Blake Curtis

If you are new to smallmouth bass fishing, you should take note of this excellent article from Bassmaster,com, because bronzebacks are probably in your town too!

Smallmouth bass fishing is becoming more and more popular and they are no longer isolated to areas where they originated. Many of us can go to a stream, river or reservoir within a close drive of where we live and find smallmouth bass.

Streams where you may have previously gone trout fishing could have a healthy population of smallmouth bass.

New To Smallie Fishing? They Are In Your Town Too!

Smallmouths are thriving in reservoirs that are aging due to their behavior as compared to largemouth bass:

…With that age comes rotting timber and less structure and cover. (I know there are exceptions to what I just said — especially when it comes to weed growth — but it’s generally true.) As a group, our waters are becoming more open.

That’s OK with most smallmouth bass. They do very well in deep, open water living in schools and chasing open-water baitfish. They don’t need shallow, weed filled bays to survive. A few drops, old channels and rocks will do them just fine. Conditions like that might make them a little harder to catch but they still provide great angling opportunities for anyone willing to work a little harder.

If you doubt any of what I just said take a close look at the Great Lakes and their surrounding waters. I won’t start an argument here by giving you my opinion of which one is best. I will say, though, that the catches coming out of that part of the country are almost beyond belief. Five pounders are common, and it’ll take a 7 pounder to turn heads at the dock. Source

Rivers and streams close to home carry nice smallmouth populations too:

At the same time, healthy smallmouth bass populations are in many of the small streams around the country. That’s good news for anglers, too. These fish can be caught close to home with a minimum of tackle and expertise. These streams are being better cared for and preserved, so the good fishing is likely to continue into the foreseeable future. Source

In areas of the country where smallmouth bass fishing has been popular, some anglers feel there are fewer fish to be caught but the sizes seem to be getting bigger. Some speculate that the bass are wary of various lures and techniques so we always need to be learning more, trying new things and old things and more importantly than anyhting, get out there, have fun and catch and release!

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