smallmouth bass description

The smallmouth bass is generally brownish or bronze in color, and also appearing as black or green with red eyes, and dark brown vertical bands, rather than a horizontal band along the side. There are 13 to 15 soft rays in their dorsal fin. The upper jaw of smallmouth bass extends to the middle of the eye compared to the jaw of the largemouth bass which extends beyond the eye. The smallmouth's coloration and hue will vary according to environmental variables such as water clarity and/or diet.

Females are generally larger than males. The males tend to range around two pounds, while females can range from three to six pounds. Their average sizes can differ, depending on where they are found; those found in American waters tend to be larger due to the longer summers, which allows them to eat and grow for a longer period of time.

Their habitat plays a significant role in their color, weight, and shape. River water smallmouth that live in dark water tend to be rather torpedo-shaped and very dark brown to be more efficient for feeding in the river currents. Lakeside smallmouth bass, however, that live in sandy areas, tend to be a light yellow-brown and tend to be more oval-shaped.

smallmouth bass habitat

The smallmouth bass is generally found in clearer water than the largemouth bass, especially in streams, rivers, and the rocky areas and stumps, and also the sandy bottoms of lakes and reservoirs. The smallmouth bass prefers more cooler water temperatures than its cousin the largemouth bass, and may be found in both still and running water. Because it is intolerant of pollution, the smallmouth bass is a good natural indicator of a healthy water environment, though it can better adjust to changes in water condition than many trout species. Carnivorous, its diet is comprised of crayfish, insects, and smaller fish; the young also feeding on zooplankton.

The female can lay more than 21,000 eggs, which are guarded by the male in his nest

smallmouth bass migration

When the weather gets colder, and the water temperature drops below 60 F (15 C), smallmouth will often migrate in search of deeper pools in which they enter a semi-hybernation state, moving sluggishly and feeding very little until the warm season returns. The migration patterns of smallmouth have been studied and it is not unusual for a smallmouth bass to travel 12 miles in a single day in a stream, creek, or river. The overall migration can exceed 60 miles in some rivers.

smallmouth bass angling history

In the United States, the smallmouth bass were first introduced outside of their native range with the construction of the Erie Canal in 1825, extending the fish's range into central New York state area. During the mid-to-late 19th century, smallmouth bass were transplanted via the nation's rail system to lakes and rivers throughout the northern and western United States, as far away as California. They were introduced east of the Appalachians just before the Civil War, and afterwards transplanted to the New England area.

With increased industrialization and land use changes, many of the nation's eastern trout rivers became polluted or experienced elevated water temperatures, reducing the range of native brook trout. Smallmouth bass were often introduced to the northern rivers with increased water temperatures and slowly became a popular gamefish with many anglers. Equally adaptable to large, cool-water impoundments and reservoirs, the smallmouth spread far beyond its original native ranges. Later, smallmouth populations also began to decline after years of damage caused by overdevelopment and pollution, as well as a loss of river habitat caused by damming many formerly wild rivers to form lakes or reservoirs. In more recent years, a renewed emphasis on preserving water quality and riparian habitat in the nation's rivers and lakes, together with stricter management practices, has eventually benefited smallmouth populations and has caused a resurgence in their popularity with anglers.

Today, smallmouth bass are very popular game fish, frequently sought by anglers using conventional spinning and bait casting gear, as well as fly fishing tackle. The smallmouth bass is one of the toughest fighting freshwater fish in North America. In addition to wild populations, the smallmouth bass is stocked in cool rivers and lakes throughout Canada and the United States. In shallow streams, it is a wary fish, though usually not to the extent of most trout. The smallmouth bass is highly regarded for its topwater fighting ability when hooked – old fishing journals referred to the smallmouth bass as "ounce for ounce and pound for pound the gamest fish that swims". In the past smallmouth bass were often taken for the table, with filets of white, firm flesh when cooked. Today, most anglers practice catch-and-release fishing which has greatly improved the smallmouth bass populations.

