Category Archives: Bass Fishing

Bass Fishing Information

Remember These and the Horse Head Spin, the Forerunners Of Underspins So Popular Now?

Gear

Bucktail Pro Road Runner

By The Fishing Wire

Bucktail Pro Road Runners feature original Road Runner head design, more bucktail than most, holographic eyes, nickel over brass smooth willow blades, ball bearing swivels and high carbon premium needle-point hooks.

These are great for bass, walleye, striper, snook, redfish, tarpon, amberjack and much more!

Available in eight fish catching colors.

The 1/8 has a 2/0 hook, ¼ has a 4/0 hook, 3/8 has a 4/0 hook and the ½ has a 5/0 hook.

They can be cast, jigged or trolled.

MSRP $7.68 – $8.62

IP remember having a Horse Head spin in my tacklebox when i was still riding my bicycle to farm ponds to fish.

Contact ron@tticompanies.com for more info.

Website: www.ttiblakemore.com

Fishing A June Tournament At Oconee Was There A Pattern?

i came in fourth at Oconee with four little bass

On a June Saturday 18 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our June tournament at Lake Oconee. After casting from 5:30 AM to 2:00 PM we brought 21 14-inch-long keeper largemouth weighing about 36 pounds to the scales. Nobody had more than three keepers and 9 fishermen didn’t weigh in a fish.

Lee Hancock won with three weighing 6.19 pounds, beating Raymond English’s three weighing 6.18 pounds after Raymond had a .02-pound penalty for a dead fish. Raymond did win the big fish pot with a 2.67 pound largemouth. Caleb Delay had three weighing 4.66 pounds for third and my three at 3.79 pound was fourth.

Robert Howell fished with me and we had high hopes as we ran to a grassy point near the dam. It was barely light enough to see so I picked up a spinnerbait and started casting to the edge of the water willow grass bed that ran around it. Robert was following me with a topwater popper.

On about my tenth cast a fish grabbed my spinnerbait and I landed a 15-inch keeper. That made me feel pretty good. A 13.5-inch fish quickly followed, fun but too short to keep. After we rounded that point we idled across to the next one with grass running around it.

Since it was getting light enough to see a little better I started casting a buzzbait. I like to wait until it is light enough for the bass to home in on a moving topwater bait and make sure they don’t miss it.

I caught my second keeper before 6:00 AM on the buzzbait. It was just over the 14-inch line on my keeper board. Then I got another 13-inch fish on the buzzbait. Two keepers and two throw backs in 30 minutes seemed like a good start.

When the sun came over the horizon we ran to a deep rocky bank back in a creek. As we fished down it we made some casts to the bank, working our baits from a couple feet deep to almost 20 feet deep at the boat. And we would make some casts parallel to the bank. I had found a line of boulders in about 20 feet deep running parallel to the bank here last fall and caught some fish off it, but they did not produce anything this time.

About halfway down the bank Robert set the hook and his rod bowed up. The strong fish stayed deep pulling straight down, often a bad sign, and sure enough when he got it where we could see it was a ten-pound flathead catfish. Fun to catch and a good fight, but no help in a tournament.

For the next five hours we fished a variety of places, casting to grass beds, skipping baits under docks, working brush and rock piles from shallow to 20 feet deep and any other places we could think to try. We caught a couple of short fish but no more keepers.

Just before noon we fished into a small creek, casting to docks and the seawall. I told Robert there was a little trash on a secondary point ahead of us where I had caught some fish in the past. When I hit the trash with my shaky head, I got a bite and landed a barely 14-inch-long keeper, giving me three with two hours left to fish.

A little after noon we stopped on a rocky main lake point and something thumped my worm. When I set the hook a strong fish ran a few feet to the right and I thought I felt my line rub something, then it broke. When I reeled in to re-tie, the last six inches or so of my line was frayed.

It may have been a big catfish or a gar. Both are strong and a gar’s teeth will fray and cut your line. And catfish will try to run under rocks and fray your line. Whatever it was I will never know.

With thirty minutes left to fish we stopped on a brush pile in front of a dock and Robert and I both landed short bass. That was it, we had to go in to a surprising weigh-in. I was shocked to come in fourth.

While we fished there was an ABA tournament on Oconee. It took 16.57 pounds to win and 16.39 pounds to place second and 6.64 pounds came in 18^th!

