My region’s river systems provide some of the best and most exciting smallmouth fishing early and late in the year. This year (2024), will remain to be seen, as we are in a major drought right now. As most northern rivers are home to a combination of resident and non-resident populations of smallmouths, their fishing success hinges on understanding the timing and progression of their upstream spawning migrations in spring, and downstream wintering migrations in fall. To catch potentially the most active fish, and to tap into premier smallmouth fisheries whose populations are further and deeper established into the spawning season, I always fish and guide on the larger river systems and their flowages to begin the season. Compared to inland lakes, river and flowage water temperatures can be up to 10 degrees warmer. While smallmouth in large lakes could still be wintering and dealing with ice-out conditions, smallmouth from these fisheries are likely to be migrating into staging locations and feeding heavily. Year after year this pattern is my most consistent and reliable for early spring trips. On flowages, smallmouths track along main river channels