Don’t Miss the Skinny Wasteland for Autumn Smallies
By Mitch Eeagan
Cool days and even colder nights have water temperatures tumbling; bug hatches are coming to a halt. The once warm summer rains are turning bitter, too – crawlers and the like are burrowing deep rather than getting washed into the drink. Young-of-the-year fishes that have avoided being eaten since birth have learned to be on the lookout for predators.
To say the food sources of smallmouth bass dwindle as autumn arrives is an understatement. As fall shows its face, a smallie’s diet turns to the only forage left: baitfish and crayfish, with the latter becoming scarcer as the season progresses. It’s this forage vanishing act that has bronze-finned prowlers on the move. It’s also what makes them easier to catch this time of year.
But smallmouths aren’t always roaming where you might think. Classic deep water haunts, weedbeds, reefs and sunken timber aren’t providing sustenance. So where might one find smallies when the leaves turn? They’re in depths of 2 to 5 feet, even in ultra-clear water.
Capt. Chris Noffsinger, a fulltime guide on the waterways surrounding Traverse City, Mich. Smallmouths have populated the Great Lakes and natural inland lakes here since the last glacier receded nearly 10,000 years ago. The fishery is loaded with trophy-size bass, many in places the average angler wouldn’t even consider casting.
“Sometimes my clients get a dumbfounded look on their faces when I tell them where to cast,” said Noffsinger. “But I don’t blame them, because, after all, we’re on giant sand flats with not a stitch of cover to be found except maybe some gravel or sand grass.
“The key to finding fish here lies in finding minnows,” added Noffsinger. “You’ll see them near shore through your polarized glasses. And if you look closely, you’ll see smallies there, too.”
With trolling motor deployed, Noffsinger covers as much water as possible. Overall, the trick is using lures that imitate minnows, but at the same time, won’t dive into the dirt. Spinnerbaits are a prime example. The captain’s favorite are Red Dirt Bait Company’s 1/2- and 3/4-ouncers with painted willowleaf blades, because they can be cast far and fished fast to cover a lot of water.
Spoons are rarely thought of as a smallmouth bait, yet do catch fish, and deserve more respect. Spoons can be worked slowly, all the while staying in the strike zone without dredging bottom. A Fin-Wing can be retrieved at a steady pace in shallow water without snagging. It’s stamped from metal, but its wide, swimming wobble reflects light that gets it noticed like a spinnerbait.
Noffsinger and his guests also throw soft-bodied lures like un-weighted flukes, aka soft jerkbaits. When retrieved with a twitch, these lures dart side to side wildly like an injured minnow.
If the smallies aren’t responding to the erratic motion of flukes, large grubs on a light-weight jig head fished with a steady retrieve will often do the trick. BFishN’s 5-inch K Grub on a H20 Precision Jig is a great option, as the grub’s mega tail has more than enough whirl to emit vibrations.
Long casts are a must in clear, shallow water. Seven-foot-plus rods will get your bait farther from the boat, and they must also have enough backbone to make a solid hookset, which can be challenging with so much line out.
If you’re looking to catch big smallies this fall, explore the shallow wastelands. Position your boat on a shallow flat, cast shoreward and cover water with baitfish imitating lures. You know all those featureless shallow flats you buzzed by all summer long? Time to put on the brakes and commence casting.