Turkey sandwich

This is something to mind, though, I think another part of it has to do with keeping your bait in the strike zone longer. Casting to deep and reeling to shallow will keep your bait closer to the bottom and in front of the fish longer than the opposite. Pay attention to where along that path strikes are occurring, as it'll give you clues as to where the fish are sitting along the structure.

Definitely post results!

You have a lot of options. There are some good ideas here that definitely work. For dense grass, slop, or mud with a T-rig, I'm a big fan of using the lightest weight possible. If I need to slowly drag the bottom in these types of ponds/lakes, I'll also use a light or "finesse" Carolina rig with a floating worm and allow the floating worm to do provide the action. A finesse C-Rig doesn't require a small worm, either. My go-to is typically a 7-8" worm. With this presentation, I want the weight to get the worm down, but not really to sink all the way through the muck on the bottom, so light bullet or barrel weights are important.

I was in Estes about 14 years ago and it's absolutely beautiful. You're likely going to see incredible mountains, an awesome mountain town, and a TON of wildlife (we woke up to herds of hundreds of elk outside). I've heard that there are largemouth fishing opportunities in a number of ponds, but the area is most known for a wide variety of trout streams and fly fishing. The Big Thompson and the Fall River are two very different, very beautiful fisheries. I have a cousin in Ft Collins who fishes them regularly and some of the pictures are amazing. If you don't fly fish, it may be worth hiring a guide, taking a casting lesson, and trying something different. Or just go hiking and camping. There's so much incredible hiking and camping.

I don't really dropshot craws much, but if I were to pick something, the Vile craw would probably be high on the list because of it's versatility and how easy it is to modify.

The In-Fisherman smallmouth book is a great, broad book. The Jim Root book is going to be on the reading list this winter, in all likelihood. The catches he posts on Facebook are ridiculous.

I don't fish tubes over maybe 1/2oz often, but it's worth a try. Any reason for the football head versus either a tube jighead or ball head? I typically just use football heads for dragging presentations and not fast, snapping presentations.

I like that! It's hard to see - did you weight them with barbell eyes?

Congrats! That is a monster! I have a trip planned to chase them next summer in Alaska and this just got me super excited.

With frogs, I also generally prefer a fast tip to an extra fast tip. To me, the added sensitivity doesn't mean much when I'm dragging it through weeds, trees, etc and likely going to see the strike. The slightly slower action still provides good sensitivity, an easy hook set, perhaps additional casting distance, and a less brittle tip. Normally, I don't think much about a tip being super brittle, but frog fishing often consists of reeling in as much weeds as fish when I hook up, and I hate cursing broken rods. Also, MH and H vary a lot. Some guys swear by extra heavy rods, while other manufacturers like St. Croix and Fenwick tend to fish heavier than their ratings. Most of my frogging is done with a St. Croix Legend Elite MH or a Fenwick Aetos MH and I'm happy with both.

I've never fished any deep California style lakes, but if you post some info about the body of water, that might be helpful for the folks here that fish them regularly.

Think about fall in two stages: early fall, and late fall. Early fall - what @A-Jay and @KTinman86 said is pretty spot on. Fish are going to be super active and in comfortable water temperatures chasing as much food as they can before water temps drop real low and slow their metabolism. Conditions dictate presentation, as always, but this time of year, the bite can be on virtually anything from big worms to crankbaits to jigs, to jerkbaits, etc. You can bring everything on every trip out. The downside? The further north you go, the shorter this season tends to be barring the effects of an Indian summer/weird global warming, but that's a different rant for another place. Late fall - This will be fish transitioning to deeper, or at least more protected water for the winter. They're normally moving out of the shallow coves, creeks, and flats and as the season goes on, stage on structure/depth changes on their way to deeper, more temperature stable water for the winter. The water is generally getting a lot colder, and presentations need to slow down to match, but this is a good time to transition to hair jigs, silver buddies, and is probably the only time of the year that I love suspended jerk baits fished slowly and deadsticked (not because they don't work other times, but they aren't nearly as strong a confidence bait for me during the other seasons). This is also a good time to target big fish with big baits you can present slowly. Turnover - stratified water columns flip and everything from water temperature, to oxygen content, to water clarity can get messed up. Fishing during the turnover can be like putting together a puzzle after soaking all of the pieces of the puzzle in the lake and throwing half of them away. This is when I just watch football.

