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Summer smallmouth

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This august ill have some time fish smallmotuh bass, and dont really have much experience fishing for them. My main question is locating them. In the heat of the summer, say beginning of august which is when ill be fishing for them, are they found in the typical locations. Such as along the shore and around structure such as rocks and logs. Or do they move into deeper waters to avoid the heat? What kind of depths should i be targeting when looking for them? And at this time of year are poppers a good bet, or are they mostly going to be caught down along the bottom.

Thanks

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Where will you be fishing?

In the Great Lakes, if there's deep water nearby, you will find them in the shallows. All they need is cool water to flee to and take respite in ... not to dwell in all the time.

If, on the other hand, you're fishing somewhere with vast shallow shelves, the water gets much higher temps and fleeing requires more distances. On this type of water, you'll need to locate those areas that allow movement from warm to cooler water, which will be near the drop offs from the shelf.

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Guest rich mc

best to fish rivers in the summer heat over lakes poppers, large streamers rich mc

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How cool does it have to be? Most of the lakes in western NC are pretty cool. Lakes (reservoirs) in DuPont Forest for example, are fed by mountain streams like the Davidson River, and are pretty cool, even in the summer.

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With the exception of the TVA lakes and a few other man-made lakes in the mountains of VA I have not heard of many good smallmouth lakes in the deep south. The old saying that "up north God made the lakes and down south the Democrats did and he did a better job" come s to mind.

 

As a rule, warmer waters only fly fish well early and late in the day when you can readily reach the fish. Getting deep to them in heat of the day with fly gear is a real chore. Boats need to be very stable to allow sinking line contact with the flies w/o big slack bows on the line and you have to be positioned near perfectly to locate and pick them off of deep drops. It can be done but it takes a lot experience and specialized gear.

 

Rocco

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Well he resides in Canada, don't know where he is fishing though. But up in Northern Maine by late Aug, the night get cooler and you can find small mouth in the shallows on lakes but not far from feeder streams generally. Early Aug , I've seen rainy spells and small mouth will be in the out flow into a lake, even a mile out on the lake. One place I go to in Maine, you will find them in water of around 10-11 ft deep in mid to later Aug. Or in the outflow coming into the lake ( actually it's called a pond, even though it's 11 miles long and 2 miles wide at it's widest point lol !). Out on Moosehead Lake in Maine you can find them surrounding any rock outcropping, again in 11 ft of water or so but with 30-60 ft not far away. They will hit poppers but it's a lot of work compared with sub surface flies or lures.

 

They like what trout like, but they also like white streamer patterns or chartreuse. My wife caught about a 5 lb smallie on a 1/6th oz Colorado spoon. They love Colorado spoons and they aren't to shy with Black Nosed Dace in about a size 6 either. I tie my Dace with a gold rib over the silver tinsel body kind of introducing the Colorado colors into the presentation. They take them readily. I can't imagine it's a whole lot different in Canada. These things work in Maine and they work on Cape Cod too, so why not Canada. Course Maine has a smelt presence, so grey marabou streamers are likely to get hem in slightly moving water too. You don't need fast action for smallies, slow it down a little especially when the water is warmer.

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I don't fish lakes but I river fish smallmouths all summer. They need to eat a lot in the summer and can be found most anywhere in a river. I prefer anywhere where there is some current, chunky rocks and at least 2 feet of water. They can be caught from bank to bank and really like gurglers and poppers. I really like high stained water because I know they will be inches from the bank. River SMB are not difficult to catch so don't spend to much time doing the same thing in the same area.

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Yes im from Canada, and will be fishing out east in northern Ontario. A lake called Lake of the woods. All the shores are your typical bass habitat, which then tend to go down into deeper water.

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I fish for river smallies way more than stillwater, but given your parameters, I'd look for lots of "features"...streambeds on the lake bottom, heavy structure like boulders and submerged trees and logs, rocky bottoms, and dropoffs.

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In my humble opinion SMB and trout aren't all that different when it comes to habitat, be it flowing or still water.

 

Poppers and streamers.

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Lake Of The Woods is a gigantic and extremely varied piece of water. Sixty-five THOUSAND MILES of shoreline including all the islands. You'd be best prepared by contacting tackle shops near the area you will be staying.

 

Bass in a northern lake like that are going to be wherever they are... I would personally not BS around with anything but a floating line and flies ranging from heavy-ish Clouser Deep Minnows, Woolly Buggers both weighted and unweighted, and selection of surface flies.

 

If you have to go deeper to rockpiles and reefs out in open water and more than 7 or 8 feet, use spinning tackle with jigs, crankbaits, tubes, whatever. Smallmouths sometimes will come WAY up in clear water to take a lure, so don't forget that even if you find fish 15 feet down, it may possibly pay off working a fly a couple feet under the surface or even ON the surface, just to say you did it.

 

Fishing really deep with sinking lines in a lake can get to be more work than fun. Other tackle is better suited to that situation.

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If crawfish are available in the water you are fishing just find them and you will find some smallies. If you have an area with large schools of bait fish then hit those areas with streamers or floating/diving minnow patterns if it's shallow.

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I'm heading up to Northern Ontario next week, a lot further east and a much smaller lake, about 8 hours north of Toronto. Generally we catch them all day, around structure along the shore, rocky points, and mid lake humps. Usually we fish in 5 to 15 feet of water during the day. In the evening when the lake flattens out we cruise the shore line tossing top waters. During the day I'll fish a sink tip line with bait fish, leech or crayfish patterns. I've also done well with a Crease Fly. In the evening, I'll switch to a WF floating line or and intermediate line. That's when the top water bite turns on.

This will give you an idea of some of the structure on the lake. The fish was caught in about 10 feet of water.

 

post-309-0-39903700-1469068038_thumb.jpg

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Something I've hit on only a couple of times is really big smallies pigging out on hex nymphs in a late evening hex hatch. Large trout might be in the mix ( more typically what you would think of actually). A hex hatch can be an awesome experience, it's at a time where the lake calmed down after the daytime winds settle down and right near sunset. Around here it can go well into after dark, so make sure your boat lights work if you run into this phenomenon.. Believe me you won't want to leave early.

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