What is the best bait for river smallmouth bass?
Crayfish, minnows and other invertebrates in natural colors are good soft plastics to use for smallmouth. A 4-inch mini lizard Texas rigged on a small worm hook works well. Senko rigged on a jighead or wacky rigged is versatile and can look like different types of bait.
How do you fish smallmouth in a river?
How do you catch a river smallmouth in June?
“June is a time when the smallmouths are moving away or have moved away from their spawning areas,” he says. “A great topwater strategy is to target where the bass go next. It might be any kind of mid-river current break, a rock pile or downed tree along the bank, or a swift water run with visible cover.
Where do smallmouth go when it’s hot?
Summer Smallmouth Bass Habitat A large percentage of smallies avoid warmer temperatures by positioning 25 to 35 feet deep. Bass also retreat to these humps to escape fishing pressure, because the offshore spots are harder to find and fish.
Where do smallmouth go when its hot?
Summer. In deep lakes and reservoirs, smallmouths move offshore to deep structure as the water warms into the 70s and 80s. Here, they may be from 10 to 45 feet deep or deeper, and become very difficult to catch.
What do smallmouth bass eat in rivers?
Small-river bass typically feed on crayfish, other crustaceans, small fish, insect larvae, and larger insects.
How do you catch smallmouth in July?
On natural lakes, summertime smallmouth usually retreat to deeper, cooler water during the hottest part of the day. Look for them on points, break lines, saddles, and offshore humps. The best spots will also have rocks, scattered grass, or manmade cover like fish cribs and brush.
Where do smallmouth bass spawn in rivers?
Ethan Hollifield: Smallmouth tend to spawn in the tail outs of pools or behind cover along the banks; they prefer areas where the bottom is free of silt and relatively sandy.
Where can you target smallmouth in a river?
“Most active smallmouth are going to be on the front or the top of the side of structure that’s facing into the current,” Levert said. “The resting or inactive fish are more likely going to be on the backside of the structure.
How do you catch a bass river in the summer?
What color does smallmouth bass like?
Their vision is strongest in the areas of medium-red to green. It fails rapidly moving into the blues and purples, as it does towards the far reds. If our picture of bass color vision is accurate, then color is meaningful to bass in some cases but not others.
How do you find smallmouth in streams?
He suggests finding the right areas in a stream is the key to getting bites. “Try to find a fast-moving stretch of water, and then all of a sudden there is a turn in the stream, then you have a little deep water,” Uxa says. He notices smallmouth usually holding at the deep pool’s front end.
How do you find bass in a river?
Prime examples include sparse rocks lying along a mud bank, a water fall or a partially submerged drain pipe. These areas usually hold concentrations of bass. If the current on the river is weak, try the main channel, because baitfish will move into the river followed by schooling bass.
What kind of water do smallmouth bass like?
Generally, smallmouth habitat is considered to be lakes and rivers with cool, clear, deep water and rocky or boulder strewn bottoms. Smallmouth are, in fact, rarely found in bodies of water less than 25 feet deep. They prefer water with a current and temperatures between 67° to 71°F.
What do smallmouth bass eat in summer?
Summer foods Smallmouth bass are not picky eaters, which means they will eat pretty much whatever is available at the moment. This could be crayfish, baitfish, insects, leeches or any other food that might be present.
What time of day are smallmouth most active?
During the day, smallmouth bass are most active first thing in the morning from dawn until mid-morning and in the late afternoon from 3 hours prior to sunrise until dusk. These reduced light periods afford bass a tactical advantage over prey like shad and crayfish which don’t see as well during these time windows.
What temperature do smallmouth bass stop biting?
Although the smallmouth bass is considered to be a warm water fish, its ideal temperature range is lower than that of the largemouth bass. Smallmouth tend to favor waters between 67 to 71 degrees. When water temperatures dip below 50 degrees, feeding slows and the fish aren’t eager to bite.
How do you catch smallmouth in 60 degree water?
60 – 70 Degrees Throw moving baits like crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Once you locate fish, try pitching and flipping soft plastics at them in cover. A wide arsenal of baits will find you bites in these temps. You can be sure bass are needing to eat at these times, so concentrate first on finding them.
How do you catch smallmouth bass in early summer?
- Look for Current. When humans become overheated, we turn on the air conditioning, or at least a fan.
- Find the Shade. Just like humans, fish search out shade as a respite from the beating sun.
- Use Worms on Your Hooks.
- Fish Fast.
- Go Deep.
- Fish at Night.
- Fish the Shoreline.
- Take Care of Yourself.
How old is a 5 lb smallmouth bass?
A 15-inch bass might be an average four-year-old, a fast growing three-year-old or a slow growing five-year-old. A big bass, say five pounds, might be anywhere between six and 16 years old.
What is a smallmouth bass favorite food?
Smallmouth bass are much more limited in the size of food they can eat because they have much smaller mouths than largemouth bass. Smallmouth bass eat yellow perch, young bluegills, minnows, shiners, suckers, aquatic insects, but their favorite food are crayfish.
What is a good size smallmouth bass?
Data tells us that the average smallmouth bass is somewhere between 8-16 inches long, with the largest recorded length of 27.2 inches. This would tell us that every fish over 16 inches is considered good-sized, with fish over 20 inches being trophies!
Do smallmouths like spinnerbaits?
While a spinnerbait is a handy tool for largemouth, VanDam agrees that it can be just as effective when looking for smallmouth. Color is key for VanDam when he reaches for a Strike King Scorcher Spinnerbait. “I like using a heavier spinnerbait that’s 3/4 ounce, with chartreuse painted blades,” VanDam said.
What do bass bite in late summer?
Deep Diving Crankbaits The longer the baits bill, the deeper it will dive. When they’re not schooling – late summer bass often hang on deep break lines, humps, and other structure. One of the most effective ways to target them is with a deep-diving crankbait like the Deep Shiver Crank.