A trophy-sized Fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth is what drives us to spend so much time, energy and money on our passion.

Nearly 30 years ago, I was able to first connect the dots to my favorite river system and its tributaries. Without much known data to support my own theories, I sought out to understand why my favorite areas of the river system were loaded in May and June and mostly devoid of smallmouth thereafter. I struggled to understand why my river smallmouths were in abundance for 4 weeks out of the year, and then no longer present. For me I found the high water time in may and early June led me to the upper rive in the fastest water. It dwelled on me how highly migratory river smallmouth bass can be. If free to navigate without obstructions, they’ll migrate long-distance like all other river fish species are capable of.

I find that Fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth always leads me to the upper part of rivers. I mean the fastest and shallowest water with deeper pools adjacent to them. In pres-pawn they will bunch up in the 2 to 4 foot range. In rivers they are primarily feeding on crawfish. This is because the crawfish at this time are very lethargic. They are actually being sucked out of their holes in the banks. I can duplicate this fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth pattern on any headwaters

Fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth

Without river rat intuition and an extensive history with the river system, I could have otherwise blown through the staging pools unbeknownst and without ever testing them. It’s easy to ignore staging sites on rivers. Most anglers wouldn’t know how to identify one. Good spots like this one get revisited and used annually by the same fish.

Learn more in my new book “Strategies for Bass“.

Water temperature must be optimal as well. It’ll single-handedly influence a river migration in spring. 40 degree range, it’s too cold. At 48 to 52, we’ll finally find some smallmouth success, but only from isolated staging sites. Good luck ever locating them as 99% of the river will be vacant. Middle 50’s and slowly climbing, we’re getting hot! River’s loaded, and we’ll have a bonanza through spawn’s conclusion in early June where 50 fish a trip is to be expected.

Even the same flat can be fished in numerous ways depending on different conditions. I find it best to treat a flat like a kaleidoscope, with new patterns and elements emerging each trip. All anglers must consider five essential variables when fishing the flats: wind and air conditions; the sun’s position; water clarity and temperature; the size, shape and composition of the flat; and existing signs of life

Hunting fall flats bass is in many ways the same as that deer or hog hunters must identify animal signs, scents and habitat, skinny-water bass anglers should understand how to read a flat and react to different variables they encounter. There are many different kinds of shallow water flats, and fishermen are wise to treat them individually. Even the same flat can be fished in numerous ways depending on different conditions. I find it best to treat a flat like a kaleidoscope, with new patterns and elements emerging each trip. All inshore anglers must consider five essential variables when fishing the flats: wind and air conditions; the sun’s position; water clarity and temperature; the size, shape and composition of the flat; and existing signs of life.

When the water and air temperatures begin to cool after a long, hot summer, you need to be hunting fall flats bass. Throughout the fall, these flats play temporary host to millions of migrating shad as they make their annual trek to the backs of creeks. Wherever you find shad in the fall, you won’t have a hard time finding bass.

As soon as the temperatures begin to drop, a switch flips in those shad and tells them it’s time to go shallow.

“I’ve seen so many times when you have great looking cover and the bass are paying absolutely no attention to it.” When it’s the heart of the shad migration, bass will actually use the bait balls as cover, almost like a big security blanket. It gives them the best of both worlds—a constant food source and plenty of shade. You can throw at the good looking stumps all you want, but you’ll catch more bass concentrating underneath the bait balls.

Knowing the bottom composition of the flat is key to hunting fall flats bass as well. For those flats fishing anglers who have electronics on their boat or kayak, being able to identify rock formations or other hard sources of cover is a good sign there will be fish there. If you don’t have electronics, be familiar with the bottom structure. Those fish know cold weather isn’t far away and they follow the bait like a wolf pack. That’s why many anglers think early fall is the best fishing of the year.

I can’t stress enough the importance of bait fish during this time of year and acknowledges their presence as to why the bass head toward the flats. “This is why the flats in the fall are such a key structure.” During the fall feed, the bait makes its way back to shallow water. Generally speaking, on most fisheries, the forage has spent their summer in deeper water. When the temperature begins to drop, those bait fish migrate back to the flats and the bass follow.

Not all flats are created equally. If you make an effort to understand shad behavior, recognize desirable characteristics within a flat and learn what lures to throw, there’s a great possibility you will catch a lot more bass this fall.

Lee Bailey, Jr.
Retired Bassmaster Elite Pro
3 – time Bassmaster Classic Qualifier

Blade baits in Summertime work well for largemouth bass. They may not be a super popular bait for targeting largemouth bass, but you can definitely catch some nice bass on these baits. Some anglers will wind these baits in with a steady retrieve, however, one of the best ways to fish the Binsky blade bait is to vertical jig it in the summer and fall when big largemouth bass are suspended over schools of bait fish.

Fish blade baits in summertime Vertical

If you’re like most bass fishermen, you probably have a couple of blade baits you bought years ago, fished once or twice with little or no success, and tossed them in a forgotten corner of the basement. Now is the time to dust them off!