There are lots of good rods out there, and I'm happy with the Fenwicks I own. As for quality, there is a big jump once you start to get into rods typically priced at $150 and up and it really is worth it to own one versus something "good enough" and anticipating the braid to compensate for heavier or less balanced rods with less sensitivity. The good news is that you don't necessarily have to pay $200+ for these rods if you aren't in a hurry and do a little shopping. For example, my Fenwick rods (both Aetos line, one bait caster and one fly rod) typically retail around $180-$200 now, and are every bit worth it. They are excellent rods. The other thing that's excellent? Manufacturers discount lines significantly when they update them, usually annually. I was able to wait and picked them both up for between $90-$110 apiece. St. Croix does the same thing with their bargain bin, and often Tackle Warehouse will also have clearances. 30-50% discounts are not uncommon. Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart.

Bingo. I have found that smallmouth, much, much prefer sunlight and clear water conditions in comparison to their green cousins. Also, if you follow tournaments, it's very common that successful anglers choose which species to target based on water clarity and sunlight in lakes that have strong populations of both fish. I'm by no means the most gifted smallmouth fisherman on here (see @A-Jay's recent monstrosity), but I have spent thousands of hours targeting them and have struggled most evenings in comparison to my day time fishing. That said, I have a lot of success at or nearing dusk, but I attribute that more to drops in water temp (summer/fall) making feeding less physically stressful than in high heat, lower light creating better ambush opportunities, and evenings (and mornings at times) creating more forage activity (hatches, baitfish willing to leave dense cover, etc) rather than smallmouth getting late night munchies. Smallmouth simply aren't built to be nocturnal hunters the way species with more dominant senses of smell and more established lateral lines are.

The In-Fisherman and Holschlag books are good, albeit very different in that one focuses more comprehensively on rivers, the other lakes. Both are very good, and worth owning, especially in understanding the important stuff like seasonal patterns, how they apply to smallmouth preferences in water/cover/temp/etc, and of course current. I have not read Tony Bean's book, but I am a huge advocate of classic techniques. Almost nothing catches fish with the kind of versatility of a grub on a simple ball jig, tube, etc. I have a massive collection of tackle (like most of us... the tackle monkey is real), but under most conditions, almost nothing produces numbers and quality fish under most clear water conditions like a grub. If you subscribe to the idea that it's outdated and fails to produce, I'd suggest giving it an honest effort to learn to fish. I have confidence in very few lures like I do a grub and thousands of river fish ranging from 6" to 4lbs+ to justify it.

congrats! thats a huge bass anywhere!

Bingo. It's one thing to have a talk with someone in a respectful manner. It's another to tear someone apart. Usually you can get a point across by asking someone politely or giving an appropriate look. Knowing how to ask someone to not be a jerk without trashing their ego is a very real skill. Still, nothing is more important than the safety of yourself and those around you. There's a cost-benefit analysis that has to happen and part of that is making sure you're safe before you even start. Getting stabbed, shot, etc turns things into an episode of "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong".

Sometimes they do. Fishing irregularities and changes in structure is still a good idea, but when fish will hold to them and how is going to depend upon season, weather, and forage. Generally, if they're holding on the wall, working a suspended bait along the bluff wall with the current is a good place to start.

I've had other anglers generally be pretty courteous to me, so unless someone is being a jerk, littering, or being generally obnoxious, I'm probably going to help them out. I've had people be patient with me while I've struggled with things in the past, and I genuinely enjoy seeing someone start to "get it".

I hate giving non-answers, but it depends upon the lake, the forage, the season, the weather, and to an extent how small a population we're talking about. Do you have a map of the lake or any other information? Generally, smallmouth will relate to bluffs, but everything else is going to play a factor.

Without any holes to tie to on the spool, I strongly suggest a few winds of mono backing. The tape can work, but I've found that a few winds of mono to be probably just as cheap, I know it won't leave any residue, gunk up the line, or slip. I've kinda just considered that a simple thing and have never tried to over-engineer what works.

What lake, curious? Also, not sure about your question. Are you asking about how to find them on sonar, which presentations to use, seasonal patterns?

yessir

Yep. A ML is great for light wire hooks or something like a dropshot with octopus/circle hooks that are a simple reel down set, but for anything fished on a jig head or worm hook, I much, much prefer at least a medium power, especially if there's any stretch in the line. Missing/losing fish on a bad set sucks and is super easy to prevent with the right tackle.

I used sneakers for years, but between filling with pebbles/sand/mud and weighing a ton once soaked, I switched to Keen wading shoes for the warmer months and couldn't be happier. They drain super easy, are on and off in seconds, and do a pretty good job with traction.