Torrents of rain washed out a smallmouth trip I had scheduled for Thursday afternoon on Elkhorn Creek with my friend Lee McClellan.

Lee (pictured, with a smallmouth from Kentucky’s Lake Cumberland) is one of the best and most dedicated smallmouth bass men I know and wading a stream in his company always provides a lesson in new ways to outsmart the wily SMB.

I’m looking forward to next week, when the weatherman is promising five consecutive days of warm sunshine. I hope he’s right.

Thursday’s rain forced trip cancellation did provide time for a few inside jobs: finishing a writing project; repairing and re-spooling a fly reel, answering some mail (the real stuff with stamps) and wishing my colleague and friend Alan Clemons a Happy Birthday.