The current all tackle world record for a smallmouth bass is 11 lbs 15 oz, caught by David Hayes in the Dale Hollow Reservoir, on the Kentucky/Tennessee border, in 1955.

smallmouth bass tackle

For conventional fishing, smallmouth bass may be successfully caught on a wide variety of natural and artificial baits or lures, including crankbaits, hair jigs, plastic jerkbaits, artificial worms, spinnerbaits, and all types of soft plastic lures, including curly tail grubs or tubes with lead head jigs. Spinning reels or baitcasting reels are typically used, with line strengths of 6 to 15 pounds typically utilized. Fishing rods are usually of ultralight to medium-heavy action. They may also be caught with a fly rod using a dry or wet artificial fly, nymphs, streamers, or imitations of larger aquatic creatures, such as hellgrammites, crawfish, or leeches. Floating topwater popper fly patterns and buzz baits are also popular for smallmouth fishing. A topwater lure hit by a smallmouth gives an angler a thrill and fight they are likely not to forget. For river fishing, spinning tackle or fly tackle has been the most popular angling tools for smallmouth in North America for many years.

river angling for smallmouth bass

Rivers and small streams can be some of the best places to catch smallmouth bass. However there are methods to success that differ from fishing for them in a lake or reservoir. The secret to this success is learning and applying a few basic rules:

• Know how to read a river
• Understand the influence of current on smallmouth location
• being able to effectively fish flowing water
• and being comfortable enough in your canoe or kayak to do all of the above

With the above knowledge, and a bit of time on the water, river angling can become an enjoyable and productive time on the water.

Perhaps the best aspect of river fishing is knowing how smallmouths typically set up, or position themselves in predictable places. All fish need both food and dissolved oxygen to live. A smallmouth bass receives both by relating to current. Moving water creates a conveyor belt of food, washing everything downstream to the fish without them having to consume much energy for it. This means that the bass will typically set up in areas that provide an ambush point. An ideal position is in a current break, or slack water, immediately alongside the fast current. Bass will target baitfish, crawfish, or any other forage that is not strong enough to swim in the current. Lures drifting into this area can be viewed as a disorientated baitfish coming straight to the bass, thus creating an optimal feeding opportunity because the bass doesn’t have to work to find its food. Fish caught in these areas are frequently large from gorging on the ample supply of food while expending very little energy.

Most aggressive smallmouth will be on the front or the top of the side of structure that is facing into the current. The resting, or inactive fish are more likely going to be on the backside of the structure. While aggressive smallmouth may be on the current facing side of structure, if the current is too fast they may need to hide behind structure to conserve their energy as they wait for their food source to float by.

While "hard" structures, such as boulders or trees, or sand to rock transitions may be holding smallmouth there are also "soft" structures. In rivers, smallmouth often relate to current edges, which could be considered as "soft" structure, as much as they do to "hard" structure. Of course, some of the prime location for is finding smallmouth in a river is a good current break running over a hard structure.

Eddies, which often form behind a large boulder, create water that flows in a circular upstream direction. The flow of the eddy is opposite to the direction of the normal river flow. These eddies created from the water current are one the most popular places to located smallmouth. The easiest ones to identify have boulders that create a break on the surface, which causes the water to pull back against the normal flow of the river. Laying just below these rocks downstream is a pool of swirling water. Oftentimes this swirling motion may create bubbles or a foam that floats on the water surface. This is the perfect location for an initial cast. While these eddies may often appear small, they can often hold a dozen or more smallmouths. Submerged eddies can be equally productive, but locating them requires a keen eye. If the swirling water isn’t readily apparent, polarized sunglasses help make rock structures below the water surface more identifiable.

Current seams are similar to eddies in that swirling water is often visible. The difference is that current seams stretch along the edge, dividing the fast and slow moving water. Depending upon current speed, forage, and other attributes, a smallmouth may use the current seam as a feeding station or resting area. Anglers should target this distinct line with repeated casts. This can be slightly more difficult as the fish could be holding shallow on the seam in 4 feet of water, or further downstream on the seam in 8 feet of water. Seams can hold bigger schools due to the sheer size of the area, but the fish generally aren’t grouped up as tightly. Depending upon current speed, forage, and other attributes, a smallmouth may use the current seam as a feeding station or a resting area. Agressive smallmouth will typically hold near, or in fast flow, while resting ones are more often found in a seam of slower moving water.

