Don’t Miss the Skinny Wasteland for Autumn Smallies

Super shallow and non-structured bottoms entice smallmouth so you can Catch Cold Water Smallmouth bass there

Catch cold water smallmouth

Cool days and even colder nights have water temperatures tumbling; bug hatches are coming to a halt. The once warm summer rains are turning bitter, too – crawlers and the like burrowing deep rather than getting washed into the drink. Young-of-the-year fishes that have avoided being eaten since birth have learned to be on the lookout for predators better than ever.

Captain Chris Noffsinger sporting smallmouth bling, which were caught from super-shallow water during the fall season.

To say the food sources of smallmouth bass dwindle as autumn arrives is an understatement.

As fall starts showing its face, a smallie’s diet turns to the only forage left: baitfish and crayfish; with the latter becoming scarcer as the season wanes. It’s this forage-vanishing-act that has bronze-finned prowlers on the move. It’s also what makes them easier to catch this time of year.

But smallmouths aren’t always roaming where you might think. Classic deep water haunts, weedbeds, reefs and sunken timber aren’t providing sustenance. So where might one find smallies when the leaves start turning? In depths registering only in the single digits; that’s 2 to 5 feet, even in ultra-clear water.

Wide Open Spaces

Enter Captain Chris Noffsinger, bass aficionado and fulltime guide on the waterways surrounding Traverse City, Michigan. Smallmouths have populated the Great Lakes and natural inland lakes here since the last glacier receded nearly 10,000 years ago. The fishery is loaded with trophy-size bass; many which are caught in places the average angler wouldn’t even consider casting.

“Sometimes my clients get a dumbfounded look on their faces when I tell them where to cast,” said Noffsinger. “But I don’t blame them, because, after all, we’re on giant sand flats with not a stitch of cover to be found except maybe some gravel or sand grass.

“The key to finding fish here lies in finding minnows,” adds Noffsinger. “You’ll see them near shore through your polarized glasses. And if you look closely, you’ll see smallies there, too.”

Cover and Cast

With trolling motor deployed, Noffsinger covers as much water as possible. Overall, the trick is using lures that imitate minnows, but at the same time, won’t dive into the dirt – spinnerbaits being a prime example. The captain’s favorite is Red Dirt Bait Company’s 1/2- and 3/4-ouncers, with painted willow-leaf blades, because they can be cast far, fished fast and his clients can cover a lot of water.

Spoons can be worked slowly, all the while staying in the strike zone without dredging bottom. Spoons, however, are rarely thought of as a smallmouth bait, yet do catch fish, and deserve more respect.

Smallmouth caught on
Fin-Wing

The #-3 Fin-Wing can be retrieved at a steady pace in super-shallow water without snagging up. It’s stamped from metal, but its wide, swimming wobble is nothing like that of an ordinary spoon. Because of the Fin-Wing’s unique shape, light reflects off it at multiple angles and the lure gets noticed like the flashing blades of a spinnerbait. Increase the speed of your retrieve and the Fin-Wing turns toward the sun and creates a wake, even rides the surface with a walk-the-dog action; perfect for first light in the shallows.

Soft Side

Noffsinger and his guests also throw soft-bodied lures like un-weighted flukes, aka soft jerkbaits. When retrieved with a twitch, these lures dart side to side wildly like an injured minnow.

If the smallies aren’t responding to the erratic motion of flukes, large grubs on a light-weight jig head, fished with a steady retrieve will often do the trick. BFishN’s 5-inch K Grub on a H20 Precision Jig is a great option as the grub’s mega tail has more than enough whirl to emit vibrations.

Stick it to ‘Em

Making long casts is a must in such clear, shallow water. Seven foot plus rods will get your bait farther from the boat. But fishin’ sticks must also have enough backbone to make a solid hookset, which can be challenging with so much line out.

Seventeen-pound-test fluorocarbon coursing through a St. Croix 7-foot Mojo Bass Spinnerbait casting rod, for example, will whip a spinnerbait a country mile and still stick a hook. The low stretch of fluoro helps oversized hooks penetrate a bass’ boney jaw, making the line perfect for spoons and spinnerbaits. Meanwhile, a 7-foot medium-power fast-action St. Croix Avid X, for instance, has the ability to properly launch a lighter soft plastic on 8-pound-test fluoro.

Going Nowhere Fast

If you’re looking to catch big smallies this fall, explore the shallow wastelands.

