Prespawn river fishing

[Turkey sandwich]

So, in rivers, fish are constantly swimming and battling current.  Deep water and other areas protected from fast current offer them a break, especially when their metabolism/activity level slows down during times like winter.  The closer that ability to rest is to areas like spawning grounds, fast current areas rich with food, cover vegetation, etc the more attractive it is to river Smallmouth.  

There are some good basic books on river fishing for Smallmouth that kind of outline how to read a river and apply basic seasonal patterns you can search this forum for.  I also strongly suggest you check out Jeff Little's videos on YouTube, his video blog at tightlinejunjiejournal.pivotshare.com and his seasonal pattern DVDs.  He's pretty much the man with conventional tackle.  Also, Bob Closer is a fly fishing legend, but he's also a river Smallmouth encyclopedia and his book on river Smallmouth fishing is excellent.  

As for a jig rod, unless you're fishing deep or in super fast current, you likely won't need jigs over 3/8 oz, and most will be 1/16-1/4oz.  You can fish these well with any fast or x-fast rod, even medium power spinning gear.  

[stk44]

15 minutes ago, Turkey sandwich said:

So, in rivers, fish are constantly swimming and battling current.  Deep water and other areas protected from fast current offer them a break, especially when their metabolism/activity level slows down during times like winter.  The closer that ability to rest is to areas like spawning grounds, fast current areas rich with food, cover vegetation, etc the more attractive it is to river Smallmouth.  

There are some good basic books on river fishing for Smallmouth that kind of outline how to read a river and apply basic seasonal patterns you can search this forum for.  I also strongly suggest you check out Jeff Little's videos on YouTube, his video blog at tightlinejunjiejournal.pivotshare.com and his seasonal pattern DVDs.  He's pretty much the man with conventional tackle.  Also, Bob Closer is a fly fishing legend, but he's also a river Smallmouth encyclopedia and his book on river Smallmouth fishing is excellent.  

As for a jig rod, unless you're fishing deep or in super fast current, you likely won't need jigs over 3/8 oz, and most will be 1/16-1/4oz.  You can fish these well with any fast or x-fast rod, even medium power spinning gear.  

In the winter areas, I'm guessing they wouldn't be in the main channel then if there is nothing to break up the current. I know... I'm kinda going off on a tangent here...

I will try getting some small 1/4 oz jigs and fish them on my ML st croix XF. It's rated up to 1/2 oz. I will either bring either a lite or a ml spinning for smaller crank baits. I'm confused as to why they didn't hit any shad style cranks as often. 

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to check some of those videos out on YouTube now. 

[stk44]

I caught 5 more yesterday. The average size is getting bigger. But I had one fish at 14 inches and 1lb 1 oz. I didn't have any luck with tubes, jerkbaits or shad raps. I only catch fish on a cotton Cordell 2" minnow. I don't get it lol. I think the bass want something that rattles and the shad raps do not rattle, that could be why I didn't get anything with them. I fished the same spot as last, but this time I pulled back into 10-11 feet of water and fished the 8-9 foot range. I have some bitsy bug jigs on order. I'm going to pick apart that area next chance I get. 

[parkerg31]

On April 7, 2016 at 8:46 PM, stk44 said:

Thank you very much for the help. I will pick a few of the spots that you've mentioned and fish them after this cold front passes. I fish out of a SOT kayak so I try not to fish much below 50 degrees or alone for that matter. I'll let you know how I do! 

Also, what do you think the best search bait is around the 50 degree mark? I was thinking to have a rod with a husky jerk, one with a grub and one with a lipless crank. Thoughts? 

All the spro little John series baits work great for me in cold water. They have a tight wiggle and cast far in the spring winds. 

[stk44]

59 minutes ago, parkerg31 said:

All the spro little John series baits work great for me in cold water. They have a tight wiggle and cast far in the spring winds. 

Cool, I'll keep that in mind. Water temp has been between 57-60 degrees, so not too much cold water anymore, but I'm sure that will work post-front for smallmouth. Thanks again!

[parkerg31]

41 minutes ago, stk44 said:

Cool, I'll keep that in mind. Water temp has been between 57-60 degrees, so not too much cold water anymore, but I'm sure that will work post-front for smallmouth. Thanks again!

No problem. Thank you for your military service!

[stk44]

On May 10, 2016 at 9:18 PM, Turkey sandwich said:

So, in rivers, fish are constantly swimming and battling current.  Deep water and other areas protected from fast current offer them a break, especially when their metabolism/activity level slows down during times like winter.  The closer that ability to rest is to areas like spawning grounds, fast current areas rich with food, cover vegetation, etc the more attractive it is to river Smallmouth.  

