Category Archives: fishing basics

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.”

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Post-Spawn Through Summer Smallies 1

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.” 

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Post-Spawn Through Summer Smallies 2

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.” 

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Post-Spawn Through Summer Smallies 3

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.

Will Segar Line Help You Catch Panfish That Are Delish: Catch & Cook

Panfish Delish: Catch & Cook

One of the most accessible groups of fish across the country are the various panfish species. They can be found just about everywhere and are generally prolific and tons of fun for all ages to target. Bluegill, crappie, perch, and other similar species are also some of freshwater’s best-tasting fish.

Two popular fishing guides, Western New York’s Capt. Joe Fonzi and Wisconsin’s Jeff Evans each spend a good portion of their seasons guiding for panfish, which end up making an excellent meal for their clients. Both shared insight into their favorite species, how to catch them, and their secrets for cooking the best-tasting fish.

It’s Crappie for Evans

Evans began with a borderline sacrilegious statement about his preferred fish to eat in a walleye-crazed state like Wisconsin. His choice is the crappie.

“I’ve told people I would trade a walleye for a crappie every day, especially fresh crappie; it’s hard to beat,” he said. “I love eating crappie, and they are so much fun to catch. After they spawn and transition to the deeper weed edges and weedy points, they will usually be in those places until they head to the basins in the fall.”

Targeting weed lines, Evans said it’s hard to beat a small 1.5-inch tube jig on a slip bobber. “It’s tried and true, we probably catch 90 percent of our crappies that way,” he said. “We try all sorts of colors but always seem to come back to pink and white. This rig is something we use all season long; it’s a super versatile way to fish because you can easily adjust your bobber for the depth.”

Evans also likes the rig for its ease of use in all weather conditions. “It’s great because if you have a breezy day, the waves will give the bait for the action you need, and then when it’s calm, you can pull the rod and get the action,” he said. “It keeps the bait right in front of the fish.”

Fishing lightweight 1/32 and 1/64-ounce heads can be tricky to keep the bait down, so Evans has learned to add a 1/8-ounce egg sinker a foot above the bait and connect his mainline and leader to a barrel swivel. 

“That’s a great way to keep your bait below the surface, but it also helps with casting so you don’t tangle the slip bobber as much,” he said. “I like to use a 1/8-ounce Thill Wobble bobber and adjust the slip to the weight. For my mainline, I like 15 lb Seaguar Smackdown in the Flash Green color. It casts incredibly far and is good at holding the slip knot in place.”

Evans utilizes a 12-inch section of Seaguar Gold Label fluorocarbon leader material between the barrel swivel and tube jig. “6 lb is perfect for crappie because it’s such a thin diameter and gives you a nice natural finesse presentation for your jig,” he said.

Early and Late Season Perch

Primarily fishing Lake Erie out of Buffalo, New York, Capt. Fonzi is a well-accomplished smallmouth bass angler and a premier trophy bass guide, but perch are also a big part of his guiding business. 

“Perch are the main target for me in April and then again in September and October,” said Fonzi. “Both times of year are in the same areas and deep; in the spring, our fish will spawn as deep as 50 feet of water, which most people don’t realize,” he said. “They come into those areas again in the fall and will stay there all winter until we pick back up the next spring.”

These areas that he’s looking for are breaks and depth changes. “In most lakes, perch spawn on the edge of weeds, but we don’t have that in Erie, and instead, they use the rocks and vertical structure of the depth changes,” he said. “They’ll use these same areas in the fall to feed up on baby gobies. Those elevation changes hold tons of baitfish, and the perch gorge on them and eat like pigs.”

Targeting depths around the 50-foot range, Fonzi’s most productive setup is a double drop-shot rig with either live shiners or small soft plastic baits.  

“What works well is a 4-inch Yamamoto Senko cut in half; they eat the heck out of those in the white colors or chartreuse with gold flake,” he said. “I like to use as light of a drop-shot weight as possible and will start with a 5/8-ounce weight but will adjust if I need to based on the wind and waves. I’ll also adjust my leader length on the hooks based on how the fish act; some days, the first hook could be only a few inches above the weight, and other times, it could be higher if the fish are suspended chasing baitfish.”

