Fall Smallmouth fishing

[DaveZman14q]

What to use on the Mississippi? I usually just use top water poppers and do pretty decent... Anyone have favorites they use this time of year?

[Dylan33]

tubes aand jigs for me.

[carpmanjake]

jerk baits are my go to for fall smallies. flukes, senkos, etc. topwaters do well too.

[Juan Grande]

Big suckers under a bobber work great this time of year as well. I was out fishing last weekend with some friends on the Miss up on Monti and I switched over after getting grossly outfished. Bigger minnows weeded out the small fish too as we caught many over 17" including two 20s.

We used circle hooks and didn't gut hook a one.

[bassfshin24]

Hey Juan...were you fishin out of a boat or on shore? I was thinkin about headin up that way this weekend

[Juan Grande]

We just fished from shore out of Montissippi Park and by the hospital. The river is finally down so just look for larger pool areas with slack water. We'd throw our bobbers out right where the slack water meets the current and they'd hit it the instant it hit the water.

They weren't biting fast and furious or anything, but a fish every 5-10 minutes between three guys. I tried throwing tubes and topwaters, but didn't have much luck.

[bassfshin24]

Sounds like a great time! Thanks for the info.

[TonkaBass]

I did ok this last weekend with some smallies too. I have noticed that livebait will sometimes not outfish the fake stuff. The key is to find the good spots and hit them as hard as you can before they shut down.

[kt]

We hit the smallies hard this sunday, and couldn't get them to hit hardly anything except a tube. Nothing on cranks, jerkbaits, topwater, or jigs. They were eating the tubes though.

[corncob]

Whats likely to happen to the smallmouth fishing(catching actually) with the weather turning sour in a day or two.

[kt]

In my opinion, a cold front in the fall is not necessarily a bad thing. Especially if you are after smallmouth. You might have to change your tactics or move a little, but they should still bite.

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about the incoming weather too much....These fish can be pretty suicidal this time of year.

For those not averse to using live bait, I would second the BIG minnow with a circle hook. You won't gut hook them, and you can avoid the pesky 12'' fish that seem to be especially dumb this time of year.