentioned earlier. Therefore, we will target those fish differently depending on trends found or established that day. Dry flies and dry droppers are often the go to approach for those shallow tail out washes. 

As we look into alternative patterns and holding trends, we often find fish eating dry flies in calmer tail out waters. We approach these fish with distance and stealth. Using a nice tapered long leader (10-14ft) allowing us to present a fly above the fish and slowly float it down to them. Stealth is key. Doing our best to approach the fish with distance and not “lining” them or allowing them to see the fly line before our fly.

3. Be Flexible in your Approach:

The night before each fishing trip I spend time rigging rods and sorting gear for the day. I pre-rig each rod with an intended game plan based on trends found  from prior trips or seasonal “hot flies” that have been productive in prior outings.  I also match game plans with water flow releases from Philpott Dam or specific sections we plan to fish. However, inherently with fishing, occasionally plans don’t go as we hope and we find that we need to alter our approach for the day. Typically, we have an idea as to where, what and how we will progress through the day but there are outliers to those trends and if one thing is true; no two days of fishing are the same. Try to maintain an open mindset and view each outing as a new day and stay flexible with your approach. If anything like me we find our go getters for a season and become fond of them sometimes to a fault. 

Quick example of changes in flexibility were experienced on a trip we did on the upper sections of the Smith River, which tend to hold tremendous dry fly hatches. As we progressed through the day we were hit by a healthy storm surge of lightning, rain, and wind. The initial approach for the day was a double nymph rig and a dry dropper as that proved successful in prior trips. The aftermath of the storm brought us a tremendous wash of what had to be tens of thousands of bugs carried away by the surge of heavy rain that knocked a substantial percentage of bugs off the banks and tree limbs into the water.  A highway of drowned mayflies washed down the middle of the river. During this time the fish took full advantage of this easy buffet and gorged themselves. The fish were feeding everywhere! That whole river system turned a complete 180 and sparked a feeding frenzy. At this point there was no need for a double nymph rig. We clipped flies and changed tactics.. What prior was a moderate to slower bite, turned into a 30-45 minute window of chaos. I set up clients on a dry fly with a small emerger tied 12 inches off the back and began to take advantage of this opportunistic window for not only the fish, but also us as anglers! Truly a wild turn of events found in a summer storm! When in doubt, fish it out!

4. A little movement can go along way:

Contrary to the trend of mend, mend, mend; and trying to keep our fly riding high and in line with that food highway; when fishing summer dry flies to those finicky wild brown trout sometimes we can incorporate movement into our flies to elicit a response from them. Skating the fly or allowing it to hop and move from one current seam to another can be a very fun effective strategy to produce responses from otherwise hesitant trout! I enjoy throwing slightly off target too far and lifting the rod tip to drag the fly into the current seam I am looking to fish. That extra movement can replicate the struggle of a dry fly lifting off the water or being blown by the wind. Just like the traditional approach of swinging a wet fly, movement isn't always a bad thing! Fish it through and swing it wide, run the full drift, load that fly line and sling em’ back up top for another round of hunting!

5. Bite Windows: 

  From smaller trout streams to larger tailwaters and anything in between we often find selective fish in their summertime feeding patterns. Fish could be seeking to avoid that mid-day blazing summer sun, or waiting for the mid-evening hatch, possibly counting on a pressure change with a summer pop up shower. There are several characteristics that contribute to opportunities for trout to eat when conditions may not be as favorable for them. 

Throughout our summer river float trips, we can look back to identify a period of time or two that a large portion of our bites took place. Whether it was that 3:30pm hatch or that evening cloud coverage rolling in, there are variables that create change in the typical bluebird sky paired with the hot blazing sun that can spark an influx of feeding from the fish. 

During those summer months it can be very advantageous to hit those windows of low light, either first or last light. Look to find peak hatch times and the patterns between peak times relative to locations on the water. When in doubt, fish it hard and fish it well, you never know when the peak opportunities will come. We have seen peak times vary all throughout the day from the boat launch, mid day, or even last quarter turning on. Try to match those with favorable productive sections of water and you can begin to build a database of where to be at what times. 

I greatly appreciate all the support and time reading these articles! Moving forward with our late summer into fall programs. We still have a few prime available dates on the calendar heading into the fall. 

September: 6th & 7th

October: 11th, 12th, 19th, and 26th

November: Several openings

Reach out via email or text/call to get a date reserved!

luckystripsflyco@gmail.com                 276-732-0517