When most people think of topwater smallmouth takes, they envision something violent: A slashing blow and shot of whitewater spraying into the air. For two days we rowed down tranquil waters delicately casting flies that I thought would only appeal to smaller bass. Mile after mile, trophy smallmouths ghosted up in the shallow water to suck down our bugs. The key is fishing topwater poppers and foam terrestrial patterns gently and slowly, like presenting a dry fly to trout (more on this shortly). Subsequently, the water Landwehr gravitates to is often passed up by many anglers because without understanding how big bass hunt for bugs, it’s easily perceived as water unlikely to be holding bass, let alone trophies.