There are some good basic books on river fishing for Smallmouth that kind of outline how to read a river and apply basic seasonal patterns you can search this forum for.  I also strongly suggest you check out Jeff Little's videos on YouTube, his video blog at tightlinejunjiejournal.pivotshare.com and his seasonal pattern DVDs.  He's pretty much the man with conventional tackle.  Also, Bob Closer is a fly fishing legend, but he's also a river Smallmouth encyclopedia and his book on river Smallmouth fishing is excellent.  

As for a jig rod, unless you're fishing deep or in super fast current, you likely won't need jigs over 3/8 oz, and most will be 1/16-1/4oz.  You can fish these well with any fast or x-fast rod, even medium power spinning gear.  

The bass are definitely in there post spawn/ presummer period. I went out on Friday with water temps around 71-72 degrees. I caught 6 fish. The biggest in a shallow grassline at the end of sycamore island where all kinds of minnows are funneling. He was burried in grass and had mud on his belly. The other 5 were smaller and in less than 8 feet of water. All relating to some piece of cover like a lay down or in a pool just past a current break. 

Yesterday I went out, water temp 73-74 degrees and I caught 1 bass ( same shallow weed line) and 1 walleye. I tried to look for some deeper water just on the outside of sycamore island and drop shot it, but no luck. I actually saw a few bass hit my shakey shad as I was retrieving it to the boat. In the morning near the upstream side between shore and sycamore island, I lost 3 bass on a shad rap 5. I changed colors and added rattles and nothing worked. Where would be some good summer spots to hit?

[Turkey sandwich]

Nice! Any size? I've been pulling my hair out dealing with Austin Kayak screwing up an order for the past month and haven't been able to get out.m I'm pretty jealous.  

 

There are some basic summertime patterns for river smallmouth that tend to be pretty consistent.  Generally speaking, they tend to move shallower and towards more fast moving water (though eddies and seams still play a huge role).  Look for transitions in depth above and below riffles.  That fast current through shallower sections of river can be full of feeding fish taking advantage of the current dislodging helgramites, crayfish, sculpins, madtoms, etc from the bottom. If these areas border deep water access, even better. 

[stk44]

20 minutes ago, Turkey sandwich said:

Nice! Any size? I've been pulling my hair out dealing with Austin Kayak screwing up an order for the past month and haven't been able to get out.m I'm pretty jealous.  

 

There are some basic summertime patterns for river smallmouth that tend to be pretty consistent.  Generally speaking, they tend to move shallower and towards more fast moving water (though eddies and seams still play a huge role).  Look for transitions in depth above and below riffles.  That fast current through shallower sections of river can be full of feeding fish taking advantage of the current dislodging helgramites, crayfish, sculpins, madtoms, etc from the bottom. If these areas border deep water access, even better. 

Still no size. The biggest one was 15 inches but only 1 lb 10 oz. I actually just received my anchor trolley that I need to install from Austin kayak. I'm glad that I didn't have any issues and that sucks you haven't been able to get out. 

The left side of sycamore island is maybe 12-15 feet at the deepest ( from what I can recall. I am still a rookie on reading my depth finder. So I'm pretty sure I'm seeing little humps or boulders that I was trying to dropshot but with no luck. Should I be targeting deep water yet?

Also, the flow is VERY slow on the left side of sycamore. It's protected from that bend( I guess that would be called an outside bend.) I'm thinking maybe this was a descent prespawn and spawn spot, but I'm starting to question its productivity for pre-summer. What are your thoughts? 

[Turkey sandwich]

Find current breaks on fast water and you'll find fish.  When they're feeding over the summer, they're very easy to find.  Look for riffles.

 

And Austin Kayak has been pretty awful to deal with.  They refunded me a bunch of money from the Lure 13.5 I bought, but it had a ton of missing parts, notably stuff like a drain plug.  this is now a week and a half of awful service no replies to emails.  

[stk44]

1 hour ago, Turkey sandwich said:

Find current breaks on fast water and you'll find fish.  When they're feeding over the summer, they're very easy to find.  Look for riffles.

 

And Austin Kayak has been pretty awful to deal with.  They refunded me a bunch of money from the Lure 13.5 I bought, but it had a ton of missing parts, notably stuff like a drain plug.  this is now a week and a half of awful service no replies to emails.  

Ok I'll give it a shot. I don't see  many current breaks where I'm fishing, maybe that's part of the problem...

That really sucks about Austin kayak. Good customer service will make or break a company. It's a shame they arent taking care of the issue. Did you try calling? 

[Turkey sandwich]

On June 5, 2016 at 8:48 PM, stk44 said:

Ok I'll give it a shot. I don't see  many current breaks where I'm fishing, maybe that's part of the problem...

That really sucks about Austin kayak. Good customer service will make or break a company. It's a shame they arent taking care of the issue. Did you try calling? 

I have.  They're slowly mailing the pieces out.  It's frustrating that while it seems that they're trying to make this better, it's taking forever.