Padishar Creel wrote:
Date: June 17-19 2005
John Day River Small Mouth Bass Float Trip
With only one response so far (and a maybe at that), I thought maybe a
little marketing of this trip might be in order.

In the latest issue of Fly Fisherman magazine, July 2005, Dave Whitlock has
an article entitled, "Surface Smallmouth." In this article, Dave
relates,"These tough fish (smallmouth bass) are stronger, more durable, much
more prolific, and more intelligent than trout. The have an admirable and
uncompromising personality of a true gamefish, eagerly attacking the fly
and, once hooked, respond with wild, acrobatic jumps, hard runs, and a
strong, stubborn fight that earned them the reputation of being
pound-for-pound the hardest-fighting freshwater fish."

Smallmouth bass are *great* gamefish, that much is true, but
most of Whitlock's hyperbole is either opinion or bull****.
How do you compare the intelligence of a trout and a bass ?
Do you give them underwater IQ tests ? And everybody knows
that the hardest fighting freshwater fish, pound-for-pound,
is the bluegill.

I'd love to go fly fishing for smallmouth with poppers. That's
one of the reasons I paddle far into the Canadian backcountry.
The reason I don't fish for them more around central Illinois
is that they rarely hit surface flies in our streams. Around
here it's mostly wooly bugger fishing and phooey on that ****.

Sounds like a great trip, Chris. Wish I could load up my canoe
and join you !

Good luck.

--
Ken Fortenberry