Livebait Techniques for Cold Water Smallmouth Bass at IDOfishing.com

Actually I think we did. In some detail. But maybe this is the best thing about IDO. If you need some follow-up after a show, we're here!

So, allow me to elaborate further...

Sharing a specific depth to look for would have been horribly misleading. And if my memory serves me we caught fish on weeds, rocks, sand and timber. So providing a "look for "X" type of structure really wouldn't get to the heart of the pattern.

I don't think we fished deeper than 8 feet most of the day. We didn't discuss type of structure much because structure type in and of itself was inconsequential. Our primary goal was to find deeper water relative to the surrounding area of river being fished. Once deeper water was found then we further refined the area by looking for a suitable current break providing protection from the current near that deeper water.

If we found deeper water, relative to the surroundings, without a suitable area where the fish could hold out of the current, we didn't find fish. If we found a current break in shallow water, again, the fish were absent.

I know guys would love to hear about a magic combination of rock and sand or some specific "structure type" to look for... but that just is not the key to this pattern. This pattern is all about fishing a river and letting the river dictate where the fish will find suitable habitat at that time of year.

A key point to reiterate is "deeper" is relative. In some areas we could boat for MILES and have a hard time finding water deeper than 3 - 4 feet. In those stretches 6 foot of water was "deep." Find an obstruction of any kind (rock, wood, sand, etc.) providing sufficient shelter associated with that deeper water and we were into fish.

The interesting thing was once we got out on the water and start hitting these areas it became all too apparent how quickly we could eliminate unproductive water. Deep water is typically located in outside turns in the river where current is the strongest and most concentrated and most outside turns offer little in terms of shelter from the current. Find one that does and you're in business.

The area around most islands won't provide much if any depth on the upper miss in the fall as the island are typically comprised of sand with deeper water at the head of the island and strong current and a slowly tapering tail off the island with little to no depth. Find the few that still do provide shelter from the current AND some added depth... and again, you're in business.

I hope that clarifies things.

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James Holst - In-Depth Outdoors TV Host
IDA Guides Guide Service
Ph. 507-271-0362