A Few Years Ago at A Bartlett’s Ferry Tournament On Memorial Day Weekend

Tournament

I camped at the Georgia Power campground Blanton Creek at Bartletts Ferry from Thursday to Monday. Blanton Creek is a nice shady campground on the upper end of Bartletts Ferry and it has a great bath house with hot showers, a requirement for me this time of year after a hot sweaty day on the water.

I tend to sleep late on “practice days” before a tournament so I did not get on the water until about 9:00 AM Friday. Bartletts Ferry is on the Chattahoochee River and downstream of the campground the lake is like most of our lakes, with open water, deep points and banks lined with docks and houses. There are also many creeks on the lower end, from short ones to some that run for miles.

I decided to go up the river and scout around Friday. Near the campground the lake turns into a river channel with a few small creeks but mostly banks lined with trees and bushes. Fishing can be very good up there, especially if the Corps of Engineers are generating power at the West Point dam 20 or so miles up the river.

Current moving can make the fish bite better, up to a point. A couple years ago I went up the river and the current was so strong I had a hard time fishing. At one point my boat drifting with the current with no motor running was moving 3.5 miles per hour on my GPS. A bait cast to a stump in the water would sweep by it way too fast to hit the bottom.

Friday there was barely any current and the fish did not bite for me. I hooked two small keeper bass that got off before I could land them. One wrapped me up in a limb and another jumped and came off. I did land one 13-inch keeper bass.

Saturday I got on the water about 9:00 again and decided to go exploring. The road going to the ramp crosses Mountain Oak Creek four times, the last one about five miles by water from the ramp. I like the way it looks, about 50 feet wide with trees and overhanging bushes.

I idled for about 30 minutes, the water was only two to five feet deep in most areas, and started pitching a jig and pig to all the cover on the bank on an outside bend in the creek. I was about a half mile above the bridge and the water was a little deeper, with a little current moving. I thought it would be great but I never got a bite.

When I gave up and idled back to the lake I stopped on a big mud flat where I had seen some brush in the water when the lake was low. It is just a few hundred yards from the ramp we use and there is a danger marker on it since the water is only two feet deep.

I tried to fish a jig but it came back with black moss on it, so I picked up a spinnerbait. My first cast produced a solid thump and I worked the bass to the boat, trying to hide it from other fishermen. Doing that I let it get around the trolling motor and the four-pound bass broke my line. But it gave me hope.

I looked around the rest of the day but never got another bite.

When I got to the ramp Sunday morning there was another club putting in with us. At takeoff I went to the flat and started casting, but when the other club took off at 6:15 about half the guys in the other club ran right by me, some within feet of the danger marker. I don’t know if they didn’t know what they were doing, or if they didn’t care, but it ruined my fishing.

I finally caught a keeper spot on a bluff bank 30 feet deep on a jig at 9:00 then got my second keeper at 2:30 on a shaky head on a seawall by a dock in only a foot of water.

It was a frustrating day!

How I Rig and Fish My Neko Rig

A couple years ago i started using a Fluke Stick on Texas and Carolina rigs. Got a six pounder at Eufaula on one Texas rigged in practice for a tournament.

Last year i decided to play around with one Neko rigged. But frugal, or cheap, me used what i had. No 50 cent special weights or hooks.

i had some tiny screws in my tool box. Found sticking a hole in end of Fluke Stick with an ice pick then screwing it in was easy. Stayed through several fishk did not get thrown out. i rig about ten ahead of a tournament.

And i used either a #1 weedless hook or a straight-shanked #1 Gamakatsu hook I had in my tackle box.

That worked for a 6 pounder at Hartwell last April in the Potato Creek tournament.

I do put a ring around the Fluke |Stick – they are tough and hold up a long time.

I got on pattern for two-pound spots at Hartwell and i could land three or four on one Fluke Stick before getting out another one!

Try it, you might like it. And if you want to spend more, buy the special hooks and leads.

By the box, screws are about 6 cents. — ready to rig Neko rigs

if you can see, the #4 1/2 inch screws are about 1/64 ounce. #6 3/8 inch screws are about 1/32 ounce. The #6 are longer and thinner, so easier to insert.

