Catching Big Smallmouth

You've probably heard the saying "big baits, big fish." Well, it's true. It's possible you can catch big smallmouth on tiny lures, but on average.
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Knowing the seasonal patterns of smallmouth is the key to finding these fish on massive fisheries. From April through June, northern smallmouth will be in various stages of the spawn congregated in depths of 10 to 20 feet. By late June and July the fish move to deeper structure n the 20 to 25 foot range. By August the fish have moved to the deepest structure 25 to 35 feet before moving back to the shallows again in the fall.

Everything You Need To Know About Smallmouth Bass Fishing

Good electronics with mapping are crucial for finding the isolated rock piles, expansive flats, rocky points, reefs and shoals that smallmouth favor on the big waters. While some smallmouth will suspend over structure, most of the time the fish will hold within about 5 feet of the bottom since their main forage of gobies always stay close to the lake floor. Since smallmouth will be gorging on gobies rather than chasing baitfish, the key to triggering strikes is keeping your bait close to the bottom. Whereas the northern lakes freeze up in the winter, the man-made reservoirs below the Mason-Dixon Line provide year-round access to smallmouth bass fishing.

Gone Fishin’

During the winter, reservoir smallmouth tend to gather on channel swings and in the middle of deep guts at depths of 25 to 30 feet. In early spring, prespawn smallmouth move to secondary points on their migration to spawning areas in pea gravel coves or gravel flats.

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The best baits for prespawn smallies include medium-diving crankbaits in crawfish or fire tiger hues, jigs tipped with plastic chunks and plastic grubs. When the fish start nesting, try a Mojo rig with French fry-style finesse worms or 6-inch plastic lizards. After the spawn, reservoir smallmouth move into the 8- to foot range along pea gravel points where they can be takin on the Mojo rig or small crankbaits.


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Summertime haunts for reservoir smallmouth bass fishing include humps and drop-offs of pea gravel points where the fish hold at depths of 15 to 25 feet. Clair smallmouth charters at Spencer's Angling Adventures vary depending on the time of year. In late April and early May we see the smallmouth of Lake St. Clair up shallow in a prespawn mode.

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At this time the fish are very aggressive and we usually catch them on a variety of fast moving baits. Traditionally this time of year when the water is stained these Lake St. Clair bass tend to prefer rattle traps and crankbaits. On the other hand when the water is clean jerkbaits usually get the nod. As the water continues to warm in later May, we usually see the bass beginning to bed down. Once this happens we move in shallower, usually foot, and target them using mostly drop shot rigs. These allow us to work over the shallow mossy bottom without fouling our baits.

After the spawn takes place we start to see these Lake St.

Ontario Bass Fishing

Clair smallmouth heading to foot of water. At this point the fish begin to eat heavily trying to put back on the weight they lost during the spawn. This time of year on our Lake St. The summer months see the smallies out in the open water areas normally around sand bottom areas.


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    • Here we normally target them using a combination of drop shot rigs and tubes depending on the bottom content. Clair smallmouth bass charters out there.

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    Additionally we are happy to offer our clients bass and walleye combo trips the entire month of May. These trips truly get you the best of both worlds including amazing Detroit River walleye action in the morning followed up by a fresh fish walleye lunch and then an afternoon of Lake St. Typically on these combo trips we start out around 6 AM on the Detroit River targeting this legendary walleye fishery. Normally we can have our limit 6 walleye per angler in less than two hours and often achieve it in as little as minutes.

    After an amazing meal we then head back out to Lake St.