Learning how to read river currents is an important skill and helps finds the nooks and crannies where smallmouth may be holding in rivers. When trying to learn more about currents it is actually advisable to fish when it is windy as the breeze accentuates riffles on the water surface, making it easier to see current variations.

Water will always take the path of least resistance, so when it changes its direction, it is because of an obstruction within the river. Boulders, sand bars, and buried pilings or trees are common barriers. Following a current seam upstream can lead to a "hard" structure laying beneath the river surface. Current riffles in the river typically signify rocks or boulders or depth variations on the river bottom. These zones can become casting targets.

On a larger scale, if you observe a large current seam in the river that is a telltale sign of a sizable obstruction, such as a sand bar or ledge beneath the surface. These seams and the associated "hard" structure can concentrate smallmouths on an otherwise plain stretch of river.

If you encounter a small rapids or riffles, which can be high percentage areas, you may want to attach it in a specific order. The first area, at the top of a run, will often hold more aggressive and actively feeding fish. They sit here, ahead of all the other bass, so they get the first shot at any prey being washed downstream. For this reason, fish at the top of a run are often easier to catch so you may want to target them first. In order to connect on these bass, it may take multiple casts based on speed of the river current. Your bait could drift by before the fish even realizes it is there. You may want to use a heavy bottom bait in this situation to slow down your drift, or a moving bait with a lot of flash or vibration to grab their attention.

In river fishing situations, smallmouth bass rarely need to hunt during low flow conditions. Instead, they move into a current seam and let the meal be served to them. The bass position themselves in the current to sample whatever drifts by. They will constantly test suspected food by taking it in their mouth to see if it is edible. And they will spit it out in a flash if it doesn't feel or taste right. Drifting realistic looking artificial bait is the most natural presentation an angler can do, short of using livebait itself.

Since the smallmouth will be facing upstream to catch any unwary prey that is floating by it is important to present your bait in the most natural fashion by casting upstream and letting the bait naturally dead drift to the fish. The drift is your retrieve. While some slack line is necessary fora natural drift, too much slack makes it difficult to track the bait, determine when a strike occurs, and setting the hook. However, too tight of a rein on your line creates an unnatural drift that finicky smallmouth will tend to reject.

The amount of tension on the line should be just enough so you feel what the lure is doing in case you can't see it. Is it drifting freely, ticking the bottom, or perhaps getting snagged? Or did a smallmouth just grab it? Determining the correct amount of feel for the drifting bait takes practice. It is also important not to impart excessive or unnatural gyrations to the lure. You may give the bait a little twitch or shake it now and then, but don't impart too much exaggerated movement.

The drift presentation discussed above can be tricky when floating downstream in your canoe or kayak. Equally important to learning about currents is knowing how to handle your canoe or kayak in fast moving water. The ability to read the river ahead and knowing how to react to strong currents or rapids is a life skill that should be practiced and mastered for your own safety. If you locate a spot that looks like it may be a productive angling location you may want to carefully anchor your watercraft as long as the current is not too fast. However, anchoring in fast water can be very dangerous and may quickly cause your craft to flip over, causing you and all of your fishing gear to be spilled into the flowing river. An anchor trolley system can help position your craft to face upstream. Just design an anchor system that allows you to quickly release the anchor if the river current starts pulling your craft sideways in the river current. To learn more about handling your watercraft in rivers visit the Water Safety page on this website.

seasonal fishing variations

Seasonal variations play a major role in fish behavior. Knowing, recognizing, and adapting to these behaviors will increase your angling success.

pre-spawn fishing

The spawning cycles begins in the spring and often extend into early summer. There are actually three stages of the spawning cycle, pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn.

The pre-spawn stage usually begins after the first warming trend near the end of winter and lasts until the water temperature climbs into the mid 50's. When the water hits the mid-50s, the smallmouths will begin moving into their spawning areas. The key to pre-spawn smallmouth bass fishing in rivers is to think critically about where they spent the winter, and where they will spawn – and then locating holding places along that route.