I may try the thicker hooks in practice, but light wire hooks make hook ups easy. But i throw them on medium-fast action St Croix rods and 14-pound Sunline, so i worry i need a stronger hook

Why Do I Love Bass Fishing?

I will never forget the first bass I caught. All my short life I had caught bream and small catfish on my cane pole with cork bobber. Usually the bobber would twitch or go down and when I lifted the pole tip the fish would pull down and make circles.

When about 12 years old, while fishing in the spillway hole below Usury’s Pond dam, my cork popped under the water. When I raised my pole and set the hook an 11-inch bass exploded from the surface of the water. It pulled hard, running all over the place and jumped two more times. It hooked me much better than I hooked it.

When I was in high school I loved to water ski. Daddy bought a fantastic ski boat for the time, a 17-foot Larson with a 120 hp Mercury inboard/outboard – now usually called and outdrive. It wasn’t fast but it would pull up six skiers on double skis or three on slalom.

But it was not much of a fishing boat. We could run trotlines, bank hooks and jugs for cats and tie up or anchor to fish. And it was very good for trolling. Linda caught an 8-pound, 10 ounce largemouth on a Hellbender plug pulled behind it in 1972.

Of course it had no trolling motor up front so working down the bank was a problem. The spring after Linda caught the 8 pounder, I made a wooden platform that fit over the front running light and hooked to the front cleats.

I put a small trolling motor on a bracket hanging down in front so I could sit on the platform and turn the motor with my foot. To turn it on and off I unclipped the battery clamp from the 12-volt battery sitting beside me. It was ok as long as the wind didn’t blow, that small trolling motor would barely move it.

It was cumbersome but it was better than anything else I had. Clambering over the windshield to get to the front was not a problem when I was that age.

Linda and I bought our first car together the first year we were married, a 1972 Cutlass Supreme Convertible. Our next big purchase was a bass boat, a 1974 17-foot Arrowglass that had tolling motor and depth finder, top of the line at that time. Oddly enough, each cost $3500.00, more than half the annual pay each one of us made as teachers.

We fished many hours out of that boat, pulling it with the Cutlass. For camping we loaded a big Sears 6-man tent and all our supplies in the trunk and back seat. We caught untold numbers of bass, crappie and catfish from that boat.

Jim Berry invited me to join the Spalding County Sportsman Society in March of 1974, the week after I bought the boat. Fifty years later I still fish in that club but not that boat!

I fished with Jim in my Arrowglass at Clarks Hill in the club tournament in April that year, my first tournament. And I fell in love with tournament fishing. I had never enjoyed playing games or sports and still don’t, but somehow the competition of tournament fishing hooked me.

In January 1976 I caught an 8-pound, 4 ounce bass from that boat while fishing with Bobby Jean Pierce at Jackson in a club tournament, finally breaking that mark. It was big fish in the tournament. In 1978 I caught another 8-pound, 4-ounce bass at Jackson in a January tournament while fishing with Cecil Aaron. It was third biggest bass that day. Fishing has changed since then!

I have had nine bass boats in my life. The current on, a 20-foot Skeeter with a 250 Yamaha four stoke motor, top of the line trolling motor and all the electronics and other bells and whistles now available. I bought it used but new it listed for 30 times the price of my first bass boat. Prices have changed, too!!

There is a saying “the difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys.” Most outdoor hobbies from golf to shooting are expensive. I am sure I could get by with cheaper equipment but don’t want to.

My current boat is almost 9 years old and things are starting to fail. But the cost of an new one, or even a used one, is scary! But I don’t think I can go back to fishing with a cane pole from the bank. Not all the time, at least.

Now I fish with three bass clubs and seldom miss a tournament, due to a very understanding wife. And I plan on fishing tournaments until I am not competitive. I am afraid that will be all too soon.

Two Young Fishermen Give Me Hope for the Future and Night Fishing Memories

This past Sunday I spent seven hours in a boat on West Point with Rob Boswell, his son Brent and Brent’s tournament teammate Dylan Thayer. They provided me with information for my September Map of the Month article.

Brent and Dylan won two high school tournaments at West Point during the past tournament year and both impressed me with their skill casting, knowledge of bass and use of electronics. Both just graduated and know more than I do after more than 60 years of bass fishing!

The thing that impressed me most was the maturity, courtesy and manners of the two young men. They worked hard trying to catch fish and never gave up. They never had a cross word for each other or me, even when I asked stupid questions. I told Rob he had trained them right!

