They have stable levels shorelines of rock, trees, and aquatic vegetation and plentiful food. Most natural lakes were formed during the Ice Age. There are two types of smallmouth stillwaters -natural lakes and man-made reservoirs. Smallmouth suspended in deep, open water seem much less aggressive toward flies. At these depths I have my best results with bass located next to bottom structure or bluffs and sunken islands. When smallmouth are suspended near the thermocline in the summer, or deep in the summer or winter, locators are especially useful. Many stillwaters can have extensive barren areas, so using locators saves you time and keeps you focused where bass or schools of bait are concentrated. I prefer the type that also searches horizontally and shows what's in the casting area. On a lake in Maine I once found a floating, cabled log boom across the lake outlet, which was always good for three or four big smallmouth.įor locating underwater smallmouth structure and concentrations of bass, I recommend a fish locator mounted on your boat's bow. Sea walls, jetties, riprap, bridge pilings, artificial and natural reefs, long rocky points, steep sides of flooded creek channels, sheer rock bluffs, small rocky islands, or tributary mouths are also places where smallmouth congregate. Silty-bottom areas with lots of surface aquatic vegetation such as lilies, cattails, and milfoil attract largemouth bass, pike, pickerel, and sunfish, but seldom hold smallmouth. Reeds and cattails along the shoreline are excellent areas to find shallow-water smallmouth, especially when aquatic insects are hatching nearby. They are sometimes attracted to deeper aquatic vegetation beds if minnows are present as well as some form of current caused by inflows, wind, or dam turbine releases. Coarse rock boulders, hard gravel, firm sandy bottoms, tree stumps, logs and rock bluffs, or ledges are ideal. Smallmouth prefer clear, cool water with adjacent, hard-structure materials. (Dave Whitlock illustration) Locating Stillwater Smallmouth These locations can be especially productive if they're near shade or the inflow of a tributary. Look for fish around boulders, cattails, stumps and logs, and gravel or firm sandy bottoms. Smallmouth gravitate toward underwater structure. But during the hottest hours of the day smallmouth usually retreat to cooler water, 20 to 30 feet deep or wherever the thermocline occurs. The best topwater action is around late spring, after fish recuperate from spawning.Īs water temperatures warm in the summer, surface fly fishing can be excellent in the mornings, late afternoons, and at night along shallow shorelines. Consistent prespawn fly fishing is best with subsurface imitations of minnows, leeches, and aquatic insects. After resting and recovering from spawn stresses, both males and females resume feeding and seek areas where food and temperatures are ideal. After spawning, the females move to deeper water and the males remain to guard the nest and young fry for a week or two before also moving to deeper water. They feed there until shoreline water temperatures reach 65 to 70 degrees, and then they begin spawning in two to six feet of water. Some warmer, southern reservoirs provide the exception, where smallmouth remain active through the winter.īefore they spawn in the spring, smallmouth move near sun-warmed northern shorelines as water temperatures rise to around 55 degrees. As the chill of late fall and winter sets in, smallmouth head to deeper water, feed less, and are less aggressive. In North America, anglers are most likely to find the best fishing from late March to mid-October. Whether 50 or 5,000 acres in size, the best stillwaters are where bass can consistently find abundant food in water temperatures 55 to 85 degrees F. In fact, if I had just one week left to fish, I'd spend it with my wife, Emily, canoeing, camping, and fly fishing for smallmouth on the peaceful lakes of Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, during late July or August. Smallmouth in stillwaters are the same species as those in flowing waters, but they tend to grow larger and require different (but just as exciting) methods to find and catch consistently. I don't have to travel far because they inhabit a wide range of ponds, lakes, and reservoirs across North America. One of my great fly-fishing pleasures is bugging for smallmouth along the shores of a beautiful lake.
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