Smallmouth fishing has been fair while fishing jigs on points in 20-to-25..." Dale Hollow Lake Sometimes it pays off huge when you can get your fly down to the fish during this time of the year, especially in the latter part of the season as winter approaches. Their green and brown sides are often marked with vertical black bars. As far as we know, the open-minded bass anglers are usually the ones with no shame in their game and catch the most. The mainstem and larger tributaries of these rivers are full of smallmouth. Get your quick picture or two, and hold the fish upright in the water until it gets its bearings and strength back, and it should swim off unharmed rather quickly.”. The professionals consider it cheating. Lake Champlain catches often average over three pounds during the late fall season, and trophy fish weighing four to five pounds or better are always a … When you’re fishing for open water, structure-oriented smallmouth in the late fall, let the wind guide you to the fish. Floating these larger rivers in a canoe or raft can be a great way to cover water, just remember to wear your life jacket. Too soft, however, won’t be enough to drive the small hook into the jaw.”. In northern Wisconsin, smallmouth bass tend to set up in their wintering locations by end of September. Many locals don’t have internet access or the same luxuries many of us do for buying specialty livebait hooks. “Anything from 6-12 mph is a good wind to drift in. The respected jerkbait is an ideal pick for late fall fishing. The changing of the seasons creates excellent conditions for anglers targeting smallmouth bass across the state. It seems one fish bites, turns on the pack, and you will get a few in a row. I assure you that barotraumas and burst swim bladders will rarely happen. Spro makes great swivels themselves, and I like sizes 12-14.”. “It’s all related, so if we can’t take them in spring, we shouldn’t be able to take them in late fall either,” says Amato. Late October through November is an excellent time to fish large streamers for big smallmouth bass. It was the fastest smallmouth bass fishing I've been into for a long time. If you’re up for an adventure, dress warmly, and cast jigs or crankbaits up shallow to get jolted by these powerful fighters. “Depending on the wind/weather patterns for a specific day, you must get in the right mindset of what the day calls for, and game-plan the effective ways to use the wind to your advantage to catch fish. Your retrieve and approach can also depend on the type of water you are fishing and the action of your fly or lure. Another important point to mention is smallmouth will often drop the bait during the fight due to the small hook. Entering the picture is an assortment of minnow and baitfish species. On many northwoods WI smallmouth lakes, crayfish is the primary year-round forage. Anglers lack the patience and care to play smallmouths from the depths slowly. Amato has had plenty of incredible, memorable days of fall fishing with live bait rigging, including days of numbers and others of trophy size. Even when catching wintering smallmouths from any depths, it’s important as ever to get late fall season fish back into the water quickly after being caught. Consider fishing a sinktip or full sinking line in mid to late fall on our larger Virginia rivers, especially in higher flows. The Smallmouth eat insects, crayfish, and smaller fish. Here’s his personal best and my boat’s largest from the 2016 season; measuring 21.5” and weighing 6.4 lbs. The cool crisp air during this time of the year is a welcome change to anglers who have fished throughout the hot humid Virginia summer. But rigging, bait choice, and attention to detail involving hook style, hook rigging placement, weight size and leader length demonstrate creative adaptations to specific smallmouth locations. Water temperatures are cool enough to drive smallies to concentrate over offshore humps and ridges, but not so cold as to curb their appetites. “My default set-up is a modified rig; 3/8 oz. Needle nose pliers and small hook cutters are must-have tools, but Amato and I agree the most important catch and release tool one must have if pursuing smallmouth bass with livebait is a Baker hook extractor. "Yellow perch, muskies, crappies, walleyes, largemouth and smallmouth bass are more active in the fall," Joe Larscheid explained a couple years ago on the DNR's web site. Having lowered my bass fishing standards to accept livebait fishing these last few autumn seasons thanks to Amato’s influence and intricate lessons, smallmouth comrades will come to agreement that deep water livebait fishing for smallmouths on the immediate catch and release basis and conservation principles Amato and I employ should not be condemned or despised. Channel swings become primary staging areas when bass start moving back to the main lake in late fall. Blade baits. This combo mimics the look and movement of a crawfish to a T — and fall smallmouth will readily gobble it up. While Amato’s live bait techniques