Fly fishing on the smallmouth bass rivers can be excellent in July. This years young hog suckers are large enough to provide an easy meal for the bass. The last two hours of the day, these young hog suckers move onto the gravel bars where the water is 1-2 feet deep to do their own feeding. Here they are easy prey for the bass. The gravel bars which run down the river parallel to the bank hold great numbers of these young hog suckers. I can usually catch some large bass here.



Wade down the river close to the river bank and cast a Murray’s Magnum Hog Sucker 50 feet out toward mid-river and strip it 6 inches every 5 seconds to swim it right up the gravel bar. Pause every 5 feet to repeat this tactic. LISTEN TO MY PODCAST >>



Want to tie a Murray’s Magnum Hog Sucker? Get one of our fly tying kits.



Fly Fishing for Trout



The sulphur mayflies are still on the streams providing outstanding dry fly fishing. Admittedly as the streams get lower the trout become wary and very selective in the drift of our drys. In order to compensate for this, I use a slack line cast. LISTEN TO MY PODCAST FOR INFORMATION ON DIFFERENT CASTS. A Murray’s Sulphur Dry size 16 or 18 works well here.



Learn to Fly Fish



Each summer we conduct Full Day Fly Fishing Schools for smallmouth bass on the Shenandoah River. We still have a few openings for Summer 2023. We just posted the dates for our Mountain Trout Schools conducted in the Shenandoah National Park for Spring 2024. Fly Rod & Reel Outfits are provided for the schools.