Key In On Spring Smallies

Key In On Spring Smallies

By Todd Reed

Spring in Iowa is full of temptations; morel mushrooms, turkeys, walleyes, and my favorite, the smallmouth bass.  Spring is a sportsman paradise here in Iowa, each day of the week you could enjoy something different in the outdoors.  It is truly a magical time, and even more magical if you can find some river smallies to put a bend in your rod!

Typically May is the month of the year when we will see a dramatic increase in water temperature.  This gets every species of fish in the mood to feed up, especially smallmouth bass. Smallies will also have spawning on their minds as well, making them more likely to strike baits that are moving quickly.  There are a few key locations in our rivers where these smallies will be feeding. A top location this time of year is secondary current. On the big rivers this is pretty easy to find, however not all are productive.  Smallmouth can be very picky to how much current they want, and of course how much bait is available for their liking. Experimentation and moving quickly if you don’t get bites is key to any smallmouth adventure. You can find secondary currents in areas just off the main channel where current is directed into backwater sloughs.  This creates a secondary current that flows through these sloughs and gives the smallies ambush points to feed up on shad, minnows, and crawdads. If rock, log jams, and other underwater structure are present, your odds of catching smallies will increase.

Another key area is finding sandbars with bait.  These can be found on the big river and all interior rivers as well.  Smallmouth bass will hang around sandbars due to the current located around them and the abundance of bait; minnows and shad like the current for their never-ending food source and the smallmouth follow.  Finding the correct sandbar and current could lead you to your best smallmouth fishing ever. Light current with food is a paradise for spring smallies!

The next key area is really an interior river location that is hard to beat day in and day out.  It may not hold the numbers of smallies that a minnow filled sandbar might, but the action is pretty consistent.  Deep channel banks where the river current has carved out deeper holes over the years is a go-to anytime of the year.  This allows the smallmouth to stay in deeper water or come up shallow to those sandbars, which are most likely just across to the other riverbank.  These deep holes will hold food under any circumstance of weather or current.

Most of these channel swings will be littered with fallen trees, just another top spot for these smallies to hide and ambush prey swinging down river.  When fishing deeper water on the interior rivers pay close attention to your weight size. This depicts how fast or slow your bait is moving through the current, and of course how high or low the bait is moving. Don’t just try one size of jig head, try numerous before moving on when fishing these deeper holes.  If you are fishing with crankbaits or another faster moving bait, change up your retrieve to hit different depths as well, these small changes can determine a bad day of fishing, or a great day of fishing. It is critical when fishing any current in any river to fish “up current” and let the bait naturally go with the river current.  This is how fish set up to eat, and will look the most natural to them.

Any fishing article in the spring months typically ends up talking about weather…yes, like any species the smallmouth bass is dependent on the weather patterns.  Cold fronts will often whip into Iowa during the spring, so playing the weather patterns will definitely increase your chances into hooking up with a great day of smallmouth fishing.  If you have limited time and can only get out on the weekends, you must make adjustments to find those smallies. First, making a shift away from heavy current will be key. During cold fronts fish will not feed up as usual and will slide away from current areas to feed.  A smaller presentation will help you get bites during cold fronts as well. Small crankbaits, 3-inch tubes or twister tails can really trick them during cold times of the month. Fish always eat, but when the weather turns cold we have to make “small” adjustments to entice them into biting.

Spring is a fabulous time to fish for river smallmouth, watch the water levels of the areas you fish as rising water will push smallies away from high current this time of year and falling river levels will get the smallmouth right in the heaviest current available.  Typically where there is current, their food, and smallies love to eat!
Enjoy your springtime fishing, and if you haven’t tried for smallmouth bass lately, you should put it on the top of your to-do list.  Enjoy and please practice CPR, Catch, Photograph, and Release.