His line setup is a 10 lb Seaguar Smackdown braid and a leader of 10 lb Gold Label fluorocarbon. “We may get a few more bites with a lighter 6 or 8 lb leader, but fishing this way, you run into a lot of big walleye and bass as well, which gives me some added strength to land those as well,” he said. “The other thing you run into is constantly swinging two jumbo perch at the same into the boat over and over, which can stress your line, so the heavier leader helps and won’t break.”

Cooking Your Catch

When targeting crappie, Evans is cautious and limits how many he and his clients bring home each trip to protect the fishery. He’s a fan of a good old-fashioned fish fry and has narrowed it down to how many filets it typically takes to feed each person in attendance.

“It’s hard to beat fried crappie, and it always seems to work about four filets per person since some won’t eat that many, and others will eat more,” he said. “Having a fish fry at the end of the day is a great way to celebrate your day on the water, but I also don’t take too many because our lakes can be susceptible to overharvesting, especially with all of our new technology for electronics. I never take more than ten fish home, even though the limits are much higher.”

Every lake is a little different in size, but Evans says generally, crappie between 8 and 11 inches are perfect for a fish fry, and he’ll release the bigger ones. One trick he learned to get great-tasting fish is to utilize hot sauce.

“If you dip the filets in Frank’s Red Hot and then coat them in whatever crumbs you prefer to use right before going into the hot oil, they taste incredible,” he said. “It’s not too spicy after they are cooked, but the flavor is incredible.”

Fonzi prepares his perch in many ways, but one of his most often requested meals is fried perch sandwiches. “I like to mix either House Autry, Shore Lunch, or Uncle Buck’s fish fry seasoning half and half with Italian-style breadcrumbs,” he said. “Then I’ll enhance the mix with some Romano cheese, extra Italian seasoning, or garlic powder. Then, I’ll dip the filets in egg and place them into that mixture. It helps fill the voids in the filets, and they turn out crispy and crunchy when you fry them.”

He finishes the sandwich with a slice of American cheese and homemade tartar sauce made of Miracle Whip, relish, and lemon pepper as the dressing on top. 

Catching panfish is always a good time as you can often get into large numbers and catch them quickly. The reward for catching them is an excellent meal at the end of the day, and their great-tasting filets keep anglers returning for more.

Seaguar Smackdown braid is available in high visibility Flash Green and low visibility Stealth Gray. It is available in 150- and 300-yard spools in sizes ranging from 10 to 65 lb tests.

Seaguar Gold Label Fluorocarbon leader is available in 25- and 50-yard spools in 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 & 12 lb tests for freshwater use, complementing the 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 80 lb test leaders available for saltwater.

Learning Fishing Tips From Magazines and A West Point Tournament

I grew up reading the big three outdoor magazines of the time: Outdoor Life, Sports Afield and Field and Stream.  At one time I had every copy of all three from 1964 until about 2000.  Those magazines made me want to catch salmon in an Alaska stream and shoot doves in Argentina.

Sometimes an article applied directly to this country Georgia boy. I distinctly remember a tip that redwing blackbirds often lit in bushes hanging over the water and watched a bass under them, expecting the bass to injure a minnow the bird could than eat.

A few days later while fishing Harrison’s Pond with my trusty Mitchell 300 and a Devil’s Horse, I saw a redwing blackbird sitting on a small bush growing from the top of a stump about 40 feet off the bank.  It took me a couple of cast to place the Devil’s Horse perfectly and bring it by the stump, but I got an explosive strike from a nice two-pound bass.

More recently I had gotten my fishing stuff ready for a Jackson night tournament and was killing time waiting to leave. I read an online report on an Arkansas lake.  It said the bass were hitting a jig and pig at night.

I went out and tied one on for the tournament.  At midnight I had not caught a fish and had just two hours left to fish.  Remembering the article and jig, I picked it up and started casting it to a rocky point. I landed five bass on it in the next hour and won the tournament.