But their journey is anything except a straight line.

Smallmouth bass springtime movements in lakes can be somewhat predictable. The progression of lake-grown smallmouths moving to spawning areas is as regular as the Thanksgiving landing on a Thursday.

However, river smallmouth bass never read the rules. Once river water temperatures reach the mid to upper 40s, smallmouths may: (1) move shallow, and then drop back, only to move shallow again; (2) leave the slow water to move into stronger current, only to fall back into current eddies; (3) feed extensively on crayfish and then switch to minnows the next day, and then onto an insect hatch the next day. Between the time river smallmouths leave their wintering areas until they begin making their nests, their journey is predictably unpredictable.

Finding spring river smallmouth is probably the hardest part of spring fishing. As with anytime of the year, knowing the preferred location for bass can increase your angling success. In the spring, water levels are usually higher and the water may be dirtier due to spring rains and snow melt in our Midwest states. This fast and dirty water produces a stronger current, less visibility, and more submerged structure. This combination may push prespawn bass away from the center of the river and more towards the shorelines where they can experience less current and more cover. Once levels begin to drop, they will tend to spread out and move in between their wintering holes and closer to spawning areas.

Smallmouths will often select spawning nesting areas made of a mixture of sand, gravel, and small rocks, located out of the current flow and generally in water less than three feed deep. Pure sand is not suitable, unless the fish can sweep away a top layer and expose a gravel base below. A typical spawning bed has a thin coating of darker silt to reduce visibility.

Large slack areas in the current may draw large numbers of prespawn bass. They may spread out across this slack area at low water, and then tuck tight to the bank if the water level rises, forcing them toward, and along the downstream shoreline. Small slack water areas, like those on the backsides of wing dams, may only attract a few fish.

Early spring presentations of lures for river smallmouth should be focused to cover water fairly quickly, since determining location is your biggest key to successful angling. Lures shouldn't be too large and loud as to spook fish from biting. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and jerkbait lures or throwing a tube or other weighted soft plastic jig are ideal for quickly scouting potential areas of the riverbanks, island tailwaters, large shallow eddies, and flooded structure and cover. Crankbaits work best for open water where cover is limited to rocks, stumps, or scattered timber. Spinnerbaits are a better choice if there is abundant cover like brush, weeds, or fallen trees. Jigs and soft plastics can be thrown into particularly fishy looking locations. If you're not getting a bite in a short period of time, keep moving.

Once you find some active bass with a scouting lure, pick the area apart with different baits to figure out a pattern. Once you find a pattern, begin to use that as your search bait until the fish tell you otherwise.

A warming trend will typically pull the smallmouth out of their deep holes and onto shallower flats, particularly on sunny days. That's because the river bottom tends to warm up a bit more and minnows and crawfish may become more active over these warmer flats. This attracts the smallmouth to this prime feeding location. This should also attract you to the same location.

spawn fishing

Rivers, and even segments of a river, do not warm up uniformly. Therefore, not all smallmouth bass on a river system will spawn at the same time. Different river segments may have different water temperatures caused by depth, type of river bottom, creek influences, or upstream dam releases.

Typically when the full moon coincides with water temperatures in the upper 50s to low 60s, actual spawning begins. Male smallmouths will clear out 2 to 3 foot diameter nests on pea-gravel flats in 1 to 10 feet of water. After inducing the female smallmouth to lay her eggs, the male will aggressively guard the nests and fry for two or more weeks.

This period offers excellent sight-fishing opportunities. Use quality polarized glasses to locate the whitish nests. Cast bright tubes and grubs past the target, then work them back over it to entice a bite from the guarding male. When the bait disappears, it's time to set the hook, which should be wide-gapped and barbless to facilitate quick releases.

