Smallmouth bass cop an attitude as summer turns to autumn. The warm days of July and August spark a feeding frenzy, with smallies roaming the shallows in large schools while gorging on minnows.
“They wolf-pack as the water warms,” says George Liddle, Jr., Ranger Boats sales manager and professional fisherman. “The warmer the water, the more aggressive they get. They school up, stay shallow and feed. It’s an ugly deal.”
And the cooler water of autumn does nothing to douse their fire. The downward turn in temperature is nature’s way of signaling that winter is on the way. The feeding frenzy turns to absolute madness, which translates into vulnerable fish. Fall is prime time for big fish and lots of them. “They get even more aggressive,” says Liddle. “They go nuts!”
Liddle lives in Minnesota, where water temperatures rarely reach 80 degrees F. That means smallies can stay shallow all summer. And, shallow means exactly thatâ from the surface to 5 feet down, huge numbers of smallmouth roam in lakes like Mille Lacs, attacking minnows wherever they find them.
“Find the food, find the smallmouth,” Liddle says. “And, once you find them, you can catch 10 to 50 from the same bunch.”
Summer pursuit of smallies is visual. The key is to use good polarized sunglasses to scan shallow spots for visible forage fish or use your sonar to spot slightly deeper schools on the top edges of structure.
In lakes, start the search on classic smallmouth structure, like flats and points with sharp drops to deep water. Add sand, rock and weeds and you’ve got a good chance to connect. But, when they are schooled, they really don’t care what kind of cover they are on because it’s the meal they’re after.
Baitfish keep moving, and so should you.
Always try shallow water first. You rarely have to search deeper than 5 feet at this time of year. Use spinning gear for grubs and tubes. Tie on a 1/8-ounce jig with 8-pound Gamma monofilament on opening day and it can stay on until the end of the season. Try using longer 7-foot St. Croix rods to make long casts so you can stay further back in order to avoid spooking shallow fish. Neutral colored tubes or Munchies Thumpin’ grubs in brown or gray hues work great. Bright colors in dingy water can turn them on as well. In addition, a Fuzz-E-Grub jig by itself, or tipped with a leech, can often turn the trick in tough conditions.
Liddle uses baitcasting rods for spinnerbaits and crankbaits. He spools up with the heaviest line he can get away with (usually 10- to 17-pound-test). The primary factor in line choice is water clarity.
Use crankbaits and spinnerbaits in order to cover water fast and locate active fish. Go slower with plastics, if necessary. George likes to throw 1/2-ounce Rat-L-Traps in blue/chrome or reds and browns. He’ll turn to jerkbaits and Pop-Rs, as well. For summertime spinnerbaits, use 1/4-ouncers with tandem #3 Willow Leaf blades, usually metallic.
How long do you stay on a spot without a fish? Remember, smallmouths are not homebodies. Try several likely places on the structure. If nothing bites, move to another spot. “Thirty minutes is a long time for me,” Liddle explains.
Location changes as summer fades into fall. Smallmouths become more structure-oriented. They move off flats and tops of points to the edges of drop-offs. Where you were once fishing from the surface down to 5 feet, focus on depths down to 10 feet as August moves to September. Schools will gather on any drop-off, no matter how slight, in that depth range.
Bait choices change, too. Forage fish are bigger by this time of year, so move up to 1/2-ounce spinnerbaits with tandem #5 Willow Leaf blades. For tubes and grubs, stick with colors such as brown and watermelon, but doctor them by tipping them with orange dye. Heavier Rat-L-Traps still work well. Add Wiggle Warts that are greenish-brown and orange in color.
As September surrenders to October, November and December, smallmouths move deeper still. Their love of structure turns to a passion. They hold on vertical drops from 10 to 20 feet deep. Favored presentations become jigging spoons while using sonar to position the boat over the pack. In addition, Lindy Rigging with a large chub or sucker can be deadly at this time.
“You will often catch the biggest fish of the year,” says Liddle, “if you can stand the weather.”
The summer-to-autumn transition offers a different challenge in rivers. Early in summer, river smallmouths act more like largemouths. They like dead spots, no-current areas like sloughs and backwaters with current nearby. But smallmouths soon move to the main river and hold on current breaks, such as the upstream or downstream side of wingdams, eddies behind shoreline points and blowdowns. That’s where you’ll still find them in fall.
There’s no time for smallmouth bass like the transition from summer to fall. Even when the weather turns cold, bronzeback fishing stays hot.By: Ted Takasaki and Scott Richardson