The big three magazines were national and covered everything about the outdoors. Then around my senior year in high school, 1968, I heard about a new group that published a magazine. But it was different. The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) was nothing but black bass fishing.

Youth nowadays have almost unlimited information available to them and many of them take advantage of it. Some college bass fishermen have more bass fishing knowledge than I have accumulated in 65 years of bass fishing.  They constantly study and read about bass fishing.

I share recaps of my tournament here and hope they help fishermen catch fish.  Sometimes another fisherman sharing what they catch fish on and how they are caught is a big help. For the same reason I post a variety of fishing reports on my web site. You never know where or when a tip may help you in the future.

I hope somehow my reports help you catch a bass!

—–

I wish I had read something or heard something to help me at West Point last weekend!  That lake has been my bane this year in tournaments, finishing near the bottom in Potato Creek and a Sportsman Club tournaments in February.

Last Sunday 12 members and guests fished from 6:30 AM to 3:00 PM to land 40 bass weighing about 40 pounds at West Point. There were four five-bass limits and one person didn’t weigh in a fish.

Raymond English won with five weighing 10.31 pounds and got big fish with a 2.59 pounder. Second went to Billy Roberts with five at 6.33 pounds, third was Lee Hancock with five at 5.30 pounds and Jay Gerson was fourth with five weighing 4.97 pounds. My four weighing 4.69 pounds was fifth, one place out of the money again!

Before the tournament Lee said a big tournament there the day before produced a winning weight of 18 pounds.  He asked “How do they do that?”  I told him I thought they ran way up the river and threw topwater frogs around grass and other shallow cover, working hard all day for five bites from quality largemouth. I also said I could not fish like that anymore, my old body won’t let me.

Instead I tend to fish memories, trying to catch fish in the same places and the same ways I caught them the same time of year in the past.  Sometimes it kinda works.

After a club member helped me launch my boat and I sat waiting on blastoff Sunday morning, the fairly strong wind make me change my plans.  I knew the wind would be blowing right into three rocky points down the lake where I caught fish two weeks ago, usually a good thing. I decided to start there rather than a place upstream I originally planned to go.

Wind was blowing into the points and a crow walking the edge of the water, looking for shad I thought, made me think I had made a good decision. I quickly missed a bite on topwater and picked up a Carolina rig and landed a 11.9-inch spot. Not a keeper.

And it was the only bite I got until I ran back up the lake to where I planned to start at 9:00. I finally caught three fish on a shaky head worm on rocky points and one on a whacky rigged worm under a dock.

I hooked exactly five bass all day!  I just could not catch that fifth keeper.

How Fast Can Your Lake Go from Clear to Muddy and Vice Versa?

This is from January 2024, but it is always true. In March Lake Martin was as muddy as I have seen it in 50 years and the next weekend Jackson was September clear, unusual for April

Fishing conditions can change fast this time of year. Last weekend Lake Sinclair was very clear, so clear I blamed the tough fishing on it.  But the flooding rain Tuesday most likely changed that.

    For many years our lakes got very muddy in the winter and spring from rain run-off.  Muddy water was the norm back in the 1970s and 80s at my place on Germany Creek at Clarks Hill. But now it is not unusual to see the bottom three feet down like it was the week before Christmas.

    I think farming practices are the reason. Fewer plowed fields mean less muddy runoff.

    Sinclair has always been a popular bass fishing lake in the winter, mostly due to the warm water discharge from the power plant there. The warmer water made the fish more active than they were on other lakes in middle Georgia. After the power plant was torn down conditions changed.

    Last Sunday I could see the bottom three to four feet down on Sinclair. And in anticipation of the coming rain, Georgia Power had lowered the lake about a foot to accept the runoff.  But like other lakes, run off from a heavy rain will muddy up some of the lake. The bigger the lake the less it muddies.

    Small lakes like Jackson can get muddy from dam to headwaters in a few hours. Sinclair usually takes a couple of days. And huge lakes like Clarks Hill almost never get muddy near the dam but the creeks and rivers upstream do get muddy.