Position your boat on a shallow flat, cast shoreward and cover water with baitfish imitating lures. Make long casts and employ a rod and line that support solid hooksets at long distances.

You know all those featureless shallow flats you buzzed by all summer long? Time to put on the brakes and commence casting.

Top Pre-Spawn Largemouth Tactics

March is well known for several reasons. The Ides of March were pretty important to Caesar. Basketball fans go crazy over March Madness. But to a bass fisherman, this time of year means bass are feeling the spawning urge, moving toward the bedding areas, feeding heavily and are much easier to catch. Pre-spawn season is here.

It also means you can catch them on a wide variety of baits and patterning them is easy. It doesn’t matter if you favor crank baits, spinnerbaits, jerk baits, a jig and pig or plastic worms, all are good. And topwater action, a favorite of most fishermen, comes into play and gets better and better.

As our days get longer bass respond by moving toward shallow, protected coves to spawn. They follow established routes like creek channels, break lines and points as they move, stopping on cover to feed. You can follow them and catch large numbers of fish, as well as some of the biggest bass of the year, along these routes.

When the water first starts to warm look for the fish on the structure and cover just outside the mouths of the spawning areas. Find stumps on a drop or point, a blowdown where the channel swings near the cove mouth and brush and rocks on points and the bass will be there.

Follow them to secondary points and steeper banks back in the cove as they move. Follow the channel back into the coves since that is what the bass will follow. Fish the key areas where the channel swings near a secondary point, where it runs along a bank making a steep drop and along the edges of flats where the bass feed.

Then look for stumps, logs and brush on hard bottoms near the back of the coves where they set up to bed as the water temperature approached 65 degrees. Gravel and hard sand bottoms are what attract the bass so concentrate on areas with those kinds of bottom.

Coves on the north side of the lake warm fastest due to the angle of the sun, and a breeze blowing across the lake moves warmer surface water with it. Check out the areas on the north side of the lake, especially if a light breeze is blowing toward them. Stronger winds stir up the colder water below the surface and don’t help increase the temperature, but wave action can make the bass feed on windblown points and banks.

Although bass are cold blooded and really don’t get uncomfortable from water temperature, they are more active in warmer water. Also, water temperature affects spawning time. Since stained water warms more quickly than clear water, look for stained to muddy water. A surface temperature gauge helps since just two to three degrees change can make a difference.

A three day warming trend is a classic time to find bigger bass moving very shallow to feed. Cold fronts move through often this time of year and then a warming trend follows. After a front drops the water temperature then it starts warming, the bass will respond by moving and feeding.

Since the bass are moving you should fish fairly fast, covering water until you find them. Spinnerbaits and crank baits work well to cover a lot of water looking for the areas they are holding.

When you start catching fish note the kind of area and bass should be in the same kinds of places in other parts of the lake. When you find concentrations of fish slow down and work every piece of cover thoroughly.

Choose your bait color based on water clarity. Use natural baitfish colors in clear water but go to brighter colors in more stained water. White spinnerbaits with silver blades work well in clearer water while chartreuse or red skirts teamed with gold or copper blades are better in stained water. Bigger baits are usually better in stained to muddy water, too.

With crankbaits use shad colors in clear water. Grays, light blues and silver are good. Chartreuse crankbaits show up better in muddy water, as do red and black baits. A rattle in the baits can be good no matter what the water color but are more important in stained water where visibility is less.

You can fish a spinnerbait at any depth but lighter one-quarter ounce baits can be moved slower in more shallow water. Go to three eights to one half ounce baits for deeper water earlier in the month. Try willowleaf blades in clear water and for fishing faster but use Colorado blades for slower fishing and in stained to muddy water.

Carry a variety of crankbaits, too. Some should be small and have smaller bills for water less than four feet deep. Bigger baits that bump the bottom in six to ten feet are needed earlier. Bumping the bottom is important. You are much more likely to get bit when your crankbait is digging into the bottom.

Square bill crankbaits have become very popular in the past few years. They bounce off wood cover better and are made for fishing stumps, brush and blowdowns. Most run several feet deep. Carry several sizes and colors and fish any wood cover you see with them.

Jerkbaits are known for clear water fishing but work well during the prespawn in stained water, too. Fish a pearl or silver bait and work it slower in colder water then faster and faster as the water warms. Long pauses between jerks will often make bigger bass hit.

