Do you find even during prime fall feed that when it is sunny river smallmouth hold deep outside of dawn and dusk, and need to be coaxed using jerkbaits/finesse presentations?

So I was out yesterday and noticed it was very slow going up until right around 5, and they turned on like a light. Found giant fish in inches of water, super fast current. But the entire rest of the day was very tough, a few small bites here and there on tube/fluke, not much moving action.

Granted it was bluebird, water was 65 but even in mixed clouds/sun, do you find during the day unless it’s raining/overcast that moving bite is less effective and a Jerkbait or fluke is necessary or more effective?