Bass How-To Jeremy Baird Quick Tip smallmouth

My Fall Smallmouth Pattern

by Jeremy Baird October 10, 2014

Fall fishing is the best time of year. It’s when you can go out and catch your personal best just like I did this year. Cold weather, wind, rain, and even snow; if you haven’t put your boat away, you too have the chance to catch a fish of a lifetime!

In the fall, the fish tend to move up into the creeks and really just scatter as they can be in 3-ft or 60-ft of water. This can really make them hard to find. But once the fall really moves in, in mid October in Ontario, the bass tend to group up in deeper water about 15 to 30-ft. This is where you can pull in a big bag if you are a tournament angler. The Canadian record from the BPS Simcoe Open was held in late October of 31.55lbs by Joey Muszynski and Mark Moran in 2010, that’s an average weight of 6.31-lbs of smallmouth bass; WOW.

Being the Bassaholic that I am, you will find me on the water chasing those monster smallmouth. I would like to share with you some of my tools and tricks on catching some of these monster smallies.

Spinnerbaits and Jerkbaits – The Staples

I like to start with some moving baits; spinnerbait, and jerkbaits, looking for suspended fish. The jerkbait that I prefer is a Spro McStick. The McStick has great action and it comes in many different colors. Fish just plain eat em’. I like to fish them on a 6’6” medium with a Lews 6.2 to 1 baitcaster with 12-lb spiderwire floro.

SPRO McStick

Tubes are a must when fishing for giant fall smallmouth. The key with fishing tubes is not just the color, but the size of weight. You want a weight that is heavy enough to drag on bottom but light enough that it does not spook the fish. 3/8-oz is my usual go to weight, but I will increase or decrease depending on the wind and drift speed. As for color, just try to match what the fish are eating, crayfish or gobies.

My Ultimate Setup – The Drop shot

The dropshot is now my ultimate setup for deep water smallmouth. Smallies absolutely love this rig. You can cast it, drop it straight down or drag it. Any way you through it, it will put those big fish in the boat. I like to use spiderwire braid 10-lb for my main line and 6-lb spiderwire floro as my leader, tied together with a double uni knot. On a 6’9” medium light spinning rod, the Dropkick worm from Imperium baits is my bait of choice, giving me options of fishing it a couple of ways, I can wacky rig it, or nose hook it, either way works well you just need the fish to tell you what they want.