have been applied to shallower lakes that don’t stratify and lack defined wintering locations, he concedes that it’s more difficult to establish the pattern on waters that aren’t deep and don’t turn over. Go-to smallmouth patterns. Try to fish near home as much as possible and avoid traveling long distances. Rivers and streams across Virginia are typically in low flow conditions on average years as summer moves to early fall. When the water temps drop into the 40's the Smallmouth bass school up in large groups on isolated rock piles and humps on Lake St. Clair and Erie. As we know, smallmouth populations are most vulnerable during the spawn, but their heavy concentrations and vulnerability in fall and winter seasons mirrors it. As a seasonal bass guide, I’ll never take my guests to any wintering holes in October. The number of bass caught can be outstanding due to the higher concentration of bass in those areas. Abandoning their summer haunts, fish may travel many miles downstream to slack-water hibernacula, where they will overwinter. Get a closer look at the Johnston brothers' favorite lures for a day of smallmouth fishing. 1/4-ounce homemade bucktail jig in crawfish colors for probing the deeper holes smallmouth move into for the winter The methods used in catching the Smallmouth include spinning and bait casting gear, as well as fly fishing. It’s still possible to catch bass on topwater lures and flies but you will find more fish feeding subsurface with water temperatures in the 50s. When this happens, Amato instructs to drop the bait immediately back down to the bottom as the same fish, and perhaps another smallmouth will grab it again. In addition to deep wintering locations, Amato’s livebait tactics work well along deep weedlines where both smallmouths and schools of yellow perch gravitate to for fall feeding. On inland waters, the cold, deep lakes with good smallmouth fishing are easy to identify. I personally like my leader line to be 6lb test fluorocarbon, but 8 works just as well. As liberal as Wisconsin fishing regulations are, neither Amato nor I see the state implementing further northern black bass management to make our world class inland smallmouth bass fisheries catch and release-only, like they are managed in spring, unless there is overwhelming angler support and we experience a major trophy decline in our world class inland fisheries. Every fall Amato and I fish, 90% of the lake’s smallmouths are located in 10% or less of the lake. Something else that is worth keeping in mind. Despite this designation smallmouth remain active and feed often late into the fall when the water is anything but warm. Photo by Meghan Marchetti/DGIF. Gut hookings, which happen from irresponsible rigging, improper hook selection and letting the fish swallow, coupled with barotraumas and un-releasable fish can take a devastating toll on a lake’s adult bass population. Or I will simply look elsewhere where they may be shallower. This makes mid to late fall one of the best times of the year to target large smallmouth in our rivers and streams across Virginia. Late fall is one of the best times of the year to catch giant smallmouth bass. Amato and I are proponents of mandatory usage of circle hooks and specialty live bait hooks that eliminate/minimize the probability of gut hooked fish. Anglers can also fish a variety of different colored jig and pigs for targeting late fall smallmouth that are holding lower in the water column closer to the bottom of the river. The best areas have a combination of these things – bait, rock, and what residual grass is left over from the fall. Chuck Kraft’s Clawdad and Harry Murray’s Hellgrammite are also productive patterns to fish lower in the water column this time of year. Best time of the year to fish here is late..." North Creek "Normandy Fishing Report – 23 Jan 2015 – This month we’ve been having a blast on Normandy catching Largemouth, Smallmouth and Spotted bass all over the lake. The best smallmouth bass fishing of the entire year is in the spring on Lake Erie’s nearshore reefs, harbors and tributary streams. While never a problem for Amato and I, barotrauma is a dangerous silent killer in summer and autumn when fish congregate in depths of 30 feet and greater. Water temperatures are cool enough to drive smallies to concentrate over offshore humps and ridges, but not so cold as to curb their appetites. In early fall and during balmy Indian summer days, a topwater can cause the biggest bass to become unglued. Topwater lures and flies will continue to produce good numbers of smallmouth bass throughout the entire month of September and well into the month of October. Amato employs the Lindy Rig, one of freshwater fishing’s all time greatest inventions that has withstood the evolution of fishing and remains popular to this day. It’s a policy I always stand by because you never know what angler intentions are. Smallmouth bass, frequently referred to as smallies or bronzebacks, are a freshwater member of the sunfish family: Centrarchidae. Most