Float fishing tip for low, clear water

[TurbineBlade]

Hey - during a float this weekend I figured something out:  if you notice that you're spooking the crap out of lots of fish when the canoe gets within about 10-15' of the fish, try making longer (blind) casts further out in front of the canoe so your fly arrives before the fish see you.  

Standing off the front helps too, but you obviously have to cast further out and keep the line lower to the water to get the same effect.  

Complex stuff I know, but it took me about 20 or so floats down the river to finally figure it out.  Once I started doing this over the weekend, it turned a "meh" day into a 100+ fish day.  

It's remarkable how naive (and fun) smallmouth bass are when they aren't aware of you in low, clear water.    

Gene