A jig and pig is one of the best baits for March fishing. It can be fished around any kind of cover and is especially effective around rocks and clay where crayfish live. Black and blue baits are the norm in stained water with browns good in clear water. Try different sizes, from three-sixteenths to full one ounce baits depending on conditions.

Plastic worms fished on Carolina and Texas rigs as well as jig heads account for more bass than any other bait. A Carolina rig is good for raking gravel and clay bottoms while a Texas rig comes through cover better. A jig head worm is good around any kind of bottom or cover.

As soon as the water temperature hits the mid 50s try topwater. A buzzbait will catch bass in colder water than you might think and you can cover water quickly. You can fish it over any kind of cover. A popper or prop bait can be worked more slowly and a stick bait like the classic Zara Spook will catch pre-spawn bass. Topwater tends to get better and better as the water warms.

You can find the bass this time of year with your favorite bait. Start at the mouths of spawning coves and smaller creeks then work further and further into them. Hit key areas with cover. Watch the water temperature and concentrate in areas with warmer water.

Work fast until you find the pattern. Remember it can change during the day but when you find the fish in one area you should be able to go to similar places on the lake and repeat it.

Spinnerbaits are very versatile baits this time of year, allowing you to fish fast or slow around any kind of cover or bottom. They come in a wide variety of colors and blade styles to match anything you need.

Secret Weapon makes a spinnerbait that is a little different. The blades attach on a clip on shaft rather than the usual fixed clevis on the arm followed by a blade on a swivel on the end. This arrangement gives the bait a different sound and look as well as allowing you to quickly change color and size of blades and add or take away the number of blades on the bait.

Crankbaiting Deeper Water Works Well in Late Summer

Yamaha Pro Mark Davis Offers Suggestions to Improve Your Technique
from The Fishing Wire

Mark Davis

“It’s been an extremely hot summer across much of the country, and the water temperature in most lakes is still pretty warm,” explains the Yamaha Pro, “so neither the bass nor the baitfish seem to be very anxious to move shallow. They’re going to remain in deeper water until the lakes start cooling, and until they do, a deep diving crankbait will still be one of the best lures to use to catch them.”

Mark Davis Lands A Bass

“There are some shortcuts to deep water crankbaiting I’ve learned over the years,” smiles Davis, “but it took me a long time to accept them. Probably the most important one is not to even start casting until you know what you’re fishing. About 90 percent of the time, deep cranking is about fishing some feature in deep water, such as a ridge, a hump, or a channel, and you really can’t fish it effectively until you know what it looks like.

“I always idle slowly over the structure and study it with my electronics. Today’s depthfinders and side-scan units will show you the shape of the structure, how big it may be, and provide clues on how you can fish it most effectively.”

While the Yamaha Pro studies the structure, he’s not always looking for bass, either. Instead, he concentrates on trying to identify some smaller, special spot on the structure that might attract and hold a school of fish. Among bass fishermen like Davis, this is known as a ‘sweet spot,’ and it might be a sharp bend in a creek channel, a depth change on a ridge, or a group of stumps on the edge of a point. Sometimes, a sweet spot may not be as large as a bass boat, but even that is large enough to attract bass.

“One type of sweet spot I always try to locate is an area of hard bottom,” emphasizes Davis, “which is particularly important on older lakes where silt usually covers most of the bottom. A hard bottom can be rock, gravel, a shell bed, or even just smooth clay, but it will show up very well on today’s electronics and isn’t hard to identify. When I find hard bottom like this, that’s what I’m going to fish.”

Mark Davis and Bass

“Boat positioning is an important part of deep cranking, too,” continues the Yamaha Pro. “I want to be as far away from my target as possible, but still get my lure down to that target. I’ll also experiment with casting angles, circling the spot to see if the bass want my lure coming from a certain direction. Most of the time, I’ll have my boat in deep water and cast shallow, but sometimes it’ll be just the opposite, and I’ll usually learn this by making a complete casting circle around the target.

There is no way to tell what your best casting angle will be until you experiment like this.

“Deep cranking doesn’t have to be that difficult or that complicated,” concludes Davis, “especially if you learn as much as you can about the structure before you start trying to fish it. In fact, with the quality of today’s electronics, deep cranking has probably never been easier.”

If you ask most bass fishermen how to catch suspended bass, don’t be surprised if the response is: “you can’t.” Suspended bass present fishermen with one of the most difficult problems to solve and many just give up and go look for easier fish to catch. But there are ways to get them to bite and tactics that will help you land fish that others give up on.

