Jin and I drove up to Pennsylvania early in the morning to meet Tom Baltz for a day of smallmouth bass fly fishing on one of the many small streams that crisscross the state. It was a very clear and cool day, with temperatures in the low 80's and decent water flow.
After meeting Tom and driving for an hour through several small towns we arrived at the stream and hiked a short way up a country road before entering the water.
Tom advised us to carefully cast to deeper pockets and structure as we slowly walked along the sunny side of the stream. Bass will hold in the shade under overhanging tree branches, deeper pockets of water and around large rocks.
We started out throwing foam poppers and varying the retrieve as we cast to possible targets as we walked upstream. Action was slow but steady, with smaller (8-12 inch) bass taking the fly but with sizeable smallmouth crashing the poppers now and then. That really wakes you up! Other types of fish that we pulled in were several species of sunfish and a mix of fallfish (looks like a sardine).
A heavy thundershower forced us to take shelter later in the afternoon but when the weather passed the bite really picked up. Around 8 pm, as the sun began to set and the weather cooled a bit, Jin and Tom pounded the bass, pulling in over a dozen from one hole alone.
EQUIPMENT: We used 6 weight rods with short, heavy leaders and tippet to throw an assortment of popping flies and weighted streamers.