"Don't waste time. If you've covered the water around you, and had no hits, move quickly to the next promising area."

Ian James' strategy works very well. Often, you can watch anglers seemingly glued to the same spot on a river, casting to the same area for hours at a time. I suppose this is o.k., but in James' mind, it's a waste of time, if you really want to catch fish.

I have to admit that I tend to be a 'slow' angler. Although I obviously want to catch fish, I find myself spending a lot of time at any single pool, regardless of whether or not I've been successful in enticing a fish to hit. When fishing with Ian, I found that I probably stick around too long. Ian kept me moving, and of course, his strategy was very successful. Lesson number one: Always listen to your guide!

If you're out bass fishing, remember that bass like big! For the most part, you can probably use the same or similar flies that you would be using for trout, but go a couple of hook sizes larger. This is especially important if you really want to tie into some of the bigger ones. When we were fishing the Thames together, it wasn't uncommon for an 8" smallie to hit one of Ian's 'bass slammers', which would have been half the full size of the fish!

Although we had some great success with top water flies, don't be afraid of using nymphs! Check out Ian's 'No Name Nymph' and tie up a bunch. These were best fished in deeper pocket waters, around large rocks and boulders, with a small split shot attached to the leader a couple of feet above the fly. In productive smallmouth rivers, you'll probably find a whole slew of fish to be caught in a deep pocket on the edge of a boulder. Sometimes, these spots can be deceiving so keep a good eye out!

Try different stripping techniques. When fishing the topwater, Ian seemed to be successful with a regular, 'strip, stop, strip, stop' technique. I found that irregular 'jerky' line strips worked well for me, with a fairly fast rate of retrieve.

Look for bubbles on the water. "Bass like bubbles for some reason," James pointed out to me. We caught a lot of fish with top water flies that were cast to parts of the river that contained bubbles on the surface. I'm not really sure what significance the bubbles have - I just know there are fish there.

Finally, be careful. Especially when wading rivers unfamiliar to you. This of course should go without saying! Ian says that it helps him to wade safely when he carries a camera, and I'd have to agree with him. For some reason, we tend to be more careful when there is the risk of damaging some expensive piece of equipment and possibly ruining the pictures we have. So, make sure you carry a half decent camera with you!

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