When largemouth bass move into deeper water, a blade bait can be very effective for vertical jigging. It’s not a super common way to target largemouth bass, but it works great when largemouth bass are feeding on bait fish in deeper water.

The trick to catching on blade baits in summertime is not to overwork them. An angler who is new to fishing The Binsky blades tends to fish them with big sweeps of the rod, causing the bait to jump 4 to 6 feet off the bottom. The most successful blade fishermen lift their rods just enough to feel the blade kick a couple of times. Making this adjustment will improve your Binsky blade bait success ten-fold.

Keeping regular contact with the bottom is crucial, so when targeting deep bass, you’ll need Binsky blade baits from ½ to 1 ounce. By far the best on the market is the Binsky blade bait. In lakes with alewives, use silver blades. In lakes without alewives, gold or perch-colored blades will be your best bet.

How to fish Laydowns (cover) Taken from “Strategies For Bass” by retired Elite Series Pro Lee Bailey Jr.

A tree fallen from the bank into the aquatic world is known to bass anglers as a laydown, blowdown or simply a log, depending on how long it has been in the water. The large trunk and heavy branches of a laydown offer ample shade and cover for bass to set up an ambush zone, while the algae buildup on the decaying tree attracts baitfish into the bass’ trap.

How to fish Laydowns (cover) Taken from “Strategies For Bass”

Laydowns in bass fisheries across the country come in all shapes and sizes. Some still have tall tops attached that might only have a limb or two showing above the surface, but under the water is a bass haven full of thick branches. Others might be slick logs with only a few stubby boughs left.

Whether you call it a laydown, a windfall or a fallen tree, this type of bass cover is found on just about any lake or river in the country. However, since a laydown on the bank is glaringly obvious it tends to receive heavy fishing pressure. You may think that professional anglers avoid laydowns, believing them to be fished out. The reality is that many of the country’s most accomplished pros snatch countless bass from this prevalent cover.

Its fish-holding qualities make a laydown a prime target for Bassmaster Elite Series pros, no matter where they fish throughout the country…

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Lees Spring Seasonal Approach Guide is a system I’ve adapted to help find bass on unfamiliar waters. With spring arriving in most of the northern waters and the spawn completing in the south I thought a spring time article from my book (Strategies For Bass) would be appropriate. As a retired touring pro, I fished all kinds of lakes and rivers in many regions throughout the year. Obviously, I didn’t have time to become intimately familiar with each of these venues prior to tournament competition. When you only have three practice days to unlock the secrets of a large river system, you need some guidance to help you quickly get on a viable fish catching pattern. Lees Spring Seasonal Approach provides that information, regardless of where or what part of spring I’m fishing. It helps me make educated guesses about where bass are most likely to be in all stages of spring bass migration. It’s a system that quickly eliminates unproductive water and helps me home in on areas holding the most bass.

Lees Spring Seasonal Approach Pre-spawn: (48 to 55 degrees)

Temperatures reaching into the mid to upper 50 degree mark will begin to trigger bass activity. Few however, acknowledge the fact that river smallmouths thrive in SPRING cold water (low 40’s) and will begin the spawn ritual before the water reaches the low 50’s. As mentioned earlier, even a slight increase in temperature is all that is needed to trigger the bites in a river system. A temperature rise from 38-43 degrees is a great temperature change for an early season river basser, especially if it happens over a period of only a few days. Bass will become extremely active during the first water temperature increase they encounter after a long cold winter.

Some of my best smallmouth catches on the Connecticut River happen in the early season. “One trip in particular was with a great friend of mine Don Sanzo. We were fishing an early season tournament. The river water temperature was hovering at a whopping 46 degrees. I had found these really big smallmouths holding on a shallow ledge in some of the shallowest and fastest water in the river. We ran 40 plus miles to get to those fish through rapids and some pretty nasty ledge only 18” deep to get there. When we arrived at this ledge we preceded to catch smallmouths from 3-4 pounds. As a matter of fact we hooked up on big smallmouths on the first 12 consecutive casts”. Not only did we have a great day of fishing but we won the tournament and set a standing record for the Connecticut River. A record setting 10 fish limit of smallmouth bass that weighed in at 31.14 pounds.

Some of the greatest early season smallmouth locations are shallow ledges of shale, gravel or hard packed sand adjacent to drop-offs with scattered rocks, brush and weeds that might have survived the winter. The rocky shore adds warmth to the water and awakens food (crawfish, insects and minnows). This hard bottom also has acted as a current break for these fish to stage near all winter. One thing is for certain rock ledges and shelves stay the same for the bass through-out the winter and high water periods. It is this consistency that makes ledges and rocks the best choice in the spring.

I will usually begin my fishing on these current waters with the water temperature being as low as 42 degrees. During this real cold water I prefer to use jigs, and tubes to entice these early pre-spawn smallies. Fishing however, becomes far better as the water temperatures reaches the mid 40’s, with the action reaching phenomenal proportions when the water temperature reaches the low 50’s. The smallmouths will bunch up in the above mentioned areas; these places will give you action all day. Some of the biggest smallmouths of the year are caught during the rivers early pre-spawn period.