Young men like those two give me hope for the future even on days when the news is full of the opposite kind of youth and adults.

The day was miserably hot, with bright sun, dead calm wind, water temperature 90 degrees and the air even hotter. It reminded me of why I prefer fishing at night this time of year.

One of my first night fishing memories is going to Raysville Bridge and fishing under it. I heard fishing under there was good and even back then I got fired up, just knowing I could catch catfish, bream, crappie and bass. I spent hours getting my rod and reel ready.

We got a bucket of minnows and walked the long causeway out to the bridge and got under it. I was tired from the walk and soon got sleepy – and irritable.

It seemed every cast got hung in the rocks and I had to break off and retie my line with sinker and hook. And we never got a bite.

Another memory is of daddy and how patient he usually was with me. We were camping at Elijah Clark State Park on Clarks Hill and could see the big Highway 378 Bridge a half mile across the water.

We had rented and old wooden jon boat and paddles. I talked daddy into paddling me to the bridge to fish one night. We loaded up the boat with rods, reels, ice chest with drinks, snacks and rope to tie up with and daddy and I, mostly daddy, paddled us to the bridge.

After tying up I got my rod and started to bait my hook, and there was no minnow bucket! I had forgotten to put it in the boat. Daddy patiently untied, paddled us back to the campground, got the minnows and paddled us back to the bridge!

I don’t remember getting a bite that night.

When I started teaching school in 1972 I had summers off so I often spent a week at a time at our camper at Raysville Boat Club. I would fish a lot at night, fishing from 6:00 PM to 9:00 AM and then sleep all day for a week at a time.

A few nights I tied up under Raysville Bridge in my bass boat and fished for whatever would bite. Two nights really stand out in my memory.

One trip I planned on fishing all night so I carried food and drinks with me. I tied up a few feet from a family in a big boat and we all sat there, catching a crappie or hybrid every once in a while.

About the time I started getting hungry the woman in the boat beside me pulled out a big box of fried chicken. The smell wafting across to me made my mouth water.

Although I ate my sardines and saltines, which I usually loved, they were just not that good that night. I kept hoping the family would offer me a piece of chicken. I even considered grabbing one of the bones they threw in the water and gnawing any tiny shred of meant left!

Another night worked out better. There were a dozen boats tied under the bridge but no one was catching anything. It was frustrating, we could see big hybrids holding about five feet down under our lights and sucking in tiny young of the year shad.

Drifting a shiner minnow in front of them did no good, they ignored it, the shad they were eating were no more than a half inch long. I remembered the adage “match the hatch” and got an idea.

I dug around in my tackle and found a black #6 long shank bream hook. I peeled some shiny foil off my pack of cigarettes and wrapped the shank the hook with it. When I dropped it down under a small split shot, the hybrids ate it!

I think they saw the tiny glint of my foil and mistook it for a little shad. Whatever happened, I caught more than a dozen big hybrids and no one else ever caught one. That laughed at me when I told them the “bait” I was using, I guess they thought I was lying, and they never tried it.

It’s a good idea to be flexible when fishing!!

Big Bite Debuts New Sensation Fuzzy Stick

Big Bite Debuts New Sensation Fuzzy Stick, it looks weird but catches fish
By The Fishing Wire

Irving, TX – The Big Bite 4″ Scentsation Fuzzy Stick is creepy, crawly, and killer on bass. Featuring “fuzzy” appendages that are designed to drive fish crazy, the Scentsation Fuzzy Stick is truly unique and already has a proven track record.

“I first started using the Scentsation Fuzzy Stick at the St. Lawrence River tournament last year, which I won,” explains Big Bite pro Michael Neal, referencing his 2024 victory on the Bass Pro Tour. “It’s a bait that can mimic a variety of forage such as shad, bluegill, gobies, and crawfish. It’s all dependent on the color selection.”

The Scentsation Fuzzy Stick also shines in a variety of different techniques. “It can be fished a lot of different ways as well, including on a drop shot, nail weight, or Ned rig,” says Neal. “I feel like the bait shines on pressured fish that need a different profile to react. The skirt material is almost constantly moving with the water, so it looks much different than anything we currently have in the Big Bite lineup.”

