Tricks To Fool Wary Bass

I live within a 45-minute drive of arguably the best smallmouth fishery in the world—Lake Erie. I fish Erie for smallies from early April to late June when 4- to 6-pound bass roam shallow flats and nearshore humps. During summer and fall, though, most of my smallmouth fishing is on shallow rivers. I often target Pennsylvania’s Allegheny River and French Creek, but I also travel to rivers across the country to fish with smallmouth enthusiasts. Why abandon the big Great Lakes smallmouths in favor of river brownies that are considerably smaller?

For one thing, they’re more accessible. On Erie, summer finds smallmouths offshore, often from 25 to 45 feet deep. Overinflated swim bladders often result when they’re brought from those depths. During summer, I catch river bass at depths from 2 to 10 feet.

Moreover, river smallmouth fight harder and are more fun to catch. These lean-and-mean 12- to 17-inchers are far more likely to launch aerial acrobatics than those massive deepwater bass of the Great Lakes.

Finally, river bass usually bite more reliably than fish in lakes and reservoirs. Battling current 24 hours a day seems to give them a healthy appetite.

Presentation Strategies

But don’t get the idea that river smallies attack everything you toss into the current. As with other angling situations, you must put together the right presentation. At times, river smallmouths binge on specific forage. In that case, you need to present a realistic imitation of that prey. At other times, though, they throw caution to the wind, attacking chartreuse or hot pink baits. Figuring out patterns is part of the game—if it were too easy, I (for one) would likely lose interest.

Once you learn to read current, fishing for river smallmouth is relatively simple. Yet rivers are complex and always changing. Every bend brings a new scenario of water velocity, depth, bottom content, rock size and shape, vegetation or woodcover, all combined with current seams and breaks. Then consider which prey the bass are feeding on. A successful day often means taking all these factors into account.

Softbait Tactics

While softbaits aren’t the only option, they’re certainly versatile. Whether fish are actively feeding, in a sulking mood, or somewhere in between, different baits and riggings can provide the key to catching river smallmouths.

While I use many of the same baits as other river anglers, I view presentation from a different perspective. “Twitch & Drift” presentations are weightless or near-weightless rigs that drift with current, while “Tick & Drift” is my term for weighted presentations that bounce along the bottom with current. A “Swimmer” is a bait fished with a retrieve that either cuts across current or is retrieved upstream against the current. When river smallies accept only nearly immobile baits, I feed them a “Bottom Roller.”

I carry rods with softbaits rigged for these different presentations. Throughout the day I switch back and forth, testing what’s working better. Conditions can change quickly on a river.

»Twitch & Drift—This category of rigs aims to mimic minnows and other baitfish. The group includes soft jerkbaits, such as Berkley’s Jerk Shad, YUM’s Houdini Shad, Zoom’s Super Fluke, and stickworms like the YUM Dinger or Senko. Size ranges from 3 to 5 inches. I generally use smaller baits when the bass are less aggressive.