Like their counterparts in lakes and reservoirs, river smallmouth settle into summer patterns. Susquehanna River veteran Mike Acord shares three spots and three techniques that will help you catch more of them.

 

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/river-smallmouth-summer.html

 

Summer River smallies are the best !!!! They are mean 

Thanks for posting. River Smallies are my bread and butter

 

16 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

Thanks for posting. River Smallies are my bread and butter

Your avatar says differently.

I just scouted a new location last week (beneath a bridge very close to my home). Caught a dozen little (4-6") smallmouth but right before I left, I hooked into a huge smallmouth (at least 4 lb). My drag was loose and the fish somehow managed to bend the little panfish sized jig I was using with worms and get away. I am planning to return and catch that big smallmouth under the bridge.

 

The bridge does not have any pilings (I can fish the entire area from shore) and the bottom is very rocky and snaggy. However, the place is filled with crawfish in the shallows (likely what the smallmouth were feeding on). 

 

Would a football jig with a crawfish trailer be a good idea? Or should I straight up just catch some of the crawfish and fish them weightless under a bobber?

 

 

 

On another note, I fished a bridge piling with my buddies 2 weeks ago on a different stretch of the same river and I caught this trophy (I forgot my scale but I estimate it to be around 3-4 lb) from a bridge piling, just as Mr. Acord said in the article.