Featuring Scentsation technology designed for bigger and longer bites, the Big Bite Scentsation Fuzzy Stick is available in 6 proven colors and comes 5 per pack.

For more information on Big Bite Baits, please visit their website HERE, or find them on Facebookand other social media avenues.

For additional questions or inquiries, please email marketing@gsmorg.com. Or, if you’d like to see the entire family of GSM brands, please visit www.gsmoutdoors.com.

About GSM Outdoors:

Few American outdoor companies enjoy a mutually respected relationship with their customers that span over five generations. GSM Outdoors is among those few! For over 70 years, the GSM family of brands has been helping passionate hunters, shooters, knife enthusiasts and anglers succeed through innovation and the manufacture of high-quality, reliable products that continue to prove themselves in the field, on the range and on the water. GSM Outdoors continues to leverage the latest technology and provide customers with the best products on the market. Tradition, heritage, and loyalty to outdoor enthusiasts of generations past and generations to come…that’s the GSM Outdoors guarantee!

Locusts and Cicadas and A Sinclair Tournament

Momma’s parents lived on a small farm in Thomson until grandaddy died when I was six years old. I have a few memories of visiting there even at that young age.

There was a small barn for the milk cow and a tiny pasture for her, a hog pen where a couple of hogs were raised to butcher, a small chicken coop for eggs and meat and a big garden. Behind the barn was a pine thicket I loved to explore.

Every trip I could find “locust” shells on the pine trees. I put locust in quotation marks because later I found out they were really cicadas, a totally different bug. Locust like in the bible are just grasshoppers that cause terrible problems when they swarm. Fortunately we don’t have locusts in the Southeast US.

We do have cicadas. The adult female lays up to 400 eggs on branches and twigs that hatch into nymphs that look pretty much like the adults without wings. They immediately dig underground to suck sap from plant roots.

This stage is interesting. There are about 3000 species of cicadas and they are divided into 23 “broods” in the US. Those broods’ nymphs live underground for two to 21 years!

When they are ready to molt they come out of the ground and climb up trees and bushes. The nymph sheds its exoskeleton, the shell I found on the pine trees, and the winged adult comes out. It then mates and starts the cycle over again.

When broods emerge there may be thousands of adults looking for mates. When there is a big emergence, you can hear a humming sound for miles as the males flex their rib tymbals to make the “song” and females answer by rubbing their wings together.

The adults may live for six weeks before they die, so we often hear the “song” for weeks at a time. Around here, brood XIX, the Great Southern Brood, emerges every 13 years. They last emerged in 2011 so they will emerge again next summer.

One strong memory I have of the 2011 cicadas is a tournament at Lake Sinclair. I fished for several hours without a bite while listening to the hum of the cicadas all around. Dead adult bugs littered the water surface.

When I looked at one closely I realized it had a red hue. I knew all fish that could get them in their mouth, from carp to bass, gorged on them, so I put a red worm on my Carolina rig and caught two or three bass after switching colors!

I have read that about the only time you can catch carp on a fly rod on top is during a brood emergence. Carp will feast on the floating bodies and a dry fly imitating them, with a little red or orange in it, will catch them if placed in front of a rubber lipped mudsucker eating the bugs.

All this came to mind when I found a cicada shell on the post of my garage. I guess that one got confused and I bet it never found a mate!

——-

Last Sunday 12 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our July tournament at Sinclair. After casting from 6:00 AM to 1:00 PM we brought 38 largemouth weighing about 66 pounds to the scales. There were four five bass limits and one member did not catch a keeper.

Raymond English won with five weighing 12.48 pounds and got big fish with a 5.96 pound largemouth that almost broke our six-pound pot. My five at 10.87 pounds was second, Jay Gerson came in third with five at 7.29 pounds and Lee Hancock came in fourth with five weighing 6.63 pounds.

I had an exciting start, catching three nice keepers, including a 3.06 largemouth, on a topwater frog around a grass bed the first 30 minutes. When a bass slams a frog working through grass the bite thrills me then I get hyper trying to get the bass out of the grass and into the boat.

The bite slowed way down and I caught two small keepers on a Trick worm worked weightless in grass, filling my limit by 7:45. Then I culled one with a two pounder that hit a jig.