    The lower the water the more it muddies up. If the lake is full the muddy inflow just pushes the clear water downstream some, making it go higher. With the lake low the muddy water flows downstream with less clear water to slow it down.

    One of the worst experience I have had happened at Jackson a few years ago. I was on the lake a few days before the tournament and caught nice spots off every rocky point from near the dam upstream to Tussahaw Creek. I could not wait for the tournament.

    When we took off it was still a little dark. We could see well enough to run but details on the bank and in the water were vague.  I stopped on the first point going upstream, planning on working my way up hitting every point.

    Within a few minutes I caught a nice keeper spot on a crankbait. When I decided to go to the next point something didn’t look right.  About 50 yards above the point I was on, the water changed from a greenish clear to red mud. It looked like someone had drawn a line across the lake and colored above it with a red crayon.

    A heavy rain had hit the day before the tournament, but I never expected that change! The mudline moved past the point I started on within a few minutes. The whole lake was muddy upstream at daylight and to the dam by 10:00 AM.

    And I never got another bite.

    I don’t mind fishing cold water too much. My rule of thumb this time of year is that if the water temperature is above 50 degrees, I have a pretty good chance of catching a bass. If it is 45 to 50 degrees, I may get a bite. But if the water is colder than 45 degrees I might as well go home.

    Muddy cold water is much worse.  It is the worst possible condition this time of year to me.

    Other factors affect fishing, too. I had information that a lot of bass were out deep on Sinclair, deeper than I expected. Some of my friends were catching bass 50 feet deep.

    I planned on trying to catch a fish shallow this past Sunday then going out and looking for schools of deep fish. But the wind made it miserable fishing open water and boat control was very hard.

    I did find one ball of bait 35 feet deep and another ball of either gizzard shad or crappie down 40 feet deep but got no bites around them.  

    Bright sun is not good when the water is warm in the summer, but it can help this time of year. I do get a laugh when I hear fishermen say sun warms underwater rocks and that warms the water the water around them. Water dissipates heat way too fast for that to happen. 

    Bass are attracted to shallow rocks and sun on them does seem to help in the winter. There is lots of food like crawfish living around rocks so bass feed there in the winter. And the sun may warm them some like it does us sitting in it, but I am not sure.

    No matter the reason, fishing around rocks is a good tactic this time of year.

    Many other factors affect fishing this time of year so the most important thing is to be adaptable.

    Last Sunday only three members of the Flint River Bass Club showed up for our January tournament. Since there were less than four fishermen, the club paid our entry fees.

    I won with two bass weighing 3.41 pounds and my 2.44 pound largemouth was big fish. Zane Fleck had one keeper weighing 1.77 pounds for second. That was it, the third fisherman zeroed.

    I had two bites on a jig, one at 9:00 AM and the second just before 10:00 AM around rocks. After that I looked for deeper fish but never got another bite all day!

Targeting Spring Bass with the Right Gear

Targeting Spring Bass

  • February 17, 2025
  • By The Fishing Wire

In just a few short weeks, anglers across the United States will be gearing up for one of our favorite pastimes: spring largemouth bass fishing. Depending on where you are located, spring bassing could mean cool, crisp mornings, long days in the sun and rod-bending action for hours. No matter if you’re flipping soft plastics into heavy cover, casting buzzbaits or just plugging the shoreline of your favorite lake or reservoir, you’ll benefit from a good pair of fishing gloves.

Just as you’d wear a glove for golf or baseball batting practice, fishing gloves can help your game on the water by greatly reducing hand fatigue. Fish Monkey gloves have just the right amount of padding in all the right places plus a superb grip area that works as well when wet as it does dry to help relieve the pressure on your hands from making hundreds of casts every day. Another benefit: They offer good hand protection and reduce those fin pricks, scrapes and small cuts from hooks, gill plates, braided line and more. You can also virtually eliminate “bass thumb” —those scrapes on your thumbs from lipping and releasing largemouths—with a good pair of gloves as well. 

