RiverQuest Captain Don Graham and I hit the Muskegon River today to chase smallmouth bass. Gorgeous weather; no boats; three retired couples in kayaks; and that was it—just us, Mother Nature and the bass. We started with streamers, hooked a couple of fish, and soon switched to floating lines and poppers. We didn’t take a lot of bass, but the ones we took were big and strong. Don and I love top water bass bugging, and it puzzles us why this is such an under utilized fishery. Classic fly casting, explosive strikes, and strong, strong fights—that’s smallmouth bass on the fly rod. We love it to the max and sharing it together today made our love of the sport all the better.
Our smallmouth fishery should hold up through the second week of September. It’s a great way to get into fly fishing—learning the cast, line management, and so on—with the very possibility of connecting with smallmouth like these that Don and pose. Want to learn how to fly cast? Join us on the Muskegon, and we’ll get you into it big time!
Captain Tom Kuieck
