What's Your Favorite Way To Catch Smallmouth In The Fall? 2024
Texas bassman reply :
I just caught my first 2 smallie yesterday. Thank God! I was impressed about the fight everyone says they put up. I'm looking to catch more this weekend. Any tips? I caught mine on a kvd 1.5 fishing shallow clear water. I live in northern Illinois.
Texas bassman reply :
this was my second one
Texas bassman reply :
my first one
wademaster1 reply :
I've been tearing them up lately with a Shad Rap crank......
J Francho reply :
Yesterday it was an umbrella rig on Oneida.
Stingray23 reply :
weightless fluke
tytay89 reply :
one lonely kicking 4 inch swimbait, the rig is just not cool....
Bluebasser86 reply :
Traps, spinnerbaits, and walking baits.
fishguy613 reply :
soft plastic crays, tube jigs, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, lipless cranks,
5dollarsplash reply :
Small 1/4 or less jigs. Tubes are killer. Jighead and twin tail grub.
J Francho reply :
Quote
the rig is just not cool....
Only two limits weighed in Sunday.....guess what those two guys were throwing? You don't have an umbrella rig on Oneida in the fall, you lose.
churchcc12 reply :
My favorite way is definitely tubes. I like throwing topwaters too though
BradGuenette reply :
Tubes,drop shot & hair jigs once temps drop into the 50's
Crookedneck reply :
Bangin a deep diving crank in the gravel!
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 9/25/2013 at 3:46 AM, J Francho said:Only two limits weighed in Sunday.....guess what those two guys were throwing? You don't have an umbrella rig on Oneida in the fall, you lose.
It isn't like "dragging a net" like I hear all the time either. You still have to find the fish and present it correctly or you'll just be wearing yourself out tossing a big, heavy rig all day for nothing. It isn't the best option a lot of the time either, but when it's on nothing else comes close. Great thing about fishing, if you don't like it, don't fish it! If it's working I'll be fishing it though!
Texas bassman reply :
thanks guys im looking to go back this saturday and try the same spot again. its a old gravel pit turned into park/lake. the water is super clear and the the only good shallow part is the only part with vegetation too. everywhere else in the lake is steep drops from 5ft then down too 20ft+ its fall here already so im aiming the shallows. caught those 2 smallies a largemouth and a pike on a kvd1.5 sexy shad. im thinking of trying a jerkbait and other squarebills. i love to flip so hopefully theyll be agressive.
Texas bassman reply :
the largemouth and pike from the same day
BigBassLoveSenkos reply :
the black jitterbug is dynamite for smalls
tate reply :
Just got back from a week on Northern Champlain. We found the most effective smallie lures were tubes and curly tale grubs in natural colors, in the gin clear water areas the watermellon/orange/copper/red senko's worked well and the most productive were 3.8'' Keitech Tenn. Shad swimbaits on the 1/8oz, 2/0 or 3/0 tungsten jig heads.
KyakR reply :
On 9/23/2013 at 11:48 AM, BASSIN28 said:I just caught my first 2 smallie yesterday. Thank God! I was impressed about the fight everyone says they put up. I'm looking to catch more this weekend. Any tips? I caught mine on a kvd 1.5 fishing shallow clear water. I live in northern Illinois.
Congrats! Try tubes. I caught two yesterday on these, the day before they were hot for wacky-rigged senkos, last week it was cranks. Looks like you've got things under control 
Scott F reply :
I see a lot of posts naming lures that will catch smallies in the fall but the bigger part of the puzzle is where do you look for smallmouth when the water cools? How deep do you fish? In natural lakes, do you find fish on points, submerged islands, deep flats, shallow flats, wood, weeds?
I have fished a Northwoods lake where we get loads of smallies in the spring, but when I go back in the fall, they are nowhere to be found. I've called every guide in the area but none of them can tell me they have a good reliable pattern for fall smallies. Anybody have a fall pattern for location (not lures) that works for them?
churchcc12 reply :
I've also wondered that Scott. I can usually find them in a river during fall, but in a lake, I'm lost. When I have found fish in lakes, they've been on shallow flats and they've taken buzzbaits and shallow cranks most of the time.
