I headed to a known smallmouth hotspot tomorrow on an Arkansas river and I’ll have a couple of hours to kill. Temperatures will be hovering around the freezing mark throughout the day. I’ve never been around smallmouth and don’t really know what to expect. 

 

I’m only bringing a ML spinning rod and was planning on trying my luck with some ned rigs. Any other tips for small river fishing for smallmouth in the cold weather? Anything else I should bring?

 

again, I’ll only be there for a few hours so I’m packing really light. Any tips would be great. 

Rage Menace, T-rigged. Let it touch the bottom, then reel it in just fast enough

to keep it off the bottom.

 

Rage Baby Craw, T-rigged. Lift the Baby off the bottom, then fall on slack line.

 

1/4 or 3/8 ounce black jig/ Rage Claw

 

Bandit 200  

Is this a section of river below a dam or a freestone river ? 

3" Tackle HD Hi Def Craw on the 3/16oz head they designed for it, small jerkbaits like the Ripstop 9 or Duo Rozante 77 and 1/8oz hair jigs. 

 

I use an Avid 6'9" MLXF, 10# Power Pro and 6 or 8lb fluoro. 

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Is this a section of river below a dam or a freestone river ? 

It’s the caddo river between caddo gap and glenwood. I don’t think there’s a dam there but I’m not 100% sure. 

8 minutes ago, jdr99a said:

It’s the caddo river between caddo gap and glenwood. I don’t think there’s a dam there but I’m not 100% sure. 

Tailwaters below dams are usually better in winter because the water being discharged is a stable constant temp because it’s coming from the bottom of a lake, and is often warmer than normal groundwater. For free flowing rivers, I rarely catch anything until it starts warming a tad. If I was forced to fish such a spot (no other option), I would use a nightcrawler on a jig head and bounce it on bottom 

I wouldn't bring anything other than hair jigs, roadrunners, Ned rigs, maybe small blade baits, in a cold river. Even with that, I'd be shocked to get bit.

I'd also add micro or finesse jigs to the list as I haven't seen them listed, like the z man ones. A tube is pretty much never a bad idea either with smallmouth, but I still am of the opinion that putting the wrong lure in the right place is infinitely more productive than putting the right lure in the wrong place...so put the lure where it's supposed to go and you should have success with most of the tactics listed.

21 hours ago, jdr99a said:

It’s the caddo river between caddo gap and glenwood. I don’t think there’s a dam there but I’m not 100% sure. 

No dam to worry about there, downstream a ways is Degray Lake. Good luck

On 2/9/2021 at 10:29 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

I wouldn't bring anything other than hair jigs, roadrunners, Ned rigs, maybe small blade baits, in a cold river. Even with that, I'd be shocked to get bit.

Ready to go chase river smallies? We can find a ton within a couple hours of my house, not to mention, it can be done wading or floating in the kayaks.

5 hours ago, Drew03cmc said:

Ready to go chase river smallies? We can find a ton within a couple hours of my house, not to mention, it can be done wading or floating in the kayaks.

My wife just told me a couple days ago that we have to take our boys to one of the rivers this year ?‍♂️ Twist my arm I guess. 

I am fishing the Ozark River Angler Tournament Trail this year, so I will be spending some time around the rivers all year. Season opens 3/13 for the series.