Rocky shorelines and rock walls seem to be the number one sign of smallmouth lurking. I have caught them in slow moving water in these areas, however I’ve cast into areas with current and minimal rocky structure/mostly mud and gotten nothing.

 

it seems the ideal conditions are a combination of the two; a rocky shoreline descending into a deep hole at the end of a current break. But if I had to pick one of the two, I’d pick rocks. Is this accurate? I would think this is because rocks house all of their food sources, crawfish and baitfish.

I guess it depends if you're referring to a lake or river.  Lakes generally don't have flowing current.

 

My experience in lakes is that there needs to be rocks nearby.  And quite often, the bigger the better.  Isolated patches of rock are magnets.

 

In a river, current is important.  Stagnant areas with minimal flow don't have oxygen and are often devoid of bass.

 

Just my personal experiences over the years.

Crawdads like mud too. And I’ve caught many bass crashing into minnows on mud flats 

In rivers, never pass up an eddie and wear polarized glasses and look for deeper pockets and ledges. 

 

I have caught most of my river smallmouth bass in rocky areas with current. 

I fish the same sections (floats) of the same river very often. Sometimes I catch brown bass in fast water and sometimes I catch them in slack. Sometimes they're on a seam. Almost always there is rock. There are plenty of soft bottom areas in the river but I don't often catch bass there...not often but it does happen.

1 hour ago, MGF said:

I fish the same sections (floats) of the same river very often. Sometimes I catch brown bass in fast water and sometimes I catch them in slack. Sometimes they're on a seam. Almost always there is rock. There are plenty of soft bottom areas in the river but I don't often catch bass there...not often but it does happen.

Yup exactly what I’ve noticed. All about the craws.

Craws are no doubt important but I think the rocks might help attract baitfish too.

 

There's  one notable exception that comes to mind regarding soft vs rock.  Some years we get some nice patches of eel grass. Often there are boulders mixed in but a generally softer bottom. I've pulled quite a few bass (sometimes schooling bass) out of holes in the grass.

I think most times, current is a bigger factor than anything - but rocks are very important... more so than wood on the rivers I fish. Best rocks are gravel, pea-size up to about the size of a beach ball. Huge boulders and granite out-croppings less so IMO. 

There's a large river here I used to fish a lot before I had a boat.  The upper portions of the river are mostly rock and gravel.  I've caught bass in 3' of water in current. When they're active, they'll move from hole to hole looking for food. 

 

One trick was to wade up stream of a deeper area and kick up the gravel. Wait a minute and cast a craw bait. On some days, when you stirred up the bottom, you could literally see smallmouth scurry through the shallow current from adjacent holes to feast on the craws you just kicked up. 

Current is extremely important.  The rate of flow can determine how deep or shallow the bass are in the water column.  The structure that diverts the current will generally position those fish.  Any current break will provide for an ambush spot to capitalize on bait washing by.  Bass know how to conserve energy by sitting in the voids and slack sections.  Those are always prime targets for me.  

On 3/28/2021 at 11:23 AM, FryDog62 said:

I think most times, current is a bigger factor than anything - but rocks are very important... more so than wood on the rivers I fish. Best rocks are gravel, pea-size up to about the size of a beach ball. Huge boulders and granite out-croppings less so IMO. 

Gravel? I thought square shaped rocks were the best.

Always have had my best success in moving current behind boulders, especially if there's a good hole gouged out from the current.  With less current, rocky shorelines have been productive as well.  Some of that depends on the size of the river too.  If it's a few hundred feet wide, this matters more.  If it's 50 feet wide, not as much, just have to find a spot that has some depth and structure, and cast around it.  

10 hours ago, John Diamond said:

Always have had my best success in moving current behind boulders, especially if there's a good hole gouged out from the current.  With less current, rocky shorelines have been productive as well.  Some of that depends on the size of the river too.  If it's a few hundred feet wide, this matters more.  If it's 50 feet wide, not as much, just have to find a spot that has some depth and structure, and cast around it.  

So in creeks that are 30-50 ft wide, you don’t need current?

18 hours ago, Columbia Craw said:

Current is extremely important.  The rate of flow can determine how deep or shallow the bass are in the water column.  The structure that diverts the current will generally position those fish.  Any current break will provide for an ambush spot to capitalize on bait washing by.  Bass know how to conserve energy by sitting in the voids and slack sections.  Those are always prime targets for me.  

 

Boom, there it is!!

 

I'd start by locating fish in areas without current because they just won't be in current, rocks or not. And if there is no pockets without current, they will be deeper. Then they like rocks and bottoms made of sand or gravel typically. Look for rocks on slopes and shorelines which can be great. Rocky shorelines can be good also. They seem to like smaller rocks maybe no larger than a basketball and seem to avoid larger boulders as well.

