Bass Outlook

While a good portion of the fishing public is locked into chasing Waldos during opener I'll probably be taking my first crack at the smallies. From what I'm seeing/hearing it could be interesting. With water temps bouncing into the low 50's the bass are starting to get active. Not much for bed builders just yet but I'm sure they will be staging on those primary break lines. Here's my plan. put the boat a cast distance off of those breaks near the typical bedding areas and throw crankbaits. Seems simple and it really is. The key is location. I'm looking for breaks near sand/gravel combination areas especially those that drop from the normal 2 feet or so down to 6 feet plus. Smallmouth love edges and transition areas so I'm sure they won't be far off that structure. If the lakes are absolutely crowded with everyone jigging for bottom feeders I just may do some river fishing. That's a whole different story but again, those fish should be pretty active.