My son Jason and I were on Smith Lake this past Tuesday, fishing surface poppers at daylight. The water temps are beginning to fall. Instead of fishing surface temps at 90 degrees, we were fishing a cooler 85 degrees. Fall and spring are my favorite times of year to fish because the fish are much more active then. We were fishing 5wt. 9 ft. Hardy fly rods, which are one of the best lightweight fly rods I’ve ever used. I thought Redington was lightweight, but Hardy is better. It's not only lightweight but also powerful enough to handle a quality fish.
We landed numerous spotted bass this size that morning, which can put a bend in a 5 wt. fly rod. Most fly rods will bend deep when a fish this size makes runs trying to break free; you actually feel the bend through the rod. Fish this size can be a challenge if you don’t know how to play them rather than overpower them, which can often cause you to lose the fish.
For example, I recently landed a spotted bass on Smith a couple of weeks ago while fishing at daylight using my 4wt. Knowing how to play the fish, handle its runs, and apply the right pressure helped me land the bass. This bass fooled me into thinking he was much larger than I thought. The exciting thing about landing fish this size is the fight on the fly rod and watching the bass strip line from your fly reel while your rod bends and the drag sings. I’ve landed lots of fish this size through the years using my baitcasting combo and reeled them in in a matter of seconds. In other words, it is a lot more fun now for me to land a fish in the 12” range than it was back when I was much younger. That's why I can catch a relatively small bass on a fly rod and honestly say, "That was one heck of a fight!"
You don't have to land a trophy bass to have a successful day on the water. Of course, landing a bigger fish is always rewarding, but fishing with a fly rod has a way of making even an average bass feel like a big fish.
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