Northern Michigan Smallmouth Bass
Smallmouth Bass
Smallmouth bass fishing on Grand Traverse Bay was a blast this summer. I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about the deep water behaviors. Which has been great. Something that I really struggled with last year. But with more time on the water comes more learning and it’s translating to success. Water temps still remain in the area I have been working in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. We had a solid North wind last week that mixed up the water, dropping it a few degrees.
A good population of 3-4 pound smallmouth are hunting and looking for food. This past few weeks it started to shift to baitfish presentations. Some of the same tactics we use in the Spring time to search for them are starting to work again as Fall Smallmouth season at our doorstep.
Smallmouth Tactics for Fall
Bait fish balls are start to really form out deep, Smallmouth will work almost like wolf packs and target these bait balls. This pattern will continue as we continue go into Fall. Swim baits, umbrella rigs, and drop shot will play best as bass stay deep.
But some good signs of smallmouth coming back to shallow haunts have started to occur. We found nice size fish in the 3-4 pound range hunting some of the top rock piles. We caught fish this week on underspins with boot tail style swimbaits. If this trend continues the fly rods will be coming back out. With some of our favorite swimbait style flies tied on. The new style game changers in shad had worked well earlier in the year and can’t wait to expand on the techniques that will trigger a few more bites.
Booking a Smallmouth Trip
Interested in booking a Smallmouth Bass Trip or going for Lake Trout on light tackle, drop us a message via email, or text/call us directly 231-631-5701. We are booking next summer already as prime pre-spawn and post-spawn spots are open.
Jon Ray
