| Fall is by far one of the best times to fish any | | | | smallmouths gather in big schools of up to 50 fish. |
| smallmouth lake. This is a great time to catch | | | | So if you don't find them quickly, move on. |
| your limit of big fish. | | | | The best baits for this method are spinnerbaits, |
| Smallies like to stock up ahead for winter, a time | | | | crankbaits, and hard jerkbaits fished quickly. |
| when they are not as likely to get a belly full of | | | | These allow you to cover a lot of water fast. |
| shad or whatever baitfish is available in that lake. | | | | Keep the lure just under the surface. |
| So, the key is to locate baitfish. That's where you | | | | When you do nail one and suspect there are |
| will find the smallies. | | | | more to be had, but they have refused your |
| Your focus in the fall will not be much different | | | | original offer, try using a slower moving bait like a |
| than in the spring. Set your sites on shallow | | | | soft plastic tube. |
| shelves adjacent to deeper water (flats that drop | | | | Work the area slowly and completely. Follow-up is |
| sharply), also rocky humps and shoals with | | | | extremely important to catching the maximum |
| patches of grass mixed in. | | | | amount of fish from an area. |
| Fish can be at any depth, but you will mostly | | | | Once you have found them, you don't want to |
| want to look in 8 to 12 feet of water in the fall. | | | | leave any of them behind. |
| This is going to be a bit hit and miss because | | | | |