Bass suspend away from structure and cover for a variety of reasons. One of the most common is when lakes stratify, forming a thermocline between hot upper oxygenated layers of water and cooler, deeper layers with little oxygen. Bass can’t live in the cooler waters so they get as close to it as they can, suspending over deep water at the level where they can still find enough oxygen.

Suspended bass will often be found holding off points and humps at the most comfortable depth to them. They will be over a deeper channel but not far from the rise in the bottom where it meets the depth they are holding. That allows them to run in and feed, then move back out over deeper water.

Some lakes present a special situation where standing timber under the water rises many feet off the bottom. Bass will often use these trees as cover, relating to the trunks and limbs while holding well off the bottom of the lake.

The best way to find suspended bass where you fish is to ride the lake and watch a depth finder carefully. Follow channels and ditches while watching for fish holding between the bottom and the surface. Riding back and forth over a point or hump, not turning your boat until well past the drop of the bottom contour, will show you schools of bass suspended near them. And moving slowly over standing timber will reveal bass suspended in it if your depth finder is a good one.

Depth control of your bait is critical to catching suspended bass. They are holding at a set depth and will not move far up or down to take a bait. So finding the bass and knowing what level they are holding is just the first step. You must then find a way to put your bait at the level where they will see it.

A crankbait is a good way to catch suspended bass but you must make it work at the dept the bass are holding. There is an old tried and true method of doing this that has fallen out of favor. Trolling it a great way to get your crankbait down to a set depth and keep it there while covering a lot of water, but it is against the rules in bass tournaments so many bass fishermen have abandoned it, but it still works.

Most lure companies have designed a variety of crankbaits that run down to a set depth. For example, a Bandit Series 400 will run 12 to 16 feet deep and a Series 700 will run 14 to 18 feet deep. A Bomber Fat Free Shad will run 14 to 18 feet deep while a Fat Free Fingerling will run eight to 10 feet deep.

The depth varies depending on factors like trolling speed, line size and amount of line out, so you need to experiment to find out the exact combination to produce the exact depth you want. Mark a set depth on a point then troll over it varying line size, length of line out and trolling speed until your bait just ticks the bottom at the depth you want it to run, then troll through schools of bass at that depth.

You can do the same thing if you are limiting yourself to casting, but line size and the distance you cast are even more important. And boat position becomes critical. When you cast a crankbait like the Bomber or Bandit it will dive to its maximum depth as you start your retrieve then rise when it gets near the boat.

Since your crankbait will stay a the desired depth for only a short distance when casting, you must locate the schools of bass then position your boat near them so you can cast past them and work the bait back, keeping it at the critical depth as long a as possible.

Some newer baits on the market make casting and controlling your depth easier. Both the Swarming Hornet and the Fish Head Spin are lead-head baits with a small spinner under the head. When you attach a Roboworm E-Z Shad or other shad looking plastic bait, it imitates a baitfish.

Tie on one of these baits and vary the weight of the lure and the line size to match the conditions like wind, water clarity and depth you want to fish. Smaller diameter line helps keep the bait at the depth you want to fish and you can get by with lighter line since the bass are away from cover.

Position your boat near the school of suspended bass and make a long cast past it. Feed line to the bait as it falls so it drops straight down and count it down. Figure one second per foot of drop, but to be more exact cast to a known depth and count it down to make sure your are accurate.

When the Fish Head Spin or Swarming Hornet reaches the correct depth, slowly reel the lure along. A slow, steady retrieve keeps the spinner turning and keeps the bait at the optimum depth. You can cover much more water at the best depth with one of these lures than with a crankbait since the lure drops straight down to the correct depth then stays at that depth all the way back to the boat.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to control the exact depth you want to fish is by using a drop shot rig. A drop shot rig is one where the lead is tied to the very end of your line and a hook tied on up the line. Special hooks and sinkers are designed for drop shotting and make it a more efficient way to fish, but you can use any sinker and hook as long as the hook is very sharp.

Gamakatsu hooks are known to be super sharp and they make a Drop Shot/Split Shot hook that comes in a variety of sizes and you can choose red or black hooks. These hooks are relatively small and are perfect for nose hooking small plastic bait like a Slider Worm, Roboworm or Gulp Minnow Grub.

