It would seem like with most of them concentrated around wintering areas now it would make it difficult to cover a bunch of open water, and better to stick to stretches with shallower runs punctuated with intermittent deep holes to make them easier to locate.

The rivers tend to cool down much faster than the lakes, so I always found it easier to locate and fish winter/near-winter smallies - just locate and fish the deep water slack pockets/pools, which on my smaller and mid sized rivers, were few and far between. Skip everything else unless you get a temporary weather anomaly. 

Slack deeper water with current near. By is usually money this time of year. Deep in th susky I am generally talking 6-10 ft.  There will always be some stragglers that stay shallow though. If a river floods look for where the creeks feed into the river. 

8 hours ago, Team9nine said:

The rivers tend to cool down much faster than the lakes, so I always found it easier to locate and fish winter/near-winter smallies - just locate and fish the deep water slack pockets/pools, which on my smaller and mid sized rivers, were few and far between. Skip everything else unless you get a temporary weather anomaly. 

Water was 55 here today, does that change anything?

46 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Water was 55 here today, does that change anything?

Fish have probably been on the move and are starting to pile into wintering areas. Anything below 50-52 deg should be peak, all the way down to the low 40s. Generally, the only thing that might disrupt this is heavy rains; cold and muddy shutting things down, while high and warm might move them shallow, but still very close to deeper water.

11 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Fish have probably been on the move and are starting to pile into wintering areas. Anything below 50-52 deg should be peak, all the way down to the low 40s. Generally, the only thing that might disrupt this is heavy rains; cold and muddy shutting things down, while high and warm might move them shallow, but still very close to deeper water.

When you say peak you mean fall feeding frenzy?

1 hour ago, Ohioguy25 said:

When you say peak you mean fall feeding frenzy?

Somewhat - peak as in most all the bass that are going to move to those areas will have done so by the time water temps drop to around 50 or below. The bite/activity level does tend to drop off on some waters it seems as temps get really low, say 40-43’ish.

13 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Somewhat - peak as in most all the bass that are going to move to those areas will have done so by the time water temps drop to around 50 or below. The bite/activity level does tend to drop off on some waters it seems as temps get really low, say 40-43’ish.

And all this time you made everyone believe you just fished HOA retention ponds 

32 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

And all this time you made everyone believe you just fished HOA retention ponds 

My fishing life seems to run in cycles, but I’ve spent some time on the river, and river-run impoundments, over the years - lol - the HOA ponds are now behind me again with my recent move - back to life on reservoirs.

 

Oh I knew but some may not have…..

 

crappie are screwed either way 

8 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

crappie are screwed either way 

Yep  .. 

 

😆😆😆

4 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Somewhat - peak as in most all the bass that are going to move to those areas will have done so by the time water temps drop to around 50 or below. The bite/activity level does tend to drop off on some waters it seems as temps get really low, say 40-43’ish.

When in your opinion do they stop hitting moving stuff?

6 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

When in your opinion do they stop hitting moving stuff?

On my waters, we typically switched to things like float-n-fly and dragging plastics when the water dropped to the very low 40s or below. 

2 hours ago, Team9nine said:

On my waters, we typically switched to things like float-n-fly and dragging plastics when the water dropped to the very low 40s or below. 

So 45+ swimbaits/glide baits and spinnerbait still game?

5 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

So 45+ swimbaits/glide baits and spinnerbait still game?

You’d have to try them. I’m more swimbait, jerkbait, hair jig, blade bait myself, unless the water stains up and rises with some rain.

10 hours ago, Team9nine said:

You’d have to try them. I’m more swimbait, jerkbait, hair jig, blade bait myself, unless the water stains up and rises with some rain.

Yeah honestly this low clear water has made the fall bite very difficult.