Punching grass means using a very heavy rod and strong line with a one ounce or heavier sinker in front of a plastic bait like a Fighting Frog. You get your boat in close and drop the heavy weight into the grass where it “punches” through. A bass in the grass will often suck the bait in as it falls the foot or so to the bottom.

The heavy outfit wears out my weak arms and I have to sit down to fish and that makes it more difficult, so I do not do it much. But I keep a rod rigged and ready just in case. About 10:00 I picked it up and the first punch caught a 2.5-pound bass, culling my smallest one. But although I wore my arm out for over an hour punching, I never got another bite!

Virginia’s Five Best Lesser-Known Smallmouth Waters

Go To Virginia’s Five Best Lesser-Known Smallmouth Waters for great catches

Virginia’s Five Best Lesser-Known Smallmouth Waters

By Dr. Peter Brookes

Photos by Dr. Peter Brookes

When folks talk about places to fish for Virginia’s stupendous smallmouth bass, you hear a lot of the same river names over and over again: the New, South Fork of the Shenandoah, the James, and the Rappahannock. Not that there’s anything wrong with that–these are great rivers for smallies (and other fish species).

Indeed, because of the likes of the New, ‘Doah, the Big Jim, and the Rapp–among other waters–Virginia is easily one of the top 10 smallmouth fishing states in the country; possibly even in the top five. That’s saying something when you’re up against the likes of the northern states that border the Great Lakes Basin.

But, there are a number of other rivers in the Old Dominion besides the Big Four that are definitely worthy of your smallmouth angling attention this year, especially as fishing for bronzebacks heats up with the weather.

If you’re new to smallie fishing, they’re a great game fish for a lot of reasons. These green-brown boulder beasts are aggressive, pull hard and often jump when hooked, aren’t too picky about flies, lures, or presentation, and are famous for their strikes on the water’s surface.

A photo of a boy holding up a smallmouth bass and smiling with a river behind him.

Smallies are a great choice for new anglers to target.

You won’t forget seeing the first time a smallie goes airborne to inhale some unsuspecting flying insect. The bronzeback’s willingness to play as well as the quantity and quality (i,e., 11-inch plus) of them across the Old Dominion make them a great fish for the novice fly fisher or conventional angling, beginning their lifetime of angling adventure.

With that in mind, here are five of the best of the less-celebrated waters for Virginia smallies that you may want to wet a line in this summer:

North Fork of the Shenandoah River

Everyone talks about smallie fishing on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River–and rightfully so, it’s a great fishery. But the North Fork is also worthy of attention for smallies. The North Fork in Shenandoah County holds good quantity and good quality bronzebacks, especially in the middle section near Woodstock and Edinburg and the lower section near Strasburg before it joins with the Main Stem near Front Royal.

The scenic North Fork, which meanders through the Northern Shenandoah Valley, offers riffle pool sequences, opportunities for wading and floating, and less pressure than its cousin on the opposite side of Massanutten Mountain, the South Fork. Possible smallmouth bycatches in the North Fork include: largemouth bass, channel catfish, panfish, or the occasional muskellunge (musky).

A pretty photo of a river taken from the middle of the water, with trees lining the banks.

The North Fork Shenandoah River

Maury River

In Rockbridge County, the Maury receives clean, cold water from the mountains through Goshen Pass on a 40-mile run before disappearing into the mighty James River. The upper section is mostly a (stocked) brown and rainbow trout fishery. In the middle and lower sections, the water warms, creating ideal smallie habitat. The river also has lots of structure (e.g., ledges and boulders), which provide ample ambush points for these piscatorial predators.

Pressure on the Maury is lighter than on the Big Jim due to it’s less-celebrated status as a smallmouth waterway. It has both wadeable and floatable sections. (Spring is best for floating). Expect bronzebacks in the 7-13-inch range with numbers of quality fish increasing.

Not a smallie on your line in the Maury? It could be a panfish, rock bass, or carp; less likely, but possible, is a musky or flathead catfish.

Rivanna River

In Albemarle county, this river near Charlottesville is probably best known as a recreational waterway for tubing and kayaking. But this often-overlooked fishery offers good quantity and good quality smallmouth bass fishing. Designated Virginia’s first scenic river, the Rivanna–a shortened version of “River Anna,” named after an English Queen–flows for 40-plus miles before it disappears into the James River. It’s sometimes historically known as “Mr. (Thomas) Jefferson’s River.”