well-stocked bait shops in the north will carry these minnows, making them an ideal fall option. In Amato’s experience, north and west winds seem to have the fish biting best in the fall. Tournament organizers and circuits ban it, and its competitor jersey-clad fishermen laugh at it in haste. They occupy the same shallow habitats frequented by smallmouths in spring and summer. As water temperatures continue to drop in late October through November, a subsurface approach is best. In shallower waterways across the northern portions of the species’ range, smallmouth actually migrate. Charlie Craven’s patterns from Colorado are also quite productive on our Virginia smallmouth. While the smallmouth’s metabolism might be highest in warmer water temperatures, these conditions can sometimes make the fish a bit sluggish, especially on bright sunny days in the heat of the summer. The lake Amato describes here is a large mesotrophic lake of a couple thousand acres with fewer classic fall and wintering spots. For those willing to brave the elements on the lake, however, the reward is some of the best smallmouth bass fishing of the year for some of the biggest … The rigged minnow swims while being pulled slowly, so their fins are constantly moving and the restriction of the pulling weight prevents them from burrowing and hide from smallmouths,” concludes Amato. The predator and prey relationship between the two always drives year-round smallmouth location. Days of personal bests have happened in autumn too, including a monster surpassing 6 pounds caught and released with yours truly. Late Fall is the sweet spot for smallmouth bass fishing in the Northeast. The bait should technically be about 5-15 feet in front of you on the bottom, getting dragged by the boat,” he says. And that’s just one more way to take advantage of the finest bass fishing … Fishtrap Lake in Pike County is a sleeper smallmouth bass lake with … "Largemouth, Spotted Bass, Smallmouth, Crappie, Panfish of various kinds, and Catfish. Over the years Amato has acquired the skill and knowledge to identify likely wintering locations through mapping and applying his success from one lake on to another. Live bait will catch the most fish, but you may end up gut-hooking too many. Responsible fishing, with care for the vulnerable smallmouth bass population during fall, is the focus of this piece. Chautauqua Lake is Bassmaster Magazine’s number 23 bass lake, and the county has plenty of shoreline along Lake Erie, which is the magazine’s number three bass lake in the United … He finds most smallmouth in deep water — 40 to 50 feet where he’s fishing — about Labor Day. Lures used include, crank baits, hair jigs, jerk baits, spinner baits and all types of soft plastic lures. Trokar’s assortment of circle hooks in the TK 619 variety is superb as well. “No angler can escape the fact that a gut hooking will happen occasionally, but this is where having the proper hook extraction tools comes into play,” he exclaims. But having basic knowledge of how to fizz a bass swim bladder with needle will come handy if it ever happens. The erratic twitch, twitch, pause cadence of a jerkbait mimics a dying shad or minnow and can trigger big bites from opportunistic fish that are unwilling to commit to a steady retrieve on a crankbait or spinnerbait. “When a bite is felt, immediately let go your finger from the line. However, it’s not an easy presentation to deliver when dealing with deep coontail or sandgrass. A 3 1/2-inch tube jig consistently catches fall smallmouth. Fishing live bait in October and November, prepare to catch some of the fattest fish of the year. Catching these fish in cool to downright cold water conditions is about understanding how the metabolism and activity level of the smallmouth bass slows down in the fall. Receive news and information about Northern Wisconsin bass fishing, trip dates and schedules, fishing reports, and other bass fishing content. As fall progresses, late-season smallmouth bass will creep ever closer to the outer rims of structures such as submerged points and rocky reefs, preparing to slide down into the main-lake basin and spend the winter in a state of torpor. Use baitfish imitations and target the transitionary water that smallmouth occupy during this time frame. Waiting too long raises the chance of the fish swallowing the hook, and setting too soon will pull the hook right out of its mouth. You can also wade fish these rivers and their tributaries in lower water conditions. Therefore, the cooling trends that occur in early to mid-fall can oftentimes put smallmouth on the feed. Relatively inexpensive, “There are quite a few smallmouth bass still swimming around right now who owe their lives to this tool!” proclaims Amato. 15 mph or more and it becomes much more difficult to keep the bait on the bottom,” he says. But it’s become acceptable when all else fails like when our preferred traditional fall strategies of deep water cranking, drop shotting, swim baiting, and jigging isn’t catching them.