A-Jay reply :
I like catching them right on the end of my left thumb 
This Fatty ate a jig & craw a couple of days ago.
A-Jay
Oregon Native reply :
1. 3 1/2 tubes
2. 3" Yum Dingers
3. Homemade football jig
Winter time favorite time.....then early spring
Texas bassman reply :
i went back to the lake this past sunday. no wind or clouds got skunked. i seen a couple had 2 bites on a 3/8s oz football jig but they didnt take it. its tough fishing that lake. found a shallow rocky area that will be the **** during the spawn. but thanks guys il keep trying for smallies and use yalls tips.
JB Spilker reply :
I'm all about throwing weightless senko's or the shaky head. Those things are money!
adam32 reply :
early fall, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, jig n pigs.
late fall/winter, suspending jerkbaits, Erie darters, hair jigs, float/fly.
If the lake your fishing is deep and clear you may want to try a drop shot rig.
bassman78 reply :
On 9/28/2013 at 8:20 AM, Scott F said:I see a lot of posts naming lures that will catch smallies in the fall but the bigger part of the puzzle is where do you look for smallmouth when the water cools? How deep do you fish? In natural lakes, do you find fish on points, submerged islands, deep flats, shallow flats, wood, weeds?
I have fished a Northwoods lake where we get loads of smallies in the spring, but when I go back in the fall, they are nowhere to be found. I've called every guide in the area but none of them can tell me they have a good reliable pattern for fall smallies. Anybody have a fall pattern for location (not lures) that works for them?
I use shallow flats from 5-10' with access to deep water (20' plus). i think in the fall they still like to retreat a little bit when the sun and the UV index is high. I have a drift i do in the fall that is always extrememly productive for me. Flat is 2'-14' sloping from shore for about 100 feet and then it drops to almost 40'. I'll fish that flat with a lipless and when that bite dies down i'll switch to a deep diver and work that slope from 14'-25' approx and will pick them off there. In your lake if there are back creeks and creek channels those are always good spots for fall as well. And as always you cant go wrong with just finding the baitfish and you find the fish. If i were you and trying to locate fish i'd have 3 cranks tied on and ready to go. A lipless, one that dives around 8', and one that dives to 15'. Give each depth maybe an hour of your time until you come on to some fish. You will find them. Every body of water is different and sometimes you have to hunt for them and cranks , in my opinion, are the best search baits in the fall. Bent rods and wet lines.
inrll reply :
Most of the lures I use have been named already but the tube jig is one of the most consistant producers for me. Here's a couple tube smallies from last week. As you can see I was a little surprised/excited by the bigger one. 
Scott F reply :
On 10/4/2013 at 11:35 PM, bassman78 said:I use shallow flats from 5-10' with access to deep water (20' plus). i think in the fall they still like to retreat a little bit when the sun and the UV index is high. I have a drift i do in the fall that is always extrememly productive for me. Flat is 2'-14' sloping from shore for about 100 feet and then it drops to almost 40'. I'll fish that flat with a lipless and when that bite dies down i'll switch to a deep diver and work that slope from 14'-25' approx and will pick them off there. In your lake if there are back creeks and creek channels those are always good spots for fall as well. And as always you cant go wrong with just finding the baitfish and you find the fish. If i were you and trying to locate fish i'd have 3 cranks tied on and ready to go. A lipless, one that dives around 8', and one that dives to 15'. Give each depth maybe an hour of your time until you come on to some fish. You will find them. Every body of water is different and sometimes you have to hunt for them and cranks , in my opinion, are the best search baits in the fall. Bent rods and wet lines.
I assume from your mention of creek channels, this pattern is on a reservoir. What kind of water temperatures are you looking at?
Munkin reply :
Spinnerbait, suspending jerkbait, swim jig until it gets cold then a jig.
Allen
Mainebass1984 reply :
Once the water gets real cold in the 40s its buddy time for me. 20-40 feet deep around schools of baitfish.
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