Long considered a hard bottom oriented fish, smallmouth bass have evolved to adapt to the habitats provided by the lake. Only specific conditions must be present for them to survive and thrive.

  Isolated rock shoals are integral to finding and catching spring smallmouths. Fish that use these locations are known to stack and stage along their deeper edges. On lakes that have them, they’ll be smallmouth magnets.

  Sand pockets, isolated beaches, and shorelines with exposure to southern skies are major fish attractors as waters warm into the 50’s this month. These nearshore hot spots tend to be the most overlooked lake regions on any smallmouth fishery in spring because most lake charts and maps don’t reveal them. As a result, the

  When’s the best time to fish in spring? If you’re a die-hard and love to smallmouth bass fish in spring as much as I do, the best time to go is any time you can! However, there are obviously better and worse times for catching fish, and countless variables that must be taken into

  Nothing worse in spring pre-spawn fishing than the sights of conditioned smallmouths. No matter what you throw, they won’t budge. How else can you tell smallmouths have been negatively conditioned by fishing pressure when they’re being lookers instead of hookers?