I have been reading so much how cold weather changes for largemouth in lakes and ponds. is it the same for smallies in rivers that don't get warm during the year. I haven't tried much smallmouth fishing any tips and tricks would be awesome

Cold as in 50-60, i use topwater, small cranks, jigs. 40-50 , suspending shad raps , lipless cranks, and hair jigs. Below 40, bladebaits, small lipless cranks, series 4 shad raps, hair jigs and small duckfeather jigs. Reading the river to see where current eddys are is key as fish won't waste energy swimming in current. A very small swimbait on a small jighead will also produce.

the river i fish often is extremely cold right now. if you're fishing a river for small and the water is cold you'll probably get bit using tubes and other soft plastics that you can drag across the floor. other than that lipless cranks and slow-rolled spinnerbaits.