One of the most popular options is the Stubby from Fish Monkey. This design has been a best-seller since the first season it was introduced, and for some very good reasons. First, it was crafted for comfort and all-day wearability, with ultra-lightweight, quick-drying fabric and a second-skin fit, plus shorter fingers and cuffs (hence the name). The Stubby offers UPF 50-plus sun protection for the sensitive skin on the backs of your hands and has a non-slip silicone palm print. 

For those who want a bit more protection, check out the Half Finger Guide glove. It differs from the Stubby in that the fingers and cuffs are a bit longer. It also retains the same qualities of quick-drying fabrics, second-skin fit and UPF 50-plus sun protection too. 

And for something that’s a bit of both, there’s the Pro 365 Guide glove. It has a bit less coverage than the Half Finger but a little more than the Stubby—it’s just right. Designed for those guides, captains and professional anglers who spend long hours in the sun, it has unparalleled comfort, UPF 50-plus sun protection, padding where you need it and a wet-or-dry grip that won’t quit. 

Make the most of your spring bass fishing this year with Fish Monkey performance fishing gloves. Interested in becoming a Fish Monkey Hunt Monkey dealer? Click here for more information! 

A January Club Tournament Shows Why Bass Like Jigs

The Flint River Bass Club held its first 2023 tournament last Sunday at Jackson. In it, six of us fished for eight hours in a mudhole to land 12 bass weighing about 14 pounds.  There was one five bass limit and no one zeroed.

I landed five weighing 5.70 pounds for first, Doug Acre came in second with two weighing 3.36 pounds and had a 1.94-pound fish for big fish and Lee Hancock had three weighing 3.1 for third.  Fourth went to Alex Gober with one at 1.71 pounds and new member Scott Smith had keeper weighing .63 pounds for fifth.

When we started at 7:30 AM I could tell the water was very muddy even in the cove at the ramp. My first cast I found out how muddy, my crankbait disappeared about two inches deep.

I fished one place in the muddy cove without a bite for about 30 minutes. When I headed up the river to try to find some clearer water to fish, I was shocked and scared when I saw all the wood floating in the water.  Everything from twigs to logs twice as long as my boat covered the water from bank to bank.

That made me stop on a point and try to fish, although it was very muddy and almost every cast produced some kind of trash on my line and lure. After about 30 minutes the light breeze had moved the wood away from one side of the lake enough to run on plane if you were slow and careful.

I had hoped to go up the Alcovy River above the mouth of the South River where the water is often clearer, but when I got to the mouth of Tussahaw Creek I changed my mind. The wood going up the river covered it even worse from bank to bank and the wind had not made any open water at wall.

That condition made me go up Tussahaw Creek where there is often some clear water.  And it did get better above the bridge, I could see my bait down a solid six inches!

I caught a small keeper spot by casting a brown three sixteenths ounce Bitsy Bug jig with a green pumpkin Creepy Crawler trailer to a cement seawall. Of course I dipped the tails of the trailer in chartreuse JJs Magic. There are rocks at the bottom of most seawalls and bass will hold against them to feed on crayfish and baitfish.

I kept fishing seawalls like that and every one of my fish, two more spots and two largemouth, hit the jig on a seawall.  Lee was fishing the same area and caught his three on a variety of baits.

I invited the spots I caught home for dinner. When I cleaned them they had parts of small crayfish in their stomachs. That is why they liked my brown jig with the twin trailer arms!

What Is the Most Important Improvement In Bass Fishing?

Unlike my picture taken in 1994 that accompanies my Griffin Daily News article, I have aged a lot in the past 30 years.  I have also seen many changes in fishing, especially bass fishing, during my life.  Some I like, some others like but I don’t appreciate.  To each his own, I guess.

    I think the most important change in bass fishing is the development of the electric trolling motor.  I will never forget the fun I had sculling an old wooden jon boat for my uncles.  Back then one person sat up front and fished while the other in the back used a paddle to move and position the boat for casting.

