BIGGIE SMALLS!!!

[Daniel Davala]

I wrote up this trip report for the Orvis blog but wanted to post it here first.  Trent Jones and I got out on Wednesday with our good friend and Guide Matt Miles to go after some VA Smallmouth.  We decided early on to stick with topwater all day and bring them to the surface rather than switching up tactics and going for numbers. 

If you haven't watched a big Smallie rise and slowly slip a dead drifted slider you are missing out!  The intensity of that moment when they decide to eat or not to eat rivals anything you could ever see on a Trout stream.  And the fight that ensues immediately thereafter is one of the best fixes you can get in freshwater.

We put in a good long day, covering about 9 miles of gorgeous VA warm water.  And while we stayed in the boat for most of the trip, at one point I just couldn't resist hopping out to go one on one with a good fish we had seen break in a nice long riffle.  It took a dozen casts or so but she finally crushed it and was all mine. 

By far and away though, the highlight of the trip was watching one of my best friends get his personal best smallmouth, a fish that taped out at just over 21 inches.  That fish sipped the fly so delicately, then went completely ballistic, coming out of the water multiple times with one ridiculous leap of over 4 feet above the surface.  Yes, that happened!  Way to go Trent!!!

Big thanks to Matt Miles for putting us on some awesome fish, and for a great time on the river as always.  We're already looking forward to the next trip! 

Dan Davala

[Ryan DiAndrea]

Some good looking smallmouth you got there. Where in VA were you guys fishing?

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[Scott Stankus]

Wow, that looks like an awesome trip! Thanks for the report and photos. And that is one big Bronzeback! Nice work, guys. 

--Scott

Sent from my iPhone

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<Photo 1 Credit Matt Miles.jpeg>

<Photo 2 Credit Matt Miles.JPG>

<Photo 3 Credit Dan Davala.JPG>

<Photo 4 Credit Matt Miles.jpeg>

<Photo 5 Credit Dan Davala.JPG>

<Photo 6 Credit Dan Davala.JPG>

<Photo 7 Credit Trent Jones.JPG>

[Ernie]

Nice work fellas!!

[HeaveToo]

Nice fish!  Looks like an awesome trip.  I lost a tremendous smallmouth last week on the upper Potomac River.  We have some awesome fisheries in the area!  It is fun to get the bruisers into the fight.

[Terry C]

It was nice of Trent to take one of the members of ZZ Top out fishing for the day, maybe there is a correlation between length of beard and length of fish ? We'll done fellas. Looks like a great day.

[Daniel Davala]

Well Terry, I'm hardly a Rough Boy.  I prefer to think of it as an all natural Buff with at least an UPF of 30.  Plus, it holds Deet well and in a pinch could make a few nice Clousers! 

On Fri, Aug 1, 2014 at 9:14 AM, Terry C <flycs...@gmail.com> wrote:

It was nice of Trent to take one of the members of ZZ Top out fishing for the day, maybe there is a correlation between length of beard and length of fish ?    We'll done fellas. Looks like a great day.

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[Terry C]

Great idea for next Iron fly contest, I recently shaves my 5 yr old beard, will have to start it again. I catch hell from the Ms when mine gets long. I can tell her I am saving money on fly tying materials.

[Matt Geiman]

Love the pics! Makes me want to get on the river!

[The Shad Hammer]

Love them red eye devils!

[Art Friedlander]

Great report.

What flies were you using for topwater fishing?

Art 

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[Daniel Davala]

We used large, Chartreuse sliders that Matt ties.  He uses a large Wapsi popper head turned around slider style with some rubber legs poked through and some feathers off the back.  The real key though was the presentation.  Splat it down, then mend to fish it drag-free/dry fly style with a twitch or two thrown in at the end of the drift.  Super fun way to fish!

Dan Davala

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[just...@yahoo.com]

Many thanks

Just back in town

Sounds like fun. Will have to try the dead drift.

Art

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