question for you smallie guys

[Hoffer]

Hey smallie experts

Been meaning to post this since last Spring.

So last year we were fishing a canadien shield lake (Ontario).

We had found some beds in a smaller "off shoot"/bay of the big lake. Mind you, this "smaller" bay is pretty good sized as well and get to about 25 feet or so deep. Its a typical canadien type area with rocky shorelines and gradually sloping to deeper water in the middle. It was in mid June.

So, we had found some smallies bedding on a smaller portion of this area one afternoon. Had some fun. Next morning, the weather turned, some rain and cooler weather came in and when we went back to that bedding area - there wasnt a fish to be found. Obviously this change in weather threw them off their beds for awhile. So, heres my question. Its a day later...where in you best opinion do these fish go? Do they scoot all the way out to the main lake and go deep for awhile...or do you think they just "back out" a ways into a little deeper water in the bay - but still near their beds? We did try a few methods out deeper like throwing some jigs and some deeper diving plugs with out much luck. We were in the same proximity to shore as we were when casting to the shoreline the previous day - only this time we were casting the other direction to deeper water - probably 8 to 10 feet or so. I am wondering if we should have tried a more "steady" or slow presentation like a drop shot that would just keep the bait in front of their noses. However, we just didnt even know if they were still there? Or if they moved WAY out deep and were scattered and such.

Whats your thoughts?

[Cecil]

I dont think they would move much deeper. I have to think something like a rock flat close by but a little deeper. Tough to say without knowing the area or more about the spot, but I don't think they would move far at all.

[Presco]

You were probably on top of them. From my experience fishing shield lakes in Canada every May (I'm no expert BTW), when the fish aren't on their beds, they are usually suspended in 10-15 FOW. If they aren't shallow, we look for the sharpest dropoffs to deep water from their beds, especially if we found them one day and they aren't there the next. When its spawning time, they are never too far away, just hanging out, waiting for the right moment to come up and spawn. We throw jerkbaits or deeper diving jerkbaits until we make contact. We'll also push way back from the shoreline, often casting from 25-30 FOW towards shore. If you are throwing deep diving crankbaits that run really deep, you may be going under them. If that doesn't work, we go catch walleye for the pan.

Some of these other guys will be able to dial you in better, but thats my experience.

[luv2senko]

The regurgitated textbook answer would be to the closest point with deep water access.

The more practical approach would be to any shelf or lip and probably suspend near it. Find something that might just have a little lip that drops from like 8 ft down to 12 ft. If the water is clear, I would suggest jerkbaits that get down to 4-6 ft and use long pauses, 10-25 seconds.

Other favorites might be a hair jig just drifting through the water column, or drifted 6 feet under a bobber. Also a simple single tail grub on a darter head swam above their heads.

[Hoffer]

Thanks for the reples. That is kind of what I thought. I figured they wouldnt be too far off their beds - but just wanted to confirm.

I think we will try the drop shot method in 8 to 12 feet of water and just keep the plastic minnow or leach right in front of their faces. Anyone try that?

[river rat316]

4-5" grub on a 1/4 oz jig head swum through different depths of the water column would be your quickest search tool, agree about looking for the first break or lip close by.

[RK]

Hiya -

No other fish can not bite like cold front smallies. Doubly difficult because not only can it be really tough to make them bite unless you get something right in their face, but they also move a long ways sometimes.

If I'm on largemouths and a cold front hits, I'm usually pretty confident they didn't go far, and probably just buried deeper in cover. With smallies, they can move a long ways both vertically and horizontally.

Anyhow...I think Presco's right on.

I'd start looking for the steepest break nearby. Watch your electronics to see if you mark fish, and fish a drop shot, small tube, or a hair or marabou jig. Good news is if you find fish, there'll be a bunch of them, but it can be a bear to get them to bite. I've seen them get so in a funk lifting your drop shot sinker off the bottom will spook them. I start looking at the base of the break where there's a bottom transition from hard to soft (which can sometimes be quite a ways from the base of the break itself) then up the slope.

If they aren't there, then check deeper flats. Sometimes they just filter across a flat and park next to whatever they can find - isolated rock or wood cover, etc. Tough case because you have to cover water, but they aren't really willing to chase anything down most of the time. Slow swimming a grub or 4" jigworm, slow trolling a nose-hooked Senko, or fancasting a Carolina rig or football head to find the little pieces of cover.

Cheers,

RK

[Hoffer]

Thanks RK

So, these are smallies that are on the spawn. Do you think they will still move that far? Iknow you dont know the area and its hard to explain...but would they move totally out of that "bay" area (its pretty big) and actually go out into the main lake?

The one thing that still mystifies me is how to tackle the smallies up there once they are in deeper water. We have tried a few things - but with no luck.

[RK]

Hiya -

Well, yeah, they could dump all the way out of the bay. Think how long it'd take them to get out of the bay swimming at 3-4 mph... But if the bay is 25 feet deep, I'd look inside the bay for a steep drop first - might just be a drop from 10 or 12' down to the floor of the bay, for example, but find the steepest part of the drop outside of where they were bedding, and look there.

The other thing you can do - and I know this is heresy for some bass guys - is to troll around the edge of the bay. Troll a crank, or longline a jigworm or nose-hooked Senko and just have it scrape along the bottom, using your speed to adjust the depth as you move up and down the break. If you can get one fish to bite, you have an area to start concentrating on. Or, if you're catching fish at random along the break, then you may be able to figure out that they just dropped off to the break and are scattered along it, and you'll just have to root them out one at a time.

As far as once they go deeper (assuming you mean later in the season) might really depend on the forage. Can be a challenge if they are suspended...

[Hoffer]

Thanks RK!

Sounds like the best bet is to just keep nudging out a bit at a time and look for that first big break.

This lake is full of smallies and when they arent on the beds - they have to be somewhere!! We have just had a harder time trying to find them.