    That back seat job often went to us kids. We learned a lot watching and listening, but it was frustrating, too.  Sometimes we got to make a few casts, with the adult taking over the paddling, but usually it was expected our turn fishing would come when we were adults.  We were not spoiled like kids nowadays.

    Sometimes we tried fishing by ourselves and sculling from the front. It worked pretty well, but it meant positioning the boat, putting the paddle down, picking up your rod and reel and trying to get a cast in before the wind or waves moved the boat out of position.

    Now with the touch of a button and rock of the foot you keep the boat in position perfectly, freeing your hands to cast at all times. Newer trolling motors even allow you to push a button and the trolling motor will hold you in one place, allowing you to move around the boat to fish or sit and tie on a new lure without worrying about where the boat will go.

    My first ‘depthfinder” was a heavy cord with a used spark plug on the end. Knots were tied every foot, and every yard a double knot marked it.  I even used freezer tape to put a numbered tag every yard to keep up with how much string was out.

    My newest “depthfinder,” a Garmin Panoptix Livescope, shows everything in front of the boat out to 100 feet in detail, even showing fish as they move in the water.  With a little practice I have learned to identify the kind of fish I am seeing and make a pretty good guess if they will bite. Most of the time.

    The Panoptix cost a bit more than a ball of cord and spark plug weight.  A paddle is a little cheaper than a spot-lock 36 volt trolling motor.

    Fishing line is another huge improvement.  I will never forget Edgar Reeves, Mr. John Harry’s son who was 15 years older than me, taking me with him to Clarks Hill in May. I mostly skulled his boat while he cast a Devil’s Horse topwater plug to flooded button bushes and sweet gum trees.

    He told me I could cast some but when I picked up my Mitchell 300 spinning reel loaded with monofilament line, he said it would not work with topwater. The new-fangled line was not any good compared to his braided line.

    He was right in a way.  Monofilament has improved a lot over the past 60 years since my trip with Edgar. It is much thinner, stronger and limper than the old stuff.  But I use much more fluorocarbon line when fishing since it is not visible underwater and does not stretch as much.

    Unlike monofilament, fluorocarbon sinks so it is not suitable for topwater baits.  But I seldom use mono for topwater, new kinds of braid, very similar to what Edgar used, are now the best line for topwater most of the time.  What goes around comes around!

    Spinning reels were introduced to eliminate the problems with bait casters. The first bait caster I tried to use had no free spool, the handle revolved backwards when you cast. It was called a “knucklebuster” for a very good reason.

And there was no level wind, you had to move the line with your reel holding hand thumb across the reel spool as you reeled in to keep it even.  And there was no drag system.

Spinning reels had problems of their own, from loops forming when you cast that made a mess on the next cast to line slipping under the spool and jamming.  But they were much easier to use.

Then spincast reels, also called closed face reels, were developed to make casting even easier but the first ones jammed way too often, and dirt and debris collected inside the closed face.  New ones are much better.

I fell in love with bass tournament fishing the first time Jim Berry took me to a Sportsman Club tournament in 1974.  I still fish three club tournaments each month.  But the intensity of many young fishermen, “grinding” it out and not having fun but turning it into work while fishing, worries me.  There are hundreds of other great developments in fishing. I hope I am around to witness a few more! 

Can You Be Successful Wading for Speckled Trout 

Wading for Speckled Trout 

In most of the Gulf States, the speckled seatrout is one of the most popular targets for anglers because they are often plentiful, aggressive, and willing to bite various lures. There are many ways to catch them, but wading for them is an excellent option as they typically stay close to the beach and allow anglers to be as stealthy as possible as they target them.

Noted Texas guide and tournament angler, Capt. Brett Sweeny of Matagorda specializes in inshore species such as redfish and trout and guides clients during the “trophy season” for trout in the winter. One of the best ways to target these spooky fish in shallow water is by wading and making precise casts to their hiding spots. It’s a nice change of pace for anglers accustomed to fishing from a boat, and Sweeny says it gives anglers the best chance at catching a trout of a lifetime.

