puzzling bass

[reel man]

The smallies I was on before have moved .Today went and hit the same area this time with a camera and It was unreal.I could'nt even find a bass in the area again that same area produced like crazy 2 weeks ago.I thought they would stay in that area during the fall ,but guess not.Do any of you bass guys know why all these schooling bass would dispurse already.Is this a normal fall patern for them to break the school so early in the fall?

[Tyler Holm]

They have simply followed their food source. My guess is that the recent storms and rain we had over the past 2 weeks has affected the habitat that was holding their food sources, so they were forced to move on.

Was the water level up/down? More current? Muddier? Water temp the same? Similar sun/shade conditions? All these and others affect where fish are at a particular point in time.

[J.A.Say.Tree]

Smallmouth are alot like waterfowl... they are migrators. They will sometimes travel many miles in the Autumn to get to their "wintering hole." My guess would be that the recent cold evenings have promted them to begin moving towards the deeper water they'll need for winter.

JA!

[ikeslayer]

you can read on the old internet about some studies larry dahlberg did on some smallies in the St.Croix river. he found some smallies to travel 90 miles and 50-70 was common. That is alot of miles for a fish so i hope you got on you walkin boots. ike

[JohnS]

You might want to try and find Tim Holschlag's book: "Stream Smallmouth Fishing". He's got a wealth of information on seasonal smallmouth movements and stream smallmouth fishing in general whether spin or fly fishing. He's a Minnesotan too and much of his fishing is on SE MN streams.

[Jim W]

I'm no bass book author, but I can tell you quite confidently the bass are not in their wintering holes....yet. They'll be thinking that sooner than normal if the temps keep dropping into the 30's at night.

The bass situation you experienced was a combination of the fish being tight lipped and some normal stream/river movement. Of course fish move...most do. Especially in moving waters.lol

Jim W