The Rivanna is known for its deep pools and rock gardens; it’s both floatable and wadeable with some convenient shoals for wading anglers. Expect the river to offer up lots of smallies in the 8-13 inch range with reports of an occasional trophy-size fish (i.e., 20-inches or 5-lbs.).

While angling the Rivanna, you might also hook into: largemouth bass, panfish, fallfish, crappie, rock bass, and channel cats.

A photo of a smallmouth bass fish being held up out of the water with a fly in its mouth.

A Rivanna River bronzeback.

Clinch River

Located in Southwest Virginia, the Clinch is considered one of the most biodiverse rivers in North America–and perhaps the world–with a large variety of aquatic life (e.g., mussels) and non-game fish species (e.g., darters and minnows). If that’s not enough, the Clinch also has more species of fish than any other Virginia river.

Mostly known as a top-notch tailwater trout fishery downstream in Tennessee, the Clinch offers deep pools and rocky runs for smallies on the Virginia side of the border. The one-time stomping grounds of Daniel Boone are scenic and offer low fishing pressure. The river has good fishing access, with wadeable and floatable sections. (Good news: It’s generally floatable all summer). The Clinch provides good quantity and good quality smallmouth bass fishing; expect smallies in the 10-16 inch range with an occasional citation-size fish.

Besides solid smallmouth fishing, smallie bycatches in the Clinch include musky, walleye (a native Virginia strain), rock bass, and panfish.

Rapidan River

A waterway usually known for its upper section in Shenandoah National Park that includes top-notch brook trout fishing and historic Camp Hoover, the lower Rapidan in Culpeper County offers excellent smallmouth fishing. The river is both floatable and wadeable, with good structure and clear water. This often passed-over warmwater fishery provides great sight-fishing opportunities for bronzebacks before it eventually dumps into the Rappahannock.

A trophy smallie is possible, but if the tug on your line isn’t a bronzeback in the Rapidan, it might be a largemouth, panfish, rock bass, fallfish, cat–or even a juvenile striped bass that has migrated up from the tidal reaches below Fredericksburg.

Other Virginia smallmouth rivers could have easily made this list such as the North Fork of the Holston, the Staunton, the Powell, the North Fork and South Fork of the Anna, Shenandoah Main Stem, and the lower Jackson River. The point is that Virginia has a lot of superb smallmouth bass fishing in big and small rivers across the state, so if you haven’t already gotten your Virginia freshwater fishing license, you can get it right now online here.

Overshadowed by bigger-name smallie rivers, these less-celebrated waterways offer not only great fishing, but because they’re often overlooked, they can put you on the fish while being away from the crowds. That’s what I call a dog days of summer good deal.

Dr. Peter Brookes is an award-winning, Virginia outdoor writer at Brookes Outdoors. Connect at Brookesoutdoors@aol.com.

How To Post-Spawn Through Summer Smallies

Post-Spawn Through Summer Smallies
By The Fishing Wire

Whitewater Fishing B.A.S.S. tournament pro, Alex Redwine, talks fishing the transition period

Muskegon, MI – On most waters, smallmouth bass have either transitioned from post-spawn into summer behavior – or are already in summer mode. Smallmouth bass will spawn in water temperatures between 58 and 70 degrees – and water temps are steadily rising, especially with recent warm spells.

What better way to figure out a program for tracking transition period smallies than talk to a pro angler, in this case, Whitewater Fishing B.A.S.S. tournament pro, Alex Redwine.

Having spent the last week fishing Lake St. Clair, Redwine was thrown into exactly this situation: Where are the bass now that they finished up the spawn? Many anglers are facing the same situation, so we quizzed him on recent and current on-the-water experience fighting the good fight.

“This part of June can always be a tricky time of year. Smallies are just getting off their beds and they get less grouped up as they start moving to their summertime spots,” said Redwine.

“There might be a few leftover fish, but 90% of them are done spawning. They’re in transition and aren’t 100% feeding up yet because the summer water temperatures in a lot of cases haven’t arrived.”

On St. Clair, Redwine found shallow water temps around 69-70 degrees and out a little deeper, in the 62- to 64-degree range. He felt like the deeper water had to warm up more before the fish would really start feeding, as well as the shallower waters warming up a little bit more to get them to start pulling out.

