Here’s a question you may never have been asked: How tall is a smallmouth bass? Keep it in mind for now. We’ll get back to it.

I had a friend who was locked in on fishing visual cover. He could not fish an area unless he saw what he was fishing. His dad had property on Lake Winneconne and Don fished there regularly. When he was young, he told me that the people on the lake would call him “Donnie the black bass king.” He wreaked havoc on the largemouth with a Johnson Silver Spoon and a natural green-and-white pork frog trailer. We did catch fish from areas we could see when we fished together. But when I moved to Wisconsin from Illinois, and discovered new water and new baits and techniques, I got away from the spoon.

When Don retired to Lake Butte des Morts, Wisconsin, we reconnected, and I returned the favor by showing him how the fall river smallmouths relocated for winter. He was on the shallow river riprap and wood like a magnet on steel. If the fish weren’t there, then they just weren’t biting. It didn’t matter that a lot of those bass just ducked down to bottom. Basically, the boat was above them. But the baits were fished too shallow.

One major stretch of river was a bit wider than normal. There we found a lot of smallmouths on bottom in 9 to 10 feet of water. The more fish that migrated down the feeder river for the winter, the more fish that used that particular bottom area. They would ambush baitfish near shore cover. But then it was back to the bottom, out of harm’s way.

Smallies really liked that area. But, after watching the depth finder closer as we fished, I thought there was nothing on the bottom to hold them. What gives?

Now, back to my initial question. Well, a smallmouth might be 20 inches long and have a short girth. But, when it sits tight to bottom, it may only be 6 to 7 inches high from belly on bottom to top fin. Click! There doesn’t need to be a lot of readily identifiable cover to hold them. They can duck behind stuff that doesn’t jump out at you on your locator. I’ve never been on the bottom of a river to test the current, but I have also read that the current doesn’t sweep the bottom and that fish don’t require a lot of energy to hold in place. Which makes it even sweeter.

Now, we can take it a bit further. A river bottom may be fairly flat with no visible cover. I know my favorite area does hold fall fish year after year. But there are a lot of areas with other bottom compositions. And they can hold fish, too.

Last year, we went out for a fishing day and decided to not fish our normally productive areas, like riprap and wood. Instead, we opted to fish bottom only—areas that we normally skip over. We had a pretty good day. It was interesting to fish an area and find a softer bottom, and then come upon a little stretch of harder bottom And, bang, there’s a bass. Even finding a little patch of rock, out away from a riprap bank, can pay. Like two fish on two casts to one small area. Can’t complain; just wish it was larger. We also came across shell beds, some larger wood, and even hard sand. Sometimes the wood would be good, but by the next spring, it may have been washed away by high spring water. So be aware of possible changes.

What it all means is, you may be overlooking some productive areas. Ones which might be otherwise passed over.

To find the best areas, I like to throw a swing jig. Use a weight that gets down and stays on bottom. It might be a 1/4-ounce or a 1/2-ouncer. The idea is to hit bottom and reel slowly as the weather gradually cools. Usually, these jigs are made with a wide gap hook with a Z-bend to hold the plastic trailer. Beaver-style plastics like Berkley’s MaxScent Creature Hawg work well. There’s no shortage of types of baits, but I like the scent disbursement (release) of the MaxScent offerings. The swing jig covers more ground easier than, say, a standard jig or a regular football head jig. Dragging a tube, which many anglers do in their good locations, is another winner. Just keep it moving on bottom.

Fishing a bunch of new fish-holding areas on your favorite river can be a revelation. Give it a shot this fall.

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