VonHolstyle

The Columbia River is pretty vast....lol 2,000 miles long and over a mile wide in some areas. If you’re out there in November fishing for Smallies, you’ll find them in the 60ft range. And there’s still some super shallow areas, especially during the summer. Depends on what the dams are doing but it’s easy to be running in 30 feet of water and all of a sudden you’re in 4 feet or less lol have to know the river/area you’re fishing....especially when you’re flying at 70+ mph in a bass boat

Good points. Every fishery is a little bit different so we’ll have some different input to the original post. But you basically nailed the general idea....Early Fall can be a weird time where I’m at because you’ll catch them where they were during the summer, but can find them 30+ feet deep too. I think if the OP included the river system or at least the state they’re in, we could give some better input.

First of all, the people who are putting their rods away this time of year aren’t true bass fishermen lol....Especially when it comes to Smallies. I live in one of the best river Smallmouth locations in the U.S....River Smallies are coming up from the depths to feed as the water slowly cools down. They’re getting fat for winter. Whopper Ploppers in sizes 75 and 90. They can be used for Early morning to all day when throwing towards banks and shallow points. Weightless flukes are awesome too....along with red Craw and Shad lipless, jerkbaits, Ned Rig, squarebills, paddletail swimbaits, football Jigs, and most importantly a DROPSHOT lol When the plopper and fluke bite slows down you’ll see a ned Rig, dropshot, or swimbait in my hand. If the fish aren’t coming up shallow, you’ll have to figure out where they’re at. Dropshot and ned Rig are good for this. Sometimes they’ll be suspended, sometimes they’ll be on the bottom. Bring a few setups with you, throw into shallow banks and points, and work your way deeper if needed. You can catch some monster Smallies in the fall....!