Where to look? Redwine worked both shallower and in-between depths looking for fish, as well as hitting transition spots like points where fish will often group up.

He also discovered a mayfly hatch, something he urges anglers to watch for in late June across the Upper Midwest. “After the spawn, the fish are pretty skinny and wanting to feed up, so if you can find where the mayflies are hatching, you can intercept them feeding on the carcasses, even if they haven’t moved entirely deep to feed up on baitfish.”

Top Presentations

“During this transition period, the first thing I’ll do is throw a 3- to 4-inch swimbait – like a Keitech – something I can cover a lot of water with. The fish can be really spread out during this period but still aggressive, so this is a perfect bait for putting the gas on the trolling motor.”

Redwine says that covering real estate with a swimbait allows him to find out where fish might be starting to group up.

Then, if he gains confidence in an area, Redwine will put the swimbait rod down and pick up a Ned Rig or dropshot rod and really dial into an area.

Dialing into gear, Redwine throws swimbaits and Ned Rigs on a 7-foot medium-power, fast-action rod with a 2500 or 3000 size reel and 10- or 15-pound braid depending on how rocky and snagging the terrain is – which he terminates to either an 8- or 10-pound fluoro leader.

“On St. Clair, the bass will spawn anywhere from 3 to 10 feet of water – and the depth in the middle is 18 to 20 feet – so I caught most of my fish targeting that 9- to 14-foot range because there were still some fish that weren’t fully out deep.”

For anglers stuck in this predicament right now, Redwine suggests mapping where you think the smallmouth spawned and then draw out paths from there – first stops for where the fish will move post-spawn, like a secondary point coming out of a pocket or creek.

“Obviously, you need to intercept them on that path from their spawning site to deeper waters,” noted Redwine. “It can take a lot of looking around.”

Smallie Summer Mode

Redwine says when the water temp in shallower and mid-depths reaches about 75 degrees is when smallmouth bass have transitioned to summer mode and head deeper collectively. That’s when he’ll start fishing deeper, relying heavily on his electronics, and fishing four basic ways – Ned Rig, shakey head, FFS minnow, or topwater.

“And not only is it a water temperature thing that pushes the bass out deeper,” noted Redwine. “They’re following baitfish that are leaving shallower spots and taking up residence over deeper water. Follow the food, find the fish.”

Redwine added that not all his deeper water summer smallie fishing is in no man’s land. A lot of times he’s looking for the shade of deeper banks near shore where the fish will congregate.

“In terms of presentations, my summertime smallie confidence bait is a shaky head. Seems like when the fishing gets tougher, I can always rely on it to put fish in the boat. The other thing is fishing topwaters over the bait high in the water column. When the bass really want to feed up after the spawn you can do some serious damage with a popper or walking bait.”

Stay Comfortable

To follow—and catch—smallies the entire open-water season, an angler must be prepared for cold, snow, rain, and then heat. Redwine says he starts off in the early spring in the Great Lakes Pro Insulated Jacket and Bib, which gives him “excellent range of movement” and “isn’t bulky for how warm it is.”

Then, as spring wears on, he’s never without his Great Lakes Pro Jacket and Bib in case of routine wet, cool, and drizzly weather.

“I’ve put that stuff away for the season, but have been living in my Whitewater Rays Performance Hoodie with the built-in gaiter that protects my face and neck—as well as the rest of me from UV while being in the sun all day. For the same reason, I’m wearing the Prevail Pants to protect my legs. And it’s all super breathable and cool.”

Looking Ahead

Currently on break from B.A.S.S., but looking at two events in August, Redwine has been fishing “a lot of local stuff” and has his fingers crossed to qualify for the 2026 Bassmaster Classic. Whitewater continues to root for the young gunslinger and thanks him for sharing a few tips to catch more smallmouth bass in this time of post-spawn to summer transition.

About Whitewater

Whitewater performance fishing apparel gives anglers distinct advantages whenever Mother Nature’s unpredictability conspires to ruin angling adventures. Whether faced with wind, rain, snow, sun, or extreme temperatures, Whitewater apparel equips anglers with the ability and confidence to overcome the elements, so they apply their focus and energies on fighting fish, not the conditions. Whitewater is a brand by Nexus Outdoors, headquartered in Muskegon, Michigan, USA. Learn more and order at whitewaterfish.com.

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