A soft, straight worm like the Slider or Roboworm is the usual choice for drop shotting, but experiment with other shapes of baits, too. Some days the bass might like a fat Gulp Grub with a quivering curly tail over a thin straight worm.

Choose one of the plastic baits that match the size of the baitfish the bass are eating, and use a color based on water color. Clear water is usually best for drop shotting so line choice is critical, too. Fluorocarbon line is the standard for drop shotting and Sunline is invisible in the water and holds up well. The lack of stretch of fluorocarbons like Sunline also help with hooking fish on light line.

You can drop shot at any depth you find the fish holding. If they are three feet off the bottom, tie your hook three feet up the line. If they are 15 feet off the bottom, tie your hook 15 feet up the line.

This may sound strange but, since the sinker is at the end of the line, when you hook a bass and reel it in, there is nothing to get in the way of landing it. You may have a lot of line trailing the bass but you can land the fish without reeling it all in.

Get your boat right on top of the school of bass and hold over them watching your depthfinder. Let the sinker on your drop shot rig hit the bottom and you know your bait will be at the exact depth you tied it above the sinker. Twitch your rod tip, making the worm or grub dance right in front of the bass’s mouth.

Drop shotting is the best way to catch bass suspended in timber, too. For these bass, tie a hook a few inches to a foot above a sinker and get right on top of the fish. A good depth finder will allow you to watch your bait as it falls and you can stop it right in front of the bass and shake it. You are usually targeting a single bass in timber rather than a school. A drop shot rig moves the sinker away from the bait while still giving ou exact depth control.

Don’t let suspended bass ruin your day. Try these techniques to land them when others are just shaking their heads.

Jig A Spoon For Bass

One of the most efficient ways to catch a bass this time of year is to jig a spoon. But which of our lakes are best for jigging, and what works best on them?

Way back in 1974 I was spending my Christmas holidays at Clark’s Hill. I had my first depth finder, a Lowarence flasher, on my first bass boat and I was learning to use it. On a ridge in Germany Creek I kept seeing flashes just off the bottom in 12 feet of water. Although I drug crankbaits and worms through the area I never hit anything, so I guessed it must be fish. But I never got a bite, either.

I remembered something I had read about jigging a spoon and dug around in my tacklebox. I didn’t have a spoon but did have some Little Georges, so I tied one on. After trying a variety of retrieves, from casting and hopping to dragging along the bottom, I found if I jigged it straight up and down about two feet, feeling the blade spin going up and down, I would get a hit.

In three days I landed over 60 bass from that school before they moved on. I often find bass stacked up in deep water schools like that and catch them on spoons and Little Georges starting in November and that pattern usually holds up until late February.

What makes a good jigging lake? Clear water helps. Deep structure like trees and rocks can be good, but sometimes bass like a hard clay or sand bottom. A good population of threadfin shad is good since they usually have a die-off from cold water and bass hold under the schools looking for an easy meal.

What do you need for jigging a spoon? A good depthfinder is a must. My old Lowrance flasher worked but to really find fish you need a high quality unit that will show you fish even when they are holding tight to cover. And you need to find the little changes in structure and cover that attracts them.

I like a six foot baitcasting rod and reel spooled with 12 to 17 pound fluorocarbon line. The rod needs to have a fairly light tip so you can feel every move the spoon makes but plenty of backbone so you can set the hook and get the fish away from cover.

Lake Lanier offers almost perfect jigging conditions and I have heard jigging spoons in Georgia got its start there back in the 1960s. Spotted bass are also seem to take spoons even better than largemouth and Lanier is full of spots. But be prepared to go deep in Lanier – spots there often hold in water 50 to 60 feet deep in the winter.

Find standing timber in deep water and ride over it until you spot fish. When you find fish drop a marker near them – it is very easy to get off the fish if you don’t. Drop your spoon down and jig it up and down in front of them. You can usually see your spoon with a quality depth finder to know exactly where it is. If your spoon stops before it hits bottom, set the hook. Bass will usually hit on the fall.

Other good clear water lakes like Lanier are Russell, Hartwell, Allatoona and many north Georgia lakes. They have similar cover and fish as Lanier.

Clark’s Hill is where I got my start and it is a good place to jig, but it is usually more stained. In stained water I often use a Little George for more vibration and flash. And the fish are shallower. Check hard clay and sand humps and points in 12 to 30 feet of water there and on Oconee, West Point and Jackson for similar fishing.

Don’t let the weather keep you inside this time of year. Get a spoon and get on the lake.