 

Then as mentioned above, crawdads do hang out in the mud. I have caught smallies hopping a jig in mud before, but it seems that they won't suspend too long over mud, more like get their meal and go back to their sandy bottoms or rocky ares

5 hours ago, Boomstick said:

I'd start by locating fish in areas without current because they just won't be in current, rocks or not. And if there is no pockets without current, they will be deeper. Then they like rocks and bottoms made of sand or gravel typically. Look for rocks on slopes and shorelines which can be great. Rocky shorelines can be good also. They seem to like smaller rocks maybe no larger than a basketball and seem to avoid larger boulders as well.

 

Then as mentioned above, crawdads do hang out in the mud. I have caught smallies hopping a jig in mud before, but it seems that they won't suspend too long over mud, more like get their meal and go back to their sandy bottoms or rocky ares

Really? I’ve always thought they liked those big rock walls descending down into the water with basketball sized square rocks.

23 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Really? I’ve always thought they liked those big rock walls descending down into the water with basketball sized square rocks.

Yes they do. What I was getting at is they tend to prefer to prefer smaller rocks sitting on the bottom as opposed to boulders.

I say fish it all. Some places are better sure, but I just keep casting and hope for the best. 

2 hours ago, Boomstick said:

Yes they do. What I was getting at is they tend to prefer to prefer smaller rocks sitting on the bottom as opposed to boulders.

This discussion reminds me that the smallmouth is the smarter, better looking cousin of the largemouth 

3 hours ago, newriverfisherman1953 said:

I say fish it all. Some places are better sure, but I just keep casting and hope for the best. 

I couldn’t agree more. 

2 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

This discussion reminds me that the smallmouth is the smarter, better looking cousin of the largemouth 

Wait til you get some big spotted bass! They are mean like smallies and tend to stay hungry 

19 hours ago, Boomstick said:

I'd start by locating fish in areas without current because they just won't be in current, rocks or not. And if there is no pockets without current, they will be deeper. Then they like rocks and bottoms made of sand or gravel typically. Look for rocks on slopes and shorelines which can be great. Rocky shorelines can be good also. They seem to like smaller rocks maybe no larger than a basketball and seem to avoid larger boulders as well.

 

Then as mentioned above, crawdads do hang out in the mud. I have caught smallies hopping a jig in mud before, but it seems that they won't suspend too long over mud, more like get their meal and go back to their sandy bottoms or rocky ares

Most of my smallmouth fishing is in one local river but I catch a LOT of smallmouth in fairly strong current where there are no visible large breaks or eddies.  This is generally a summer thing but can be a lot of fun.

 

Two years ago we were drifting through a shallow fast section where I wasn't planning on hanging around. I saw something chasing bait, casted to it and caught a small bass. I dropped the anchor and started catching larger fish as the school activity heated up. I sat anchored for 90 minutes and caught a nice bass almost every cast. It continued until my wife got hung up and talked me into going after it.

4 hours ago, MGF said:

Most of my smallmouth fishing is in one local river but I catch a LOT of smallmouth in fairly strong current where there are no visible large breaks or eddies.  This is generally a summer thing but can be a lot of fun.

 

Two years ago we were drifting through a shallow fast section where I wasn't planning on hanging around. I saw something chasing bait, casted to it and caught a small bass. I dropped the anchor and started catching larger fish as the school activity heated up. I sat anchored for 90 minutes and caught a nice bass almost every cast. It continued until my wife got hung up and talked me into going after it.

I never catch anything in a decent current without a break or a pocket somewhere or a particular deep spot that slows the current.

2 hours ago, Boomstick said:

I never catch anything in a decent current without a break or a pocket somewhere or a particular deep spot that slows the current.

There are current breaks that you may not recognize. Current is reduced near the bottom or wall. Even more so if the bottom/wall is an irregular surface...rocky. Fish find places where they can hold with very little effort that we may not realize are there.

 

I think the fast riffled water also provides O2 and maybe some relief from summer heat.

7 hours ago, MGF said:

There are current breaks that you may not recognize. Current is reduced near the bottom or wall. Even more so if the bottom/wall is an irregular surface...rocky. Fish find places where they can hold with very little effort that we may not realize are there.

 

I think the fast riffled water also provides O2 and maybe some relief from summer heat.

That's what I was getting at by going deep too. Sometimes when there's no rocks, there may be a slope that slows current. And of course, a decent rock can make a current break and such a spot is a prime ambush location.

 

They definitely like current breaks more than water that's always stagnant. Likewise, sometimes areas that have current when the slow melts but later become stagnant can be good during or after the period the snow melts and there is current. On a normal year, we would experience that right now and have to wait for the current to die off a bit, but we didn't get much snow this winter.

 

While it's better known for producing massive brown trout than smallies, there is an area in the river that runs near my house that gets deep and moderately stagnant down low. The particular spot is maybe a quarter mile from my house.