Trophy Trout Time

Sweeny is looking for fish that weigh seven pounds or more or are twenty-eight inches long on the Texas Coast to classify as a trophy. He says the winter months are best for these fish, primarily because their diet changes and where they live.

“The trophy season usually starts around the first of the year, and by February and March, those fish are the heaviest they will be all year,” he said. “When it gets colder, they adjust their diet and eat more mullet. Plus, in that colder water, they don’t swim or travel as much to burn off as much of that food.”

Whether he’s guiding clients near his home in Matagorda or spending time further south in Port Mansfield as he does for long stretches every winter, the chance for a trophy trout is real every trip, and wading offers an excellent opportunity to catch them.

Wading for trout can be as simple as gaining access to a beach, walking out into the water, and casting, but Capt. Sweeny takes his clients to prime locations via boat, where they enter the water and stalk the shallows. He’s a huge fan of fishing this way because it’s effective and adds a hunting aspect to fishing.

“It’s more like hunting because you are creeping up and making casts to specific targets instead of just blind casting around,” he said. “Getting into the water makes you much more efficient than fishing from a boat and lets you work the holes in the grass more efficiently. The other benefit is less noise because these fish are very spooky, and they won’t hear the waves slap on the boat’s hull or anglers making noise as they walk around in the boat.”

What to Look For

Grass beds are critical habitat, and there is plenty to fish on the Gulf Coast. Sweeny looks for ambush areas, holes in the grass that they call potholes.

“In those big grass beds will be big sand holes in the middle, about the size of a truck, and it’s not just a bare spot but a little depression with slightly deeper water. That’s what you want to find,” he said. “Those fish are going to lay in there, right on the edge of the grass, and when mullet come into that pothole, it’s the perfect ambush point for a big trout.”

The water depth they fish ranges from “knee deep” to “belly button deep,” as Capt. Sweeny puts it. Even minor depth changes are enough to attract trout, and like everything in saltwater, tides make a difference. 

“These depressions could only be 8 inches deeper, but that’s enough to hold those trout,” he said. “When it’s sunny, they’ll be in the shallower stuff, and as it gets colder, they’ll be in deeper holes. The best tides are typically incoming in the winter, but if you have some movement either way, it will be better fishing.”

Walking in waders, Sweeny and his clients move from one pothole to the next, and he says the anticipation of each new target is part of the fun.

“It’s easy to lay out a plan together as we creep up to the next pothole; it’s very visual, which is why everyone I take out likes it so much,” he said. “We can ease around and not make a bunch of noise, and it gives you a better chance to catch these fish since the water can be pretty clear this time of year.”

Targeting Trout in the Potholes

The aggressive attitude of trout, even in the colder months, allows them to be caught with several lures. Capt. Sweeny prefers suspending baits such as a MirrOlure Paul Brown’s Original or a “Corky,” as many know them, or Down South Lures Southern Shad paddle tail swimbait. He prefers natural mullet-imitating colors and fishes both on medium power rods with extra fast tips and a Bates Fishing Co. Salty reel spooled with 30 lb Seaguar TactX fluorocarbon with a five-foot leader of 25 lb Seaguar Gold Label fluorocarbon leader connected by a Double Uni knot.

“I like Gold Label because of how much thinner it is. I can go up a size and not lose anything, and I feel like it ties better knots because of how supple it is,” he said. “I also like the feel of TactX because I’m a four-strand guy, and it’s a very strong braid that casts great. It’s a personal preference, and I know some anglers doing this with the Smackdown braid.”

When fishing these lures, especially the suspending twitch bait, Capt. Sweeny mixes up his retrieves based on fish activity, but the pause is where many bites happen.

“I always like to go with two twitches of the rod and then a pause, almost like working a jerkbait for bass in freshwater,” he said. “You want to twitch the bait over that grass, and then you want it to sit as long inside that pothole as you can before you twitch it again.”

Casting accuracy is also critical for getting the best time inside the strike zone possible. “It’s important to make a good cast because if you miss the cast by a few feet, you’re going to be up on top of that grass bed, and they probably aren’t going to eat your bait,” he said. “That’s another reason why your line is so critical, and having a good casting line like TactX makes you that much more efficient.”