Politics and religion. Not the best topics for dinner table conversation. For bass fishermen, there is a third subject: bed fishing. There is some disagreement among anglers on whether smallmouth should be fished while they are on their nest, since they are so vulnerable, and it leaves the nest unprotected, which can make the eggs easy prey for other fish. I am not going to hold judgement on anyone for sight fishing bedding bass but I would personally prefer it not be done.

post-spawn fishing

If you find spawning beds in the spring to early summer and they are now empty, the fish may now be in their post-spawn stage. These post-spawn bass are typically tough to catch. Some call this period the "post-spawn funk". They will spend about one to two week after the spawn recuperating. After that, they will start feeding again. As the same with spawning, the post-spawn phase may occur at different times along different river segments.

Smallmouth will become very aggressive after their recovery period and before they move into their summer patterns and they don't make many stops along the way. The recovery stage is a rest period for the bass who are now thin and hungry from the rigors of spawning, and summer food sources are still low. But eventually they go on a crazy feeding binge. Be in the right spot at the right time and you'll have a blast as they will aggressively hit at anything you throw at them. This is a great time to throw some topwater lures for some explosive hits.

Typically in June is a time when the smallmouths are moving away, or have moved away, from their spawning areas. Throwing a topwater lure to a mid-river current break, a boulder or downed tree along the riverbank, or a swift water run with some visible cover can be an effective fishing strategy. One of the best places for casting a buzzbait or other topwater lures, is a heavy riffle in 2 feet of water. Any smallmouth that is in that kind of swift water is going to be extremely aggressive and will absolutely crush that lure.

summer fishing

As with the post-spawn bass, fishing for smallmouth in the heat of the summer can produce some awesome catches. Summers in the Midwest typically bring stable weather conditions meaning temperatures during the day in the 70's and 80's and night time lows in the 60's. Water flows are in the lower range and water clarity is typically clear.

With lower water levels rivers can change their character. Some area may become to shallow and warm so smallmouth may tend to congregate in certain areas. With lower dissolved oxygen levels the bass may also related to faster moving water and the fish use current breaks to rest and ambush prey.

River smallmouth differ from their lake dwelling counterparts by having to adapt to changing flow levels. To be a successful summertime smallmouth bass angler you must adjust as well.

For example, a summer rain or thunderstorm may elevate and cloud the river water. While you may not want to fish in a raging flow the color of chocolate milk, you may want to consider fishing this cloudy water, when the river rises and spills into the shoreline grass, but still has 6 inches to a foot of clarity. That is when spinnerbaits, soft plastic swimbaits, and topwater lures should come out. You can expect the smallmouth to be right on shore and on the feed. Show them something big, noisy, and flashy, and expect the unexpected.

Conversely, when the water is low, clear, and warm, river smallmout will be off of the banks, particularly during the non-peak feeding times of midday. Smallmouth will have the run of the river during such conditions. They don't need to hug the bank to escape the strong currents. They can see a long way when the water is clear and are used to doing so, so make your approach quietly and your casts long.

As with any of the seasons, the key is locating where they are holding and what they are hitting for that particular day. While you may have good luck one day on a particular stretch of river, you may find it vacant the next day. Keeping track of insect hatches, such as the Mayfly, can also be indicators of what the bass may be tempted to hit on a particular day.

As the summer progresses and water levels drop, smallmouth will trend towards feeding on topwater lures, such as buzzbaits, or other noisy lures. Peak locations for these noisy baits are across riffles, eddies, and current seams. Because you're now fishing in faster moving water there often may only be time for one quick cast to a current break before your craft is swept past. The bass however, have even less time to decide whether or not to strike the passing bait. Hungry or not, they often react!

A fat reaction bait, such as a topwater lure, may be at one end of the presentation approach, a drift bait is at the other. The key is offering the bass an artificial plastic bait that is natural in both appearance and delivery. Casting a lightly weighted, or unweighted, subtle soft plastic bait upstream of an intended target area and letting the current carry it to the bass in a natural drift, will often produce a bite, especially if the fish are not in an aggressive mood.

