Not sure where to look

[Jig Man]

Today I fished one of my fav lakes which has a lot of smallies in it.  They were no where to be found.  Neither were the spots.

We caught 29 largemouth on a lot of different kinds of banks, points, bluff ends and ledges.  I thought surely we would get a few smallies.  We fished from 15-35' deep with tubes and various jigs.  The water temp was 39.6° most places with 40° being the warmest.

Should I have fished deeper than 35' for those rascals?

[roadwarrior]

Hmm...

That's a tough call. I would have thought you would pick up a few by accident.

It sounds like the fish were on a feed and you did well. I suspect the smallmouth

were schooled and stacked up somewhere else. Generally, if you can find

one, you have found them all!

8-)

[Matt 825]

I agree with Road Warrior. They must have been stacked in a few places. Sounds like you had a great Largemouth day though.

I always try to target smallmouth in about 20-35ft in the winter, but I always have a few spots that are 35-50ft in case I cant get them in less than 35ft.  It never hurts to try to get them deeper, but I have had the most success in 20-40ft in winter.  

I had a tough day yesterday, only caught 2 small smallmouth and they were in 45ft. Water temp was 38 and even the perch didnt want to bite. :-/

[Jig Man]

Thanks for the ideas.  I am heading out at 6 am to try again and see if smallies are on the other end of the lake and maybe deeper.

[justfishin]

I agree with all. In the river at least in cold temps as you described, I can hole hop. I might hit 10 or so holes and zip, and then you will hit a eddy and they are stacked like cord wood. Also, in lakes they like to suspend at times. I never tried the float and fly but, evidently in works. I am going to use the same theory with a fly rod. Good luck.

[Jig Man]

I went back yesterday and found the bite tougher.  Only 9 bass would cooperate.  However, 2 of them were smallies.  They came about a mile apart.  1 was about 12' deep and the other one was in 18" of water.  No others seemed to be in the area.