Fall smallmouth fishing - best water temps, depth & techniques?

[shimanoangler]

As we move into the heart of fall smallmouth fishing here in the Northeast, I started to wonder what was the water temperature that smallmouth really get active feeding up for the winter, the depth of water you target these smallmouth and the techniques you use to catch big smallmouth in the fall here in the Northeast.??   I have watched a lot of YouTube content and have read a lot of different publications that talk about the best fall techniques being crankbaits (lipless & squarebill), paddle tail swimbaits, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, tubes and drop shot.  I can't seem to get bites on anything but a drop shot this time of year and I can't seem to find fish in anything other than 30 ish feet of water.  How about you??

 

I fished pretty hard the last three times out, water temps around 60 degrees, and the only consistent bite I was able to get was in 25 to 30 feet of water on a drop shot.  I was finding schools of baitfish on my graphs, and then I would shut the motor off, drift past the mark on my graph, cast back to the area I believe the school was located and I would catch fish (and some really big fish).  Seemed like any time I got the boat right on top of the fish, or the school of bait fish would swim under the boat, I couldn't get the fish to bite.  But as soon as the school/fish were away from the boat, and I could cast my drop shot 20 yards or so around the boat, I would get bit.

 

I am just interested in what other anglers here in other parts of the country are seeing when they hit the water now that air temps and water temps have started to fall and how they approach this time of year to get bites when they hit water chasing smallies.   For us here in Maine, many of the waters around me will be closing down for the season September 30th, and honestly, water levels are so low right now, many boat launches will become unusable if the water levels drop any further.  So I am trying to make the most of what is left of smallmouth fishing season 2020!.  Look forward to hearing what others are seeing/doing.

[roadwarrior]

Our "season" on the Tennessee River starts around the middle of October. Water temperature

should be around 60* or slightly lower. The smallmouth will be shallow to about 20'. Everything

works, but the A-rig is king!

 

[DogBone_384]

11 hours ago, shimanoangler said:

I fished pretty hard the last three times out, water temps around 60 degrees, and the only consistent bite I was able to get was in 25 to 30 feet of water on a drop shot.  I was finding schools of baitfish on my graphs, and then

Sounds just like my recent trip to Cape Cod.  I found LMB shallow,  but SMB were deep and pretty unwilling to commit.  Thankfully a Ned rig and 5" black/blue wacky rigged Senko, near steep drop offs, kept the smallies from shutting me out. 

 

I threw lipless, mid, and deep diving crankbaits without success.  I'll try deep diving jerk baits, blade baits, and tail spins this week to see if I can coax a few SMB to the boat.

 

Best of luck this fall.

[NHBull]

Sorry, can’t help....I threw the kitchen sink and got skunked on Squam.

......at least I wasn’t the only one

[canada mike]

Yesterday was drop shot, top water and tubes. Presentation somewhat slow. fished from 15:00 to dark. Needed to be current. Bigger fish were not very deep.  Water temp 60.5. Fishing was good enough to stay interesting.

[BBQ_Pitmaster]

Water temp in Quabbin is ~ 64. They aren't shallow, but they're definitely closer to the bank. Steep drop offs to 25 - 40 feet. Catching some fish on paddle tails but nothing big. At what water temp do people pick up the tube, and how deep do you fish it?

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, BBQ_Pitmaster said:

Water temp in Quabbin is ~ 64. They aren't shallow, but they're definitely closer to the bank. Steep drop offs to 25 - 40 feet. Catching some fish on paddle tails but nothing big. At what water temp do people pick up the tube, and how deep do you fish it?

I throw tube from 45 degree water to 80 degree water. Fish it from the top down to 50 feet 

[shimanoangler]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I throw tube from 45 degree water to 80 degree water. Fish it from the top down to 50 feet 

I wish I had more tube success / confidence !   Just haven't been able to catch many fish on this technique.   

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, shimanoangler said:

I wish I had more tube success / confidence !   Just haven't been able to catch many fish on this technique.   

Put an 1/8 oz round ball head inside a strike king bitsy tube. Not some expensive tube insert head or ned head or anything ewg, just a cheap round 1/8 oz head with a small hook. If you aren't catching smallies with that, I would be shocked. Many many times I've had 18-20" smallies busting shad all around me and couldn't catch them on top water spooks or wake baits. Throw the tube and reeled as fast as possible just under the surface, bam! Smallies in the boat 

[roadwarrior]

On 9/30/2020 at 12:28 PM, shimanoangler said:

I wish I had more tube success / confidence !   Just haven't been able to catch many fish on this technique.   

TOP SECRET, DON"T TELL ANYONE

 

BPS Tender Tube #71/ 1/8 oz Owner Phantom Tube Weight

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?sort=no&start=0&count=30&prevsearch=owner+pjhantom+weights&searchtext=owner+phantom+weights

 

Spinning tackle, #6 Tatsu

Fish it slowly, no, slower than that! Tick the bottom and pause occasionally. 

Gently lift the tube and let it fall on slack line.

[shimanoangler]

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

TOP SECRET, DON"T TELL ANYONE

 

BPS Tender Tube #71/ 1/8 oz Owner Phantom Tube Weight

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?sort=no&start=0&count=30&prevsearch=owner+pjhantom+weights&searchtext=owner+phantom+weights

 

Spinning tackle, #6 Tatsu

Fish it slowly, no, slower than that! Tick the bottom and pause occasionally. 

Gently lift the tube and let it fall on slack line.

I have a bunch of these tube hooks in my arsenal, but I have NEVER fished them, and one of my biggest complaints about tube fishing is how often you get snagged.....   Go figure...  Thank you for sharing... I can see a tube purchase in my near future, from BPS, and picked up a few more of the owners.... 

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

TOP SECRET, DON"T TELL ANYONE

 

BPS Tender Tube #71/ 1/8 oz Owner Phantom Tube Weight

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?sort=no&start=0&count=30&prevsearch=owner+pjhantom+weights&searchtext=owner+phantom+weights

 

Spinning tackle, #6 Tatsu

Fish it slowly, no, slower than that! Tick the bottom and pause occasionally. 

Gently lift the tube and let it fall on slack line.

I have these hooks and have never tried them.  

[gall]

3 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

TOP SECRET, DON"T TELL ANYONE

 

BPS Tender Tube #71/ 1/8 oz Owner Phantom Tube Weight

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?sort=no&start=0&count=30&prevsearch=owner+pjhantom+weights&searchtext=owner+phantom+weights

 

Spinning tackle, #6 Tatsu

Fish it slowly, no, slower than that! Tick the bottom and pause occasionally. 

Gently lift the tube and let it fall on slack line.

Just recently used those different design and I really like them same premise at a stupid rig but more streamline 

[DogBone_384]

On 9/30/2020 at 8:18 AM, BBQ_Pitmaster said:

Water temp in Quabbin is ~ 64.

Wasn't the Quabbin closed this year? Was that just rentals?

[Frezzy]

12 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Wasn't the Quabbin closed this year? Was that just rentals?

Just closed for rentals.  It was open if you had your own rig.

[DogBone_384]

Bummer.  They won't let me on with my Ranger...  Hope you did well there this year.