When smallmouth become tight-lipped, a finesse type lure may be need to entice a bite. A tube bait with a light insert head, a stickworm, a drop-shot rig, or even a lightly weighted jig with a crayfish imitation plastic on it will often entice a stubborn bass to hit or come out of cover to investigate. These setups are particularly effective in rivers, as they allow you to hold the bait in place to fish a key spot more thoroughly. As the bait drifts, you can steer the bait into an eddy behind a large boulder, deadfall, or bridge pilings. The light bait will flutter to the bottom, and a simple twitch may be all that is needed for a bass to strike.

With summer's warmer water and weather, river smallmouth are accustomed to chasing down their meals. If the smallmouth are in a chasing mood anglers can reap the benefit of using a moving lure, as opposed to fishing one that must be worked more slowly along the bottom. Often, the most effective moving lure is one that is fished in a jerky stop and go manner.

Jerkbatis come in both hard and soft versions. Hard jerkbaits have the ability to attract the smallmouth's attention, but not give them so good a look that they shy away. The secret in working a jerkbait during the summer is to really work it. Impart aggressive, hard jerks, and stop the bait for an instant. Try to annoy them to induce a reaction strike.

Soft jerkbaits are suitable when weeds are present or come close to the surface. While you can't work a soft jerkbait as aggressively, it will just skip across the surface, but it really isn't necessary. Smallmouth hiding in the weed depressions are often actively feeding and don't need to be treased into biting, they simply rise up and strike the lure as it comes by.

During those clear, stable weather nights of mid-summer the river valleys may often fill in with fog, a cloak that during the early morning hours, temporarily shields the water from the suns burning rays. That, along with the natural feeding activity of the morning hours, makes it productive to be on the water at the crack of dawn. Get up early, because the dawn cracks pretty early this time of year.

Although there may not always be that hot, early to mid-morning "fog bite", the majority of the time there is. Just be prepared for things to slow down when the fog burns off. Often it is like a switch thrown to the off position. The bass may aggressively feed during those periods of low light in the early morning - conditions that give them an advantage over their prey - and the light dampening effects of the fog can extend that periods.

Thankfully, this shut-down period may only last for a couple of hours. The water is warm, the smallmouth bass metabolism is high, so they must feed. During a typical sunny summer day the fish will get more active by early afternoon.

fall fishing

Smallmouth bass will begin their winter migration in the fall. How far and fast they go may depend upon water temperature, the size of the river, and the habitat available. When water temperatures hit the low 60's, the smallmouth will begin to migrate from their summer haunts of flat riffles and feeder creeks and rivers to main river areas in closer proximity to the deep holes where they will spend the winter.

The smallmouth bass typically winter in slow, deep water where they do not have to fight current because they tend to feed very little and do not have the energy. Their metbolism slows down and they almost hibernate in the winter.

Because the smallmouth will be in this almost hibernation cycle throughout the winter months they will tend to feed very heavy during the fall. This is an opportune time to catch some big and very aggressive hawgs!

The warmer and deeper a river is, the shorter is this migration. The colder and shallower the river, the longer the migration. How fast the smallmouth move depends upon how fast the temperature drops.

Following their initial migration, the smallmouth are still attracted to the type of structure that they prefer in the summer. This includes sand bars, boulders, brush, and wood that break the current. They prefer structure near the deep water areas so as winter approaches they can quickly drop into the deep holes.

In rivers with significant deep water, smallmouth will typically congregate in several of the best spots. The issue is finding these best spots. Once you have located fall smallmouth in the river, much of the battle is over. A good pair of polarized sunglasses can assist in finding holes that hold fish. In larger rivers these holes can be six to ten feet deep and in smaller rivers, four to six feet deep. Locating fish on smaller rivers can be a challenge because they tend to move farther.

In the early fall, while the water is still reasonably warm, you can use more fast moving, aggressive presentations like crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and inline spinners. Even though the bass may be holding in deep holes they will continue to come up shallower to feed in current areas.

When the water temperature drops into the 50's it triggers a change in the smallmouth forage. In summer, smallmouth are feeding primarily on crayfish. As the river water cools. the bass become more dependent on minnow type forage, such as river shiners, chubs, or perch. Find the preferred forage and you will find the big smallmouth.

