Turkey sandwich

Google Maps/Earth is a good starting point. You can get the layout of rivers, find areas of faster descent, check out the surrounding land for clues as to the types of bottom you’re going to find, and a million other pieces of information, but that’s just the start. It has limitations - trees, weird angles, guessing flows at the time of the picture, etc. Paddling and fishing the stream is where you refine that information.

I love that this thread is still alive and kicking. This really should be a book (seriously, it's that good) and @A-Jay is the man for sharing it for free.

The fisheries definitely do better because of it. Plus, you can still catch big smallmouth transitioning. They don't all spawn at once. We were seeing fish beginning to build beds on the tribs and were catching fish in pockets around fast water. This will go on, likely, for the next month or so before they finish up. And by then, early spawners will already be moving into their summer patterns. Tight lines!

Thanks man! Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures posted of cicada eaters soon.

LOL, I still lurk every now and again. I've had a lot of not fishing stuff going on and have been spending more time chasing trout with the buggy whip than bass and have spent a lot more time following hatches than pre-spawn smallmouth. I'm trying to get out a ton for both browns and smallmouth this spring since some of the best rivers in the east are going to be covered in cicadas. How've you been, dude?

A better suggestion, perhaps, is to target the fish that aren't on beds yet. Smallmouth start getting busy once that water gets above 60 degrees. Fishing for bass on beds is bad news for the survivability of eggs and stress on the fish. (We've all done some version of bed fishing, so it's not necessary to shame someone, but it is a good opportunity to educate and let people make decisions to do what's better for the fish.) HOWEVER... not all bass spawn at once, but they'll all typically spawn in the same areas/type of water and will hang out pretty close to those spawning areas waiting for vacant beds, water temps, biology, etc. So, a better place to fish would be the closest water that provides a good feeding opportunity for the fish that aren't on beds yet. In lakes, look for changes in structure (ledges are prime), in rivers look for water that will provide the best feeding opportunities while still providing protection from predators like birds (depth, cover, riffles/seems, etc). A few other thoughts that might be helpful... crayfish are just sort of waking up and starting to move once those water temps get into the mid/high 50s and smallmouth might not be on them yet. Baitfish are typically your major pre-spawn forage and you can go big (I had a large female follow an 8" streamer this past weekend). Another thought on location and forage - smallmouth may be willing to eat some pretty big baits, but water temps are typically going to be in the 50s and 60s. This means they'll eat big, but might not be willing to consistently chase fast moving baits (exception if you've got a warm day that will drive up water temps), or hang out in water that requires they expend lots of energy (high in the water column in fast moving water). Hope this helps and gives you a starting point for an alternative to bouncing a drop shot on a bed.

It's going to be a hell of an AFC Championship game. Both offenses can score at will and both teams have opportunistic defenses. KC creates a lot of problems, but the Bills defense is finally healthy, can be very versatile depending upon the game plan, and has maybe the best secondary in the game. I'm as excited watching them as I was the 90s teams. Go Bills

Yep. They're not the easiest to cast and take a while to tie, but they're killer!

So, the guide is the guy who invented the Gamechanger. An articulated streamer that's been made to catch anything that swims. Imagine a swim bait made of maribou or synthetic fibers that just sorta "breathes" on the pause. This catch is awesome.

I don't want to spend this thread speculating about weight or size. I don't know the guide service, and this definitely isn't me trying to offer advertisement. Simply, she's an absolute tank, period. I'd also imagine that since it was caught on the fly and in VA that it's a river fish. That fish, in a river, on the fly. I feel like this is why we fish, right? Like, I'd be pretty cool spending the rest of the float sipping whisky and enjoying the scenery.

Lock Haven is a short drive to so much great water. Before you graduate, you're going to want to pick up a 5wt fly rod. I've seen that happen a ton. Hatches can set things off for every fish in the water. Lantern flies don't hatch under water, and I'm yet to see them near a stream.

I've hardly heard of anything really eating them, but this thread is definitely encouraging me to start tying them.

My wisdom is nothing compared to the vast knowledge of the search feature.

There are at least 2-3 other threads on this same topic posted over the past 2 months. I'd start by giving those a read.