Catching Bedding River Smallmouth

The idea of writing an article about catching smallmouth bass that are on beds is a rather absurd topic. As anyone who has ever had the opportunity to find smallies during the rather short window when they are on bed knows, smallmouth bass are very aggressive as they guard their bed. In clear water lakes like Lake Champlain, I have had the experience of catching the same fish off of a bed then releasing him, watching him swim back to the bed and immediately strike the next bait presentation up to three times in a row. In many regards it’s not that difficult. I draw the analogy to bow hunting for deer. Just because a big buck will do things and go places he would never go other than during the rut, it doesn’t mean there aren’t things to be aware of when the cards line up in your favor to take advantage of this very brief opportunity to “bag your quarry”.

In the recent FLW Tour event on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin I found a one mile stretch of rock lined side channel that had stiff current off the main river. It was a stretch I had fished several years earlier in a Costa Event and had found mostly small keepers in but I decided to make a pass down one side during practice. I was surprised to get several bites from good quality smallmouth that showed themselves although never got solidly hooked (fine by me as it was practice). The next day towards the end of that practice day I decided to check the other side of the same channel. In doing so I got several more bites, again a couple being fairly decent sized fish. But the important bite came when I drifted over to the opposite side (the side that I had been on the day before) and caught one of the fish I had made contact with the day before. This confirmed my suspicion that these smallmouth were probably on beds.

My strategy for my tournament was solidified. On the first day of the tournament I focused solely on those fish I had marked during practice. I had told myself 12 pounds was the target weight to catch on the first day and after catching that weight by 10:00 am and having only fished specific waypoints.  I left the channel to try some other areas. On day two I was back in the channel, this time combing over the entire channel looking for every bite I could find.

Let me explain, this was extremely dirty water. This was NOT sight fishing, but the fish would show themselves in their aggressive nature towards the bait. Casting to current breaks that could be a result of channel contours or even as small as specific rock or wood formations, almost every fish I caught did not get caught on the initial cast. Many times the fish would tell me they were there because there would be a “bluegill like tap” on my bait (a small bitsy bug jig). Rather than passing it off as a miss or a small fish however I would put my Talons down and work that specific cast repeatedly with a different bait. I found that they would strike a new bait presentation much quicker than if I repeatedly threw the same bait back in. There was one fish that literally took three different baits by the tail, swam off the bed with each bait but did not take them deep enough to get hooked until taking the fourth bait (a green pumpkin speed craw) and ending up in my livewell.

The first day strategy got me 12.9 lbs while my co-angler was able to catch another couple strays. The second day netted me 13.1 lbs but also garnered my co-angler four very healthy fish as well. Most importantly it was a strategy that provided me with my first pay check as a Professional on tour.

Some might say that catching smallmouth bass on bed is as easy as catching fish in a barrel and I agree it’s pretty easy. But in water that’s dirty like on the Mississippi River, the key may be recognizing the barrel not the fish!

All photos Courtesy of FLW/Photo by Charles Waldorf: @fishshots