The edges of creek channels and sloughs may hold the bulk of the remaining forage fish. These bait fish migrate out of the sloughs and the creek channels as the water temperature cools. While in early spring they may hold tight to the weed edges and any available shoreline cover, in the later fall they tend to hold tight to the main river channel at the base of the slough.

As the water temperature cools to the mid 50's, deeper and slower presentations are needed. A jig and plastic grub can be a good choice. Base the jig weight on current speed and the grub color on water clarity. Tubes jigs also work very well.

Another good option is Texas rigging, without a weight, a four inch Senko, or a Ned rig. The density of these soft plastics lets you fish them slowly along the bottom where the current will make them swirl and sway. Twitching is an option, but not very much is necessary. Similar to grubs and tubes, you should match the color to the water clarity, with natural colors being used in clearer water.

Once the water temperature dips to 50 degrees and below, you may have to switch to live bait presentations. A jig, or hair jig, with a minnow or nightcrawler crawled along the bottom of the river can be a winner.

Start fishing the edges of the slough with a spinnerbait casing into the slough and bring the spinnerbait over the top of the weeds. If you don't induce a strike here, let the spinnerbait drop along the river channel to induce a strike.

After you have found the active smallmouth move to the upstream edge of the slough and cast deep diving crankbaits right to the edge of the river channel. Use a crankbait that dives quickly, as the longer the crankbait stays in the strike zone, the greater your odds will be to catch fish.

winter fishing

Fish smallmouth bass in the winter? I thought they went into a hibernation mode and didn't feed? While the smallmouth may be nearly lethargic, and move very slow but they still need to survive so they will feed to do so.

As with any season, location is again the key. However, during the winter you can eliminate many locations in your favorite river and key in on those areas of deeper water which may be close to some shallow feeding grounds. While you're fishing a river in any season take note of where you find some deep holes with little current, which is a perfect place for these bronzebacks to loiter without wasting much energy during the winter months. Steep banks along the shoreline often extend into the river itself and may be a key to locating deep holes. There's no magic number of how deep a pool must be to hold them in winter. But these pools that have bank-to-bank depth, relative to the size of the river, and hold a lot of volume.

Where you find the smallmouth at the end of a few unsually warm winter days will be completely different from where they hunker down as ice forms on the water surface. Some warmer weather may bring the smallies out of the their deeper holes and into some shallower water for feeding. Shallow water, without current or wind pushing on it will warm up a lot faster than deep water. Add in some six hours of bright sunlight, and the water temperature starts to rise. Stoneflies start to emerge, darters that have been buried and motionless in the leaf matter start to venture out. The bass know that they can, and must, take advantage of this brief feeding opportunity. Ignore shallows that are more than 75 yards away from the most current protected and deep part of the pool. Find this area and work it hard.

Since these winter bass move slow, so must your bait. Finesse fish a small tube or jig a craw along the bottom and carefully keep track of your line, as the hits may be very subtle when they consume your lure. This will be one time to leave your topwater and crankbaits at home.

smallmouth fishing lures

The type and color of your lure that will attract a smallmouth bass will vary from day to day, and even hour to hour, so it is wise to keep trying new things to attract them if you're not catching fish with what you're using. Don't throw a lure just because you like it. Throw it because the bass like it. Your favorite lure should be the one you just caught a fish on. However, everyone seems to have their favorite lures, and I have found that if you have a lure you are confident with you typically will fish it better, that is, you will have more patience and perhaps know how to present it better. But don't get stuck in a rut using your lure if its not catching fish!

Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, chatterbaits, and topwater lures can quickly cover water and catch active bass. However, if fish are in a neutral or inactive phase you may have to choose more finesse type baits to lure them to strike.

Once you determine a pattern of what (and where) fish are hitting stick to that pattern until it changes. Fish feeding patterns will vary throughout the day so if you want to catch fish you have to adapt to their appetites, preferred locations, and behaviors.

While I could get into describing all of the lures you could try, and explain when and how to use them, that make take a whole chapter in itself. Perhaps I will leave that for another time....