Hi gents,

 

Growing up, largemouth lived in grass and trees and smallies lived in the rocks.  That was the gist of the differences in where to find them and there is a good bit of truth to it 30 years on.  Of course smallies love a good lay down, especially if they are on beds and they will use plenty of grassy areas.

 

But what about standing timber?  When I think standing timber you have the lake Fork classic looking timber with broken off trees and navigational hazards.  And you have the drought stricken lakes where brush and trees have grown during dry times and then the lake filled up to give high density cover along the shore.  Anyone fish standing timber or submerged timber for smallies?  How do they relate and use it?  I tend to think of smallies and more nomadic and predatory while standing timber fish are more resident (but that’s largemouth).

 

thanks

rick

 

I’d say north county is just different because I’ve posted on here many times, you can catch LM, SM, and spots on 3 consecutive casts to the same exact spot here. Smallies don’t have to act differently than largemouth just because they are a different color. They eat the same stuff. I catch them plenty in standing timber dragging a worm thru it , although there is only one (young) lake in my entire region that has any standing timber 

 

 

All other reservoirs were created in the 1920s-1940s as part of the new deal and all timber is rotted away. And we’ve never had a drought