For a change of pace and a chance at a massive speckled trout, jump in and wade as you stalk the shallow water. It’s a surefire way to have fun and catch big trout during the winter months when they are at their biggest sizes of the entire year.

Seaguar TactX Camo Braid is available in 150- and 300-yard spools in 10 to 80 lb tests.

Seaguar Gold Label Fluorocarbon leader is available in twenty-five and fifty-yard spools in 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 & 12 lb tests for freshwater use, complementing the 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 80 lb test leaders available for saltwater. 

How Many Bass Do You Have To Catch To Find A Pattern?

A few years ago a friend fishing with me caught a small bass and said “Now we know the pattern to fish today.”  I just laughed.  I am no professional fisherman, but I do not think one fish sets a pattern.

    Bass fishermen search for a pattern each day, the kinds of structure, cover and depth fish seem to be holding and feeding, and what kind of food they are eating.  Discover a good pattern and you can catch fish all over a big lake doing the same thing. Pro fishermen are pros because they can usually find a good pattern.

    On the other hand I work to catch every fish I can find.  In my mind there are always some bass shallow and they are more likely to be feeding and easier to catch.  Sometimes I find a small pattern, maybe fishing the front edge of a grass bed, the back post on a dock or a rocky seawall. 

    In a recent tournament a club member stated, “The bass are not in the grass beds today, I never got a bite in them.”  My response was that was odd since my biggest three fish hit in grass beds.  Patterns are elusive for fishermen like me!

    The Sportsman Club Classic last Sunday at Bartletts Ferry proved this to me.  In the tournament that 8 fishermen qualified to fish, we landed 29 bass weighing about 29 pounds.  In eight hours of casting, there were three five-bass limits and no one zeroed.

Wayne Teal won big with five weighing 10.69 pounds and his 3.85 pound largemouth was big fish. Raymond English came in second with five at 5.86 pounds, my five weighing 5.49 pounds was third, Jay Gerson placed fourth with two sat 5.09 pounds and Kwong Yu came in fifth with four weighing 3.77 pounds.

Two weeks ago I fished Bartletts four days, three in practice and one in the Potato Creek Tournament.  Last week I camped and fished Friday and Saturday and then the tournament Sunday.

Bartletts Ferry has many water willow grass beds and are usually a good place to find bass feeding.  In the 7 days I fished I tried many of them and worked a variety of baits through them. I never got a bite.

Of course, Wayne said all his fish hit in grass beds on baits I had tried!

Finding a pattern is great and I have found a few over the years.  At Guntersville a few years ago I caught four bass, three over four pounds each, by pitching a jig to the right front post of docks in less than three feet of water. My partner and I never got a bite around other posts that day!

Sometimes two fishermen can be casting the same bait to the same places but only one will catch fish.  Often there is a slight difference in the way the bait is worked or some other unnoticed factor.

That is why I find it difficult to figure out a pattern. I get frustrated and think maybe the fish are there, I am just doing a little something wrong.

Once again I camped at Blanton Creek Georgia Power campground. Knowing their discriminating rule against boat owners, I reserved a site on the water.  When I arrived after 4:00 PM there was a map on the board with my name on it.  A sign said set up and check in the next morning.

When I went to my site the wind was blowing fairly big waves into the bank, so I set up and parked my boat on the site, completely out of the road and off the grass.  An hour later the campground host drove up in a golf cart to tell me I could not park my boat on the site.

We talked for a while and he was very nice, explaining a few years ago someone with a boat caused a problem how they parked, so Georgia Power made a rule no boats in the campground.  So they punished every boat owner for the past four years for the actions of one.

He let me leave my boat there for the night since it was Thursday but insisted I move it first thing the next morning.

Unfortunately, two club members that had reservations to camp but not on the water had to cancel since they could not charge their batteries.

    Maybe someday Georgia power won’t punish all boat owners due to the past action of one slob.