Hey, I'll be the first to admit that I'm no smallmouth master. In fact, my knowledge of smallmouth bass is very limited. BUT, I do manage to get a decent amount of smallmouth when I target them, and to be honest I find that chasing smallies in the summertime is not all that tough. You just have to know where they're at, and what they're biting. Okay, that may sound like a heck of a task, but when you use a clear head and stay simple, you can put some decent smallies in your boat.

First off, when chasing smallies in any body of water, know the forage. For instance, in Lake Erie smallmouth will tend to have a diet of crawfish, small perch, shiners and most recently the round goby. In some lakes it will be other things. This is important to know, especially the crawfish part. If bass are inactive, and there is crawfish in a body of water, you can almost always get them to hit on something that resembles an injured crawfish. When choosing other lures, make sure they have a colour that resembles the resident bait species. There is lures out there that basically represent any kind of baitfish out there, so it shouldn't be hard to "match the hatch".

Baits like this Terminator spinnerbait represent shad well, and are deadly on active schooling smallies
Now that you know what to use, you still don't know the where. When early morning comes around, you can usually chase smallies either in or near shallow water. Look for things like rip-rap shorelines, deepwater docks, reed edges, rocky points, and steep rock banks to hold fish. Chances are pretty good that they will be feeding earlier on. Fish the areas thoroughly and remember that smallmouth school, so you can probably catch lots of bass before the spot is fished out. They will position near rocks or on steep ledges and hammer anything that is thrown at them, that can fit in their mouth. I like to cast parallel to the shore in these situations, as it always seems to pay off best. Some of my biggest smallmouth have come from running Terminator buzzbaits along rock ledges in the early morning. When a buzzbait doesn't produce, I'll almost always switch to a spinnerbait.

Okay, your early morning bite has ended. The smallmouth have stopped feeding, and you want to continue catching them. Certainly don't give up. Sometimes they will actually sit in those same areas all day, just staying inactive. If it is cloudy or rainy, don't leave the spots just yet. Try slowing things down with small jerkbaits, grubs and tube baits bounced near the rocks. Suspending model jerkbaits are usually a great choice. If it's rather sunny out, they will more than likely move to deeper structure or just shade. Boat docks may be a good choice in a lake with lots of smallmouth, but more than likely you will now need a depth finder, and a good pair of polarized sunglasses. You'll want to look for deep humps, ledges, weed flats, rock piles and even deep wooden structure like logs or brush. (By deep I mean roughly 15-30ft). You can try chucking tandem spinnerbaits over the structure, near the surface. If they're active they'll move right up to hit your lure from 20 feet below. As a general rule, in clear water I use white or chartreuse, and in more stained water it's usually red, orange or blue. Also, in clear water you will want silver or painted blades, and stained will be better for copper. If in doubt just use a mix of silver/copper. If they aren't active, once again try suspending crankbaits over the structure, or drop tube jigs or jigging spoons and just drift over the structure, jigging your lures. Remember to add scent to your lures to make fish more interested.

As the afternoon comes, the fish will move back to the shallow structure mentioned before. Now is the fun time. I almost always go to small versions of topwaters, or buzzbaits. My 2 biggest smallmouth were caught in the afternoon on topwaters. Dark colours will more than likely pay off now. Black or grey buzzbaits (I prefer 3 bladed versions, like Terminator's Bill\'s Triple Buzzer), black, blue or chrome poppers, and even dark coloured floating worms will usually pay off in the afternoon. As the sun begins to set, the bass have a quick advantage over baitfish as their eyes adjust quicker to the darkness than most baitfish. This will often send them into a feeding frenzy at sunset. Remember of course that if you see any surface activity (i.e. smallies eating flies, or minnows jumping), cast past that spot and bring your lure slowly to where the activity was. Often you can pick up a few fish this way. If the bass are still rather inactive at this time, you'll want to probably switch to dark coloured suspending jerkbaits. These imitate an injured baitfish rather well, and a smallmouth bass cannot resist an injured baitfish, no matter how active he is!

Well, as nighttime comes around the bass will go even shallower. Find them roaming near rocky areas or weeds and feeding near the surface. Keep lights off and be as quiet as possible. When the school is spooked they will tend to move away and not feed anymore. Try black or white, as at night time colour is virtually useless. I like spinnerbaits with a single colorado blade at night. Terminator now makes great night fishing baits, with single black colorado blades. Some other choices would be black buzzbaits, black or white jerkbaits, or even small sized Jitterbugs or poppers.

Hopefully from all of this it will help you in your hunt for summertime smallmouth! Remember, I'm no smallmouth pro, but these tips can help you put more fish in your boat. Thanks for reading, and good luck & tight lines!

"Big Bass" Rich
Articles By Richard Sims