whoopbass

Fished the river last weekend. Caught them all on reaction baits, topwater,cranks, large swimbaits and weightless fluke. Largest smallest the day, 19.5 inches, came on topwater.

I believe the cooler water temps hold more dissolved oxygen. Plus the overhanging branches providing the shade also provide cover from predatory birds.

In my 13x16 backpack I carry 1 kastking 3700 box with all my hooks, 2- 3600 boxes with jig heads, 1- 3600 with BFS hard baits 1- 3600 with weights( drop shot, worm, neko, nail). I have the short stack on top of blackpack with all my soft plastics. Under my seat I carry 2 plano 3700 flex boxes with my crankbaits, top waters and big soft swimbaits . Under seat boxes and the short stack get adjusted by season or body of water.

On the rivers I fish I find most of my bigger smallmouth on shallow shaded banks. If you can find a bank that is shaded most of the day I have found that as long as there is enough water to cover their gills and a current break they'll be there. The current break could be a laydown or in laminar flow it could be a stone that is just a little larger than the rest.