When you are a smallmouth bass angler, conditions can change so quickly, it’ll make you head spin. The truly excellent anglers can adapt to changes in weather, water conditions, seasons, and bass behavior.
What a difference a week can make: weather changes
I’ve been lucky the past 2 weeks in being able to fish the main stem of the Susquehanna River. A week ago, the air temp when we hit the water was 25 F and the water temp was 39 F. Today the water temp was 53 F and the air temp got to 83 today. (65 F when we hit the water at 7:15 am.
Last week, bass were transitioning from wintering in locations but cold be found nearly the deeper wintering areas. We found larger bass moving toward feeding areas, behind and adjacent to islands. Today, we got off to a slow start. I’m not sure if this was due to the bass being finicky or we hadn’t figured out a pattern.
The bass were in moderate current, in troughs and behind rocks and boulders. They seemed to be cruising and enjoying the nice weather.
This weekend looks like rain is coming so the river will be rising and this will change the bass behavior once again.
Persistence pays off and don’t be afraid to try new things or different baits. Last week we caught most everything on tubes and jerkbaits, with a flurry of swimbait fish at the end. The bass we caught were huge. We caught eight 18 inch bass, three 19 plus and one 21 plus incher.
Today we caught them on swimbaits, jerkbaits and even some spinnerbaits. Very few were caught on tubes today. The size today was smaller than last week.
The biggest thing you can do is go out with a friend and throw different baits until you come up with a pattern of what the bass are eating that day or that moment. It makes fishing a challenge every day and it makes it more fun; like putting a puzzle together.
Tight Lines until next time!
