Bozeman, Montana angler Jason Lea with another nice Clearwater River in Idaho Smallmouth. Smallmouth Bass fishing on the Clearwater River in Idaho is going good! Mother nature threw us a curve ball this week with muddy water conditions from a blowout on the upper Selway River. A cool week of thunderstorms and rain activity contributed to muddy water conditions and cooler water temperature. I felt challenged and a bit intimidated as I slid my boat in the water off the trailer. I didn't know what to expect and had a seriously uneasy feeling in my stomach as I was trying to muster up words of encouragement to my clients Jason and his son Ben. Then it hit me. I'm bass fishing! Smallmouth don't need gin clear water. Other places in the country people on other streams almost never see clear water and catch lots of Smallmouth. So, I shared this with my anglers and mentioned a few other things to offer as encouragement. I said the water temps were cooler which will perk up the fish a bit and there is between 2 and 3 feet of visibility as well. There is scent in or on our jigs and we just needed to roll with the punches and go grind it out and see what happens. Well, the BIG Smallies were on the feed! We didn't land as many due probably to visibility but we caught a great number of nice, big, mature Smallmouth. So here's to appreciating my return clients who have and keep faith in my devotion to what I do. Thank you! All of you. Smallmouth Bass fishing should remain good for as long as I will guide it which will be up to mid September. After that I will be shifting gears and switching over to Fall Chinook Salmon and Steelhead fishing. I am guiding for Swiftwater Outfitters. Please hit the send message button with questions instead of asking questions in the comments if you seriously expect a response. There's still a little bit of availability on the calendar between now and mid September so don't miss out! We hope to hear from you soon. Come and get your Smallmouth fix!