There is a beautiful stretch of pocket water on my favorite smallmouth stream. On the hike to my fishing spot, I encountered a dead tree branch hanging over the water that was covered with trapped mayflies. Rock-turning in the shallows revealed a large population of mayfly nymphs that I matched with a size-12 North Fork Nymph (our version of the classic Sawyer’s Pheasant Tail Nymph). Down-and-across casts and an upstream mend brought 14 smallies to hand before each was released.
Fishing Mayfly Nymphs For Smallmouths
