The Smallmouth of Autumn

Autumn, whether you like it or not, is here – and with it, football and fantastic fishing! While my first love may be musky fishing, I do put in a great deal of time chasing down smallmouth bass as well – especially in the fall. With the cooler temperatures, big smallmouths begin concentrating and are easy to locate if an angler knows what to look for. In addition, once smallmouths have made their fall migrations, they will typically remain there for long periods of time. A tuned-in river angler can catch big smallmouth on a daily basis as they feed heavily before winter.

As the water temperature drops into the 50 degree range, there is a noticeable smallmouth migration in most rivers. This temperature triggers a change in the smallmouth forage. In summer, smallmouth are feeding primarily on crayfish. As the water-cools, smallmouth become more dependent on minnows and other fish forage. If you are able to find their preferred forage, you will find big smallmouth bass, and good numbers of them.

The edges of creek channels and sloughs often hold the bulk of the remaining forage fish. Baitfish migrate out of the sloughs and creek channels as the water cools, compared to early spring when you will find them holding tight to the weed edges and any available shoreline cover. With the onset of autumn, the baitfish are now holding tight to the main river channel at the base of sloughs, cuts, and secondary channels.

I like to begin fishing the edges of the slough with spinnerbaits such as a Terminator Short Arm Thuump’r or a T-2 series. Cast into the slough and bring the spinnerbait back working over any cover. I’ll use a 5/8oz. or ½ oz. spinnerbait if the weather is stable; during cold fronts, I often downsize to a 1/4oz or 3/8 oz. instead.

After working the spinnerbait through and along the edges of the slough or bay, try repositioning your boat and presenting crankbaits parallel to the river channel itself. There are a variety of good crankbaits on the market such as the Rapala DT series and Storm WiggleWarts - a good angler will have several different models and colors in order to be equipped for different depths and water conditions.

Plastics are also effective on fall river smallmouth, especially when faced with a severe cold front. When working plastic style lures in the fall, I prefer to work them a bit slower than usual and concentrate on working an area more thoroughly. A post-cold front situation often calls for repeated casts to individual structural elements in order to elicit a strike from a negative bass. Baits such as Mister Twister 4” FAT Tubes and 4” and 5” B-A-Hawgs are perfect for this style of fishing; for local fishing on the Wisconsin River, color patterns incorporating orange or chartreuse are generally most productive.

As the temperature drops below 45 degrees smallmouth will move into their wintering holes. To find these haunts, look for deeper water with steep rocky drop offs; these areas will hold the largest smallmouth. Good electronics such as the Humminbird models including side imagining are very useful in locating likely smallmouth-holding spots. Unlike walleyes which tend to hold tight to the bottom in this period, smallmouth will often be suspended. On many occasions you will find both species using the same wintering area.

When evaluating spots, look for deep holes with a minimal amount of current. In cold water smallmouth will generally avoid the current as much as possible. Deep holes above dams can be sleeper areas for big fish. The best deep water area above a dam or in other stretches of river will be just off the main river channel out of the main flow, and contain structure such as wing-dams, points, or submerged wood. With the colder water, the best presentation options are most often slow moving plastics or live bait. As a bonus, a mixed bag of walleyes and smallmouth bass will occur during this time.

Try giving football-season smallmouth bass a try this year – done right, I guarantee you just may catch the biggest bronzeback of your season! I’ll see you on the water…

Tight lines,