At this time of year, the smallmouth will be shallow only in the low-light periods. So plan to fish at night or in the early, early morning, or at dusk. So pack plenty of bug spray!
In the heat of the day, they will move to deep, offshore reefs and rock piles. Since that can’t be found with the naked eye, if you have a portable depth finder (even if its an ice fishing model) bring it. With a combination of a good contour map and a portable depth finder, you should be able to locate some deep structure.
If you don’t have portable depth finder, there are some patterns you can get on by just using your eyes, but these patterns usually yield onesie-twosie bites rather than a big school, like some of the deep structure can offer.
1. Vertical bluff walls – When more light penetrates the water, bass instinctively “know” that are more exposed to predators, so they often like to have something solid up against one side of them. On rockpiles and reefs, it’s a boulder or a ledge. But they do the same thing on vertical bluff walls, which generally only exist adjacent to deep water. The smallies will get right up close to the rock face and rise and drop in the water column, seeking food and the optimum temperature to be the most comfortable.
To target these fish, position your boat right up against the bluff wall, parallel to it, on the far end of the wall.
It it’s early morning or dusk, start with a topwater bait (Rapala Skitter Pop, XRap Prop, Storm Chug Bug, Rapala X-Rap Popper) and retrieve parallel to the bluff face, as close to the bluff as you can. Start with a rapid retrieve with fewer pauses, then slow down and increase pause time if you’re not getting bites. If that doesn’t work, switch to a spinnerbait.
Use a big white or chartreuse spinner bait with double willow blades (Terminator T1, Terminator Super Stainless, etc) and lightly cast or pitch it up flush against the bluff wall and let it fall on a slack line (very important — keep that spinning bail open) to the bottom. The bait will helicopter down vertically, creating the illusion of a dying ciccoe/tullibee/minnow. Many bites will come on the fall, indicated more often than not by a visual jump in your line. So if your line hops or all of a sudden stops falling, you likely have a bite. If you don’t get bit on the fall, slow roll the spinnerbait a few yards then rip it off pretty violently, then let it fall again on slack line. Repeat that process back to the boat. If you don’t get bit on that, it’s time for a tube)
A Green Pumpkin tube is probably the most versatile and effective smallmouth bait. That said, another color on any given day MIGHT be more effective, so let the fish tell you what they want. But I’d start with Green Pumpkin. Pitch the tube parallel to the bluff face, but not quite flush to it — you want to give the tube enough roof to spiral as it falls (which is how it triggers bites when in the water column). Let the tube fall on slack line, just like the spinnerbait. Again here, you’re likely to see your line jump or stop before you feel the bite. If you don’t get bit on the fall, use your rod tip (not your reel) to move the tube across the bottom a few feet. Then use your rod tip to lift the tube off the bottom, then drop your rod tip quickly to let the tube fall again on slack line. Repeat this process back to the boat. If they won’t hit the tube, it’s time for a drop shot.
I always use the VMC Spin Shot hooks, because the rotate 360 without twisting your line, which I believe results in a better bait presentation. I have had great luck in Voyageur’s National Park (similar water color/clarity as BWCA) with Trigger X Paddetail Worms (worms, not minnows) as my drop-shot baits. I’ve fished the Goby and Watermelon Red Flake colors with great success, but a 4-inch Trigger X Swimming Grub in the Chartreuse Pepper color resulted in my personal best Up North smallmouth, a 5 lb. 14 ouncer. I caught that one drop shotting a vertical bluff wall.
Pitch the drop shot rig up fairly flush against the rock face and let it fall on a tighter line than the other presentations. Once your sinker hits the bottom, let the bait soak there for a while, very lightly jiggling your rod tip. If it is at all windy out and there’s some good wave action, you might not even need to jiggle your rod tip, as the rise and fall of the canoe (assuming a canoe, since your’re in BWCA) will provide a lot of action to your bait. If you don’t get bit in the location of your first drop, use your rod tip (not the reel) to move your bait a few yards and repeat the process until your bait is directly under the canoe. Fish it straight down for a bit, then try again if you don’t get bit, pitching the rig to different spots along the bluff wall and/or different distances out from the bluff wall.
If you don’t get bit on a bluff wall with one of those tactics, the smallmouth are probably not on that one, so try the next bluff wall down the lake.
# 2. The second “Eyesight Pattern” is hazard markers. It’s been forever since I’ve been up to the BWCA, so I don’t know if they are common, but if you ever see a buoy, or a jug, or whatever, tethered out in open water, that’s marking a rock hazard. To a smallmouth fisherman, that’s a beacon that indicates a rock pile, boulder or reef that most likely has a big smallmouth or two holding somewhere on or around it.
Start by throwing a topwater over and around it. Then slow roll your spinnerbait over it. Then pull a lipless crankbait over it (Rattling Rap, Rippin’ Rap, Clackin’ Rap). Then try banging into it with a crank bait (Rapala Scatter Rap, a Rapala DT10, DT14, DT16, DT20, depending on depth). If those don’t work, the bass might not be active, but might be there, so try a tube or a Terminator Football head jig (use a crayfish color — look under rocks near shore before fishing to determine what color the local crawdads are).
Tight lines!
Greg
