Smallmouth Stream Strategies

If I could design an ideal day on one of America's smallmouth streams, the air temperature would register 65 to 75 degrees, with water temperature about 70 degrees.

- Bruce Ingram

The sky would be heavily overcast with a threat of rain (but no precipitation falling), fishing pressure would be light, and the water would be a deep green. But, to paraphrase what a poet once said, nothing is so rare as a summer day like the one I just fantasized about. So here are some strategies to consider when conditions prove challenging.

Low, Slow and Small

Many years ago, I arose early, and drove more than four hours to visit a river that boasted huge smallies. When I arrived, the guide told me a massive summer cold front had descended the night before. Signs of the cold front dominated the landscape - an infamous bluebird sky, brisk winds rippling the water. No hatches.

I began to have hope when the guide explained his game plan for the day. It's standard procedure, he said, for river anglers to use 3-1/2, 4-1/2, and sometimes even 5-inch tubes, rigged Texas style, for brown bass. That day, the guide continued, we'd downsize to 2-1/2-inch tubes with 1/8-ounce bullet sinkers, and then slowly crawl them across the substrate. Target areas would include deep water ledges, rocky pools along the bank and outside bends with rock and wood cover.

Between us that day, the guide and I only caught a half dozen "keeper" bronze backs, but it was one of my most satisfying and enlightening days on a waterway ever. During other cold fronts since then, I've employed the low, slow and small game plan, and it has usually resulted in me eking out some quality bass. I've also been able to add 4-inch finesse worms, especially ringworms, to the cold front lure lineup.

Big & Bold for Muddy Water