The smallies are fat and happy because most of them stay relatively shallow all year to feast on craws and they have benefited from C&R trophy management for years. Ask smallie anglers what smallies cough up at boatside. It’s 90% craws and 10% shiners and perch. The DNR admitted as much from a summer study that smallies are eating primarily craws. Has anyone seen massive schools of smallies bullying walleyes off mud flats in the summer? Any scientific evidence that smallies are feasting on walleye fry? No. But the DNR makes them the bogeyman and imposes regs that threaten a world-class smallie fishery based on a hunch. Chasing bad walleye regs with bad smallie regs is not going to save ML.

http://savemillelacssmallies.com/

“When did Noah build the Ark, Glady? Before the rain.”

Gord Pyzer, a fishing pro and guide who recently
retired from a position as fishery manager for the
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, believes anglers
in northern states and Canada should never
target bedding smallmouths. “Once they set up on
nests, it’s simply not a good idea to fish for them,” he
says.“The impact of angling, even on a catch-andrelease
basis, for nesting bass can be devastating in
the North” Pyzer says. In more southerly locations,
the often long spring spawning period is considered
by many anglers to be the best time to fish. The
spawn is protracted and the fish are less vulnerable.
Also, waterways tend to be murkier, helping to hide
bedding fish.
Researchers [including Dr. Mark Ridgeway] selected
lakes and rivers in southeastern Ontario near
the New York border where the
bass season is closed in spring,
but the season for other species is
open. They wanted to assess the
impact of preseason catch-andrelease
angling on the reproductive
success of largemouth and
smallmouth bass.
“In one of the lakes (Lake
Opinicon) as many as 63% of the
anglers on the water were observed targeting nesting
bass under the guise of fishing for other species,”
Ridgeway says. “When the researchers went under
water to count the number of bass with visible hook
wounds, they found in the most heavily targeted lake
that nearly 100 % of the nesting males had been
caught and released. If the bass season had been
open, every nesting male could have been killed.”
“Fishing for smallmouths on the beds is a bad
idea up here. I don’t know of any serious biologist
working with smallmouth bass in the northern tier of
states or provinces that would recommend fishing for
bedding smallmouth bass.”

http://www.wisconsinsmallmouth.com/Newsletters/0805.pdf

Joe,

I suspect that most fish will be off the beds next week and you might find yourself experiencing a post-spawn funk while they recover. I’d guess you’d still find some fish in shallow spawning bays/main-lake flats, but most fish are probably moving to deeper drops or off-shore reefs. Try slowly swimming grubs, drag 4″ worms and drop Senkos around rocks. Try topwaters over shallower reefs and rocky shorelines at dusk and dawn.

Tom, I agree with you – it’s no challenge. It takes no special skill to drop a leech and bobber over a bed. There’s usually fish biting off the beds from opener through June. Grab some grubs and Flukes and have fun with active fish while the bedding fish do their thing.

Good point on pinching the barbs – and we should do it all summer. Anyone who fishes Senkos/Dingers gut-hooks smallies on occasion. I’ve made releases easier and dramatically cut back on bleeders by pinching the barb and using Fireline & fluro to detect bites more quickly. Knock on wood, but I don’t recall ever having a fish come unbuttoned while using a barbless Gammy.

2 things: I read a study in In-Fisherman a few years back that claimed that in many Ontario lakes, only about 1/3 of the smallies spawn each year.

Unstable spring weather can really mess with spawning activity. this year had a later spawn. I’ve seen fish on beds in July on years with cold, rainy springs.

I hear you on fishing for different species during their spawn. On the flip side, the MN DNR closes trout fishing at the end of Sept so browns can spawn undisturbed in October-Nov. And only one race of mankind can legally fish walleye during their spawning cycle in MN. Out West, the unwritten rule is to stay away from trout on redds. It all varies so much – probably depends on the state of the fishery.

You are absolutely right, Joe – that’s why I find it bewildering that the DNR closes bass fishing during the pre-spawn stage, but then opens the season when many fish are on beds and most vulnerable. I’ve been on some clear lakes in WI where boats practically line-up to take turns fishing the same 5lb fish in well-known spawning flats. Fishing on a couple lakes has gone from outstanding to poor in the past 15 years. Is it all because of bed fishing? I dunno, but it can’t be helpful for fish to be jerked off a bed 5x on a Saturday. I know Al Lindner preaches “abstinence” when smallies are doing their thing, but the DNR is obviosuly not too concerned.

Great post – everyone avoid the barren southern rocks/gravel this weekend and head north for your smallies.

Hope the off-bed bite is on this weekend. I think I see more guys throwing bobbers and leeches over beds every spring.

Thanks for the tips, fellas. Looks like I’ll be heading to Gander for some Interstates.

Good luck to everyone on Saturday. I’m going to give the water an extra day to warm back up – to the balmy April water temps!

I tried Fireline Crystal this spring on a clear lake – tied directly to a hook and Senko. No bass while my buddies caught them with Senkos tied to mono. I switched back to 8lb Silver Thread and immediately started catching them. That Berkley stuff should be called “Fireline Pearl” – don’t believe the ads about it disappearing under water. I’ll just use it for rigging walleys or with flouro leaders for smallies.

I hear ya, Slider. I can’t stand to watch the leech fisherman go after spawning smallies. I fish smallie lakes around Hayward where you can watch boats practically get in line from dawn to dusk to take turns catching the same smallies on the same beds with a bobber and leech. Those fish must get caught 20-30 times before heading out of the bay.

That said, I’m no angel. I’ve gut-hooked plenty of smallies on Senkos during the summer. Sometimes you can’t stick those fish fast enough when they inhale Senko candy. My plan is to try wacky rigging with circle hooks this year – if I can get my Lund on the lake. I’ve got to release more of those pigs so I can break the state record in the next year or two.

I’m sure we’ll see a few boats hovering over beds with slip bobbers and leeches. I’ll stick with the pre-spawn cruisers on jerks and grubs.

I hear ya on grubs. I prefer Zoom Fat Alberts for action and colors. Kalin’s makes great grubs. Yamamoto grubs are about as durable as live crawlers, but they’ll catch fish. I’ll pass on the stiff Gulp! baits.

Clarification: I have used #8 & #10 X-Raps, Husky Jerks, Thundersticks, etc on ML from June-Sept with lower success rates compared to grubs, tubes, Senkos, worms & Flukes. I’ve had better success with hard jerks on other smallie lakes, but for whatever reason, I cannot hook many ML smallies with them. I was just wondering if other smaller chasers have had similar experiences. Any tips on colors, cadence, best conditions for X-Raps, etc? My Plano 3700 filled with X-Raps/Husky Jerks needs to start earning its keep onboard my Lund.