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River smallies are nomadic or they just quit biting?

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catchafew

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I posed this question a few years ago and got very few replies. Only one noted river smallie angler replied but I thought his answer wasn't direct to my question or perhaps I didn't like the answer and so I'm asking again. The one angler said in so many ways if they fish aren't biting you need to mix it up, good advice but it wasn't the question I was asking but perhaps there's no way to really answer it.

Question: Do river smallies (mature fish) move out of the area to follow forage, are they nomadic? Are they always there but sometimes they have lockjaw? I had great days of 30+ smallies in July, August and September, it's not just May/June that we nail them on the same stretches I've been posting about for the past few years.

Some things about my rivers I actively fish. Two of them dump into a lake, one lake is 12 miles below where I fish some rapids and the lake is about a ½ mile below some rapids I fish. The last river I fish is dammed up every 10 miles or so, this is the most consistent but hast the worst overall quality and happens to be the easiest stretch to access on foot. Since I don't really river wade/canoe anymore (g/f, small kids, busy playing guide), I'm confined from either 50 yards to 1000 yards of river banks and most of them are near rapids. I wonder if my smallies are dropping back to the lakes for a large part of the year? I've caught some nice ones in the lakes that these rivers dump into but action is way slower. I don't really mess with these rivers in the winter and perhaps I only get what I give. I'm putting more serious efforts into branching out from tubes to smaller and bigger lures working various parts of the water column, some of it is fun and some of them are boring little dink magnets.

I hope I never said I was a good angler, I just fish waters that are sometimes easy. Any thoughts from more experienced and skilled river smallie anglers would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
#3 ·
I feel like I find smallies in the same areas just about every year, so long as the river hasn't visibly changed much in that area. They're very territorial, have a tendency to return to the same areas year after year, and you can likely go back and catch the same exact fish every year. This is both on the Fox and the K3. I fish the same stretches a large amount of time during the summer months as I know fish are there. Same goes for spring and fall. I know where the fish tend to be in those months, so I'm fishing those particular areas and stretches for that time of year. I do explore new waters from time to time, just to learn more about the river, find bigger fish, or more productive stretches, but much of the time I stick with what I know.

They're driven by current flows and temperature, as well as forage, and cover. What they're eating at that particular time of the year will also play a role in it. I also think most river fish are opportunistic eaters, so if they see something that seems like easy prey, they're going to jump all over it. They have to expend a lot of energy to go and actually hunt for forage in the rivers due to the constantly moving water.

I've pulled some of my best fish right off the shoreline in heavy spring current from a spot that you would normally walk past and not even bother casting to. I was out last weekend, actually, and pulled an 18 incher out of a VERY small spot behind the edge of a rock sticking out of the bank. It was probably the width of about 2 inches, but just enough for the fish to get behind it with its body parallel to it. You'd have never thought it could hold a fish, but somehow it fit in there, and when I ran my bait past it in the heavy current, it pounced.

My very best river smallies all came out of the same hole, and I visit that hole at the same time every year, where it always produces 8-10 quality fish every day I go. Many of these are likely the same fish from the previous year, or the previous day, or week, or whatever.

High flows like in spring I almost always find them tucked up hard against the bank in spots that you wouldn't normally expect. Any little cutout, break, seam, or piece of structure along the shore that could be blocking the current is where you'll find them.

Low flows, like the summer months, I almost always find them in the deeper water behind cover like boulders, rock piles, and logs, or I find them in deep pools near current seams with fast flow close by.

All you can really do is experiment on it yourself, but I firmly believe in my opinion above.

The biggest issue with them returning to the same spot over and over is change in the river. Heavy rains and current in spring can dramatically change a spot overnight. It pushes rocks around, fills in holes with gravel and sediment, or somehow modifies the current or flow in that area, and the fish are no longer attracted to it.

I've had it happen previously where one week I fished a spot, and nailed a handful of smallies out of it, but a few weeks later I came back to find that a piece of cover had shifted, the current in that area was different, and the fish were no longer holding there.

I would imagine there's also times where the fish just aren't hungry or aggressive enough to take a bait, and you can make 1000 casts at a spot that you know has fish in it, but not get one to bite. It happens.

Obviously they migrate season to season, based on a lot of the above, and I'm sure there are fish that are always constantly moving and venturing on. Fish can all have very different personalities, from what I've learned by having a saltwater fish tank.

Hope I helped a little, or answered your question even just a little. I know I was probably all over the place with my response a little bit, but you can probably grab some valuable info from it somewhere. :lol:
 
#4 ·
Both. They have preferred feeding areas but based on flow. They'll extend their range to find forage as current dictates.
 
