hmmm...posting a picture....

Ooow , nice Smallmouth Mike ! They get that "washed", pale color when the water's warm or murky . That is a funny lookin' Taps bug though ... Seeya ! David

[Hairstacker]

Yep, caught that one in a valley lake last spring on March 14th -- water was definitely off-color and was warming up (place gets blistering hot in the summer). Caught it on a #2 chartreuse/white Clouser (my favorite sub-surface bass fly), while fly casting to a boulder field in shallow water. If I recall correctly, the fish took it on the drop. At only 13", it put up a great fight! Felt like a 15" largemouth and I definitely couldn't just reel it in. Tape-measured it, took its picture, and let it go.

[Adam Grace]

My mind is on steelies right now. I normally like to fish for bass with surface bugs. The marabou threw me off. Nice supn deer marabou bass bug! I also like the smallie picture, I love the red eyes.

[Hairstacker]

Hi Adam! Yeah, when I caught that thing, I was really struck by those red eyes. Especially since I had been spending so much time fly fishing for largemouths, which have dark olive eyes with black pupils. Was happy to see that the red showed up well in the picture. David Lee has taught me that smallmouths from different bodies of water can vary dramatically in their coloration. He was telling me about some that have very distinctive blue cheek marks, instead of the light olive ones you see in the above picture. Makes we wonder if their eye colors can also vary significantly.