Smallmouth bass have become one of the most popular game fish targeted in North America. They are aggressive by nature, and their fight is strong enough to trap any fisherman for life. Fortunately, they are abundant in lakes and rivers in nearly all 50 states.
We often hear about the iconic Great Lakes smallmouth fishing, Mille Lacs, Champlain and Dell Hollow are home to great fishing. World-record smallmouth. But with fish as large as 8 pounds being taken out of places like the Tennessee River in the last few years, anglers are paying more attention to running water for better smallmouth fishing.
Catching traditional lake smallmouth is slightly different from river smallmouth. You can’t target them evenly, because rivers have current, lakes don’t. Here’s how to catch more smallmouth in running water.
cast your bait into the stream
When targeting smallmouth on rivers, current will play a major role in how and where they establish and feed. When you’re trawling a big lake, you often notice areas where the fish are and where they are based on the time of year. Fish are almost always attracted to the structure of lakes: stones, grass, wood, etc.
When you’re dealing with a river, fish stick to the current. Sometimes that is due to stream structure, but not always. River fish use areas where they can move around without expending too much energy, such as Idios.
Eddy are those parts of the river which move upwards in the direction of the current. They form when there is an obstruction in the main stream, and water fills the area behind the obstruction. Fish will settle in these areas and allow the stream to bring livelihood for itself. The most effective way to fish these spots is to cast your bait upstream and let it move naturally back with the current.
Current breaks, channel swings, ledges or rapids are other areas where smallmouth bass can be found on rivers. Basically anywhere the current is slowed is a place you can catch smallies.
stick to traditional fodder
When choosing bait, the time of year, water temperature and weather play a more important role than the place where you are fishing.
Selecting smallmouth tackle is going to look very similar for both lake and river fishing. If the bite is choppy, Ned rigs, small finesse jigs, light jigging heads and flukes can be very productive. You can fish with fancy rigs in moving water and even drop shots depending on the flow. You may just have to adjust your drop shot weight accordingly.
If the stars align and the bite is on, both lake and river smallmouth love topwater poppers, wake baits, ploppers, walking baits as well as spinner baits, swimbaits and chatterbaits.
Read further: How to Catch Smallmouth Bass
Whether you’re a lake dweller or a river rat, you can take your knowledge of these fish and apply it to any scenario. I would encourage anglers who haven’t spent much time on rivers to get on a kayak or jet boat and try their hand at it. Not only are the rivers generally less stressed, but in my experience these river fish put up more of a fight.