#5 ·
Mike I think it really depends on the water but I believe some systems they move around seasonally. I find that in rivers with barriers and where there is more volume they may not migrate but in systems that don't have dams they could move to wintering grounds they prefer (which are longer travels). Especially in skinnier water. Temps and forage play a lot of factors as you know and whether they prefer deep and slow or fast and skinnier, etc. Probably not a lot of movement on a river like the Fox for example. The Kish branches are an example (long unimpeded stretches) where I'm fairly sure fish travel very far. I have noticed this for both pike and smallies over the last couple years (fishing 12mons a year).

If you have your north river waters with lakes, etc not impeded I'd think there is seasonal movement.
 
#6 ·
There was a great article I remember reading a while ago, where they actually caught a bunch of river smallies from multiple pools up and down a small river, tagged them, released them all in 1 location, and tracked the fish. From what I remember, most of the fish returned to each respective pool from which they were originally taken.

Pretty interesting.
 
#7 ·
Just like everyone else, I definitely believe water temperature is a huge factor. (May)

Another big factor I think is, time of day. We all know fish are usually always active at dawn and dusk...or am I the only one that knows that. :D In May, I just think it's water temperature, and in June, I think it has to do with the insect hatches. The could just be gorging themselves off the morning insect hatches and having lock jaw throughout the day until another big insect hatch happens in the evening. I did just do a quick search for what month has the most insect hatches, and it is June....just a theory.

...and for those who only think of forage as bait fish for smallmouth, I suggest you go to a river in the morning and just hang out and watch the magic. Then toss a small top water lure or fly. This is for anyone that never considered insects as a food source. I'm positive that all that have posted before me and a bunch others on this site are well aware of this. Just throwing it out there for anyone that doesn't know.

I would also like to add, that I do not consider myself anything remotely close to an expert or a good angler. Just a lucky SOB that speaks a lot of BS. :D
 
#9 ·
I think what you are maybe missing is that the forage for smallies, at Least in the Kankakee, change at different times of year. And if you dont change with them with the baits you throw, you will be disappointed.

I am getting lots of bass in the spring and late summer into fall and winter in swimming patterns.

Around May and into June, I see a trend towards river bug and crayfish patterns.

I suppose it coordinates with the May and June emergence of the hellgramite. This time of year, I would be trying helgie and craw patterns.
 
#10 ·
am09qx30 said:
I think what you are maybe missing is that the forage for smallies, at Least in the Kankakee, change at different times of year. And if you dont change with them with the baits you throw, you will be disappointed.

I am getting lots of bass in the spring and late summer into fall and winter in swimming patterns.

Around May and into June, I see a trend towards river bug and crayfish patterns.

I suppose it coordinates with the May and June emergence of the hellgramite. This time of year, I would be trying helgie and craw patterns.
Click to expand...
This is spot on in the K3. Helgies and craws are a huge food source during the summer months. I still catch fish on baitfish imitators, though. My best producer during June-August is typically a shallow diving jerkbait ripped and left to suspend in current. Black and silver always produces, but I get em on all kinds of different color patterns. I think the K3 overall has a very diverse forage-base for the smallies to snack on in general.
 
#11 ·
Catchafew, if your fighting a lot of Dinks it doesn't necessarily mean your throwing the wrong baits. That can tell your your choice is spot on. The spot your presenting it my be your issue when looking for that bigger fish. Them big girls IMO are smartly lazy and won't leave the conveyor belt buffet more than 6" in each direction to take an offering. Almost need to work it into their mouth or hang it in their face to draw that hit.

Other kicker is if your constantly fishing from the bank and don't have your feet in the water to physically find those critical but sometimes subtle contour changes you will never know their even set up there.

Obviously a large boulder creating a break is a spot you don't need to step in to know it's a spot but little things like 6" to 12" ledges you have to find the hard way and remember for your next trip out. This is all I mean by feet in the water.

Hope this helps a little.
 
#12 ·
DW has a good post up on the fox about a concrete wall spot quiz. It's a good read for ideas on how to look at locations for options.

I've had a similar situation like he spoke of but I was set up below the spot looking up stream. It was a wall with one large boulder in about 3 fow with moderate flow. I casted about 10 times at this wall and worked the crank back. Every cast made sure to be at least 10' past the location i wanted to work through so not to spook the fish. The crank was constantly pushed about 6 " off the wall and couldn't draw a strike knowing a fish was there. A simple tune of the eyelet on my crank to force the bait to swim at the wall and bounce off was the difference in getting that strike from the big girl behind the boulder. Simply running the bait over the boulder was not enough that day. Sometime that strike zone is huge and you can't miss. Other times that strike zone is tiny and a few inches left,right,up,down is the difference.

If you know a spot holds a giant don't always give up if you don't draw a strike. Give the spot a break and come back later getting more creative. If the simple swim by don't work, try angles, depths, speed, and cadence.
 
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