Early Summer Fishing Report on the Smith River
- luckystripsflyco
- Jun 2
- 5 min read
Matt Tuggle with Lucky Strips Fly Co. here again with another Smith River Fly Fishing Report, with a seasonal early summer fly update on how fishing has been here on the Smith River in Bassett, Virginia. Things have been hot and heavy for us as of late, that sprout of rain we received in our system a little over a week ago had provided a much needed reset on things. Since then we have put together some really great trips out there. Here I will be highlighting a few core memories from them as well as techniques and tactics that aided in the success of those days on the water. Fishing out there on the Smith River in this Early Summer season has been productive due to a few techniques I will be highlighting, such a great time to be out!
A top priority I have placed on trips and the luxury of sitting upfront in my boat is that you will be constantly told, “downstream 45” meaning get that cast/flies working downstream in front of the boat. We are still on our lower water with a small donation of an additional 40 cfs to the system. Being in this lower water state the fish are spooking much easier and much further out in front sometimes 20-50ft out in front of the boat you will see them abort their feeding lines. Therefore that front seat becomes crucial in getting their flies out front surveying the waters. I always preach, let's lead “flies first” then line then boat.
From the back you are not counted out, you however are just playing the next line over and thinking more of the distance approach. We are taking and sampling that next line over, I like the back to be 3-5 feet further from where I have the front angler working as we initially pick apart the run, then once we have surveyed multiple lines we then hit the money line together alternating front angler in first back angler following behind him giving about a 10 ft leeway between presentations, in efforts to mitigate tangles. Also when running and gunning and hitting these drifts on the move I like to turn the boat diagonal and let that back anglers field of view open up and enhance that range of motion and perspective on their drift, this has been a great play surveying some slower water.
Which leads me into my next tactic that I have implemented heavily and I believe it is one that helps me as a guide break apart water, but also helps clients understand and learn how to read water then break it down from a fishing perspective. This process and speaking through it also helps us all get on the same page early in the float and we can maximize our time on the water. When rolling into a new beat and surveying the rocks and structure along with the current I try
to insist on having clients break it down into A,B,C lines; yes that C line over by the down tree with great current creating positive holding water may be the money line, however we are still finding trout off the gravel shoals, or the built up sediment line almost like their sun bathing in the shallower water, but indeed still feeding; I want to get flies to those fish too!! I want to survey those lines and work those guys just as much prior to heading into the thick of things as, lets say best case we do hit that C line and we pull a fish off and as we do we are now dragging through A and B lines to get this fish back into the net, we have spooked that hole and may as well head down to the next one. That is another luxury of the boat is being able to anchor up and take our time and not have to only satisfy for hitting one line but rather surveying that full run A,B,C. Some that have been with me where we are finding fish in those lines sometimes A and C sometimes A through C, I will then refine things and start making micro adjustments to our presentations, Ok now lets hit B and a half (B.5) and let those flies work that micro seam before heading into C or hanging tight to B. Just as well as we are seeing those lines the fish live in them and make their living picking food sources out of them. so they know flies that enter that b and a half line are going to fade into the back of the C line. Those small micro adjustments have been killer the past couple weeks. especially when throwing to pressured fish in low water.
This in turn sparks the next conversation and tactic that I encourage highly. In order to do some of the things we spoke about in the text above, picking off different lines and allowing our flies to hit those different lines, we need to loosen up our drift. It can be a little counterintuitive to some and at times maybe fall short, but I like to have our fly lines nice and loose going through those runs, and this then allows our flies to work independently throughout that run. This allows us to put them in that be and a half line and allow them to slide naturally into the back of the C line. I believe there's a lot of merit to that natural presentation and them being able to slide naturally and do their own thing and work independently of the tip of our rod and being connected with the fly line. yes throwing loose lines out there you may have an eat that you were slow to get to, but it gets back to the whole, what came first the chicken or the egg. the eat that we were able to elicit from loose lines that we may have not had a chance of staying tight to and having micro drags in our presentation that never get eaten, and leaves clients saying “oh man that drift really should have gotten an eat”. It does come down to the small technicalities over time and that can be the difference between grabbing one fish out of that nice run, compared to grabbing multiples.
Fishing has been great the past few weeks, a lot of bugs in the system, thus promoting a variety of tactics coming into play. we've had several trips with clients end their day completing the trifecta of catching fish on nymphs, streamers, and the infamous dry fly.
As always I greatly appreciate the support ,moving into this summer schedule I have both weekday and weekend availability. It’s a great time to be out on the water enjoying a day floating the Smith and taking in the breathtaking scenery it provides on a daily basis along with the wonderful fishery it is. Home to beautiful wild brown trout as well as healthy stocked rainbows! Would love the opportunity to take you out fishing whether its returning back for another round on it, or checking it out for the first time with me. I am grateful for any and all opportunities to showcase my home waters with others!
Booking trips can be done through our website, or via phone or email.
276-732-0517
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