This past July on my home lake I learned this lesson once again. I was throwing a Heddon Tiny Torpedo along a line of vegetation when a huge smallmouth hit my lure. It sent the lure flying about ten feet into the air and I never had a chance to set the hook. I got a good look at the fish (definitely a 5lb. plus fish) and it broke my heart not to get the chance to battle her.
Surface lures for cover:
There are plenty of good choices on the market when it comes to choosing surface baits. The Heddon Tiny Torpedo, introduce back in 1925, is one propbait that has stood the test of time. My younger brother Kevin introduced me to the torpedo and it's brought me excellent success over the past few years. Propbaits are great to throw around cover. Cast the lure to the targeted structure and let it sit at rest for a period of time before imparting a twitch, pause, twitch retrieve. Try switching up the number of twitches between pauses until you find a pattern that drives them crazy.
Open water:
Stickbaits like the Zara Spook are top choices for fishing smallmouths suspending over deep clear water. They make less disturbance than propbaits or chuggers and smallmouth seem to prefer this unlike their cousins the largemouth.
If you haven't fished a surface bait before you should definitely give them a try. Nothing beats the thrill of catching a trophy sized bass on a topwater lure. Best times to throw topwater are early morning and early evening on calm days. Try cutting the tail off a tube bait and attaching it to the rear treble hook for a little added action.
Once the body of water your fishing has experienced the fall turnover, bass will begin their annual fall feeding frenzy. They will spend most of their time chasing schools of baitfish around to prepare for the long cold winter. Look for bass to be located on main lake points with deep water located close by or mid lake humps that drop to 30 or 40 feet of water. I like to start off by motoring at a slow speed over open water looking for schools of baitfish. If you find the baitfish the bass will be close in proximity.
To fish a spoon or blade bait, make your cast to the structure you've chose to target. Let the lure hit bottom then reel up any slack line and lift your rod tip up and let the lure fall gently keep the line tight. You don't want to create any slack line when the lure is falling - a majority of hits will occur during the falling action.
Once you hook into a fish make sure you concentrate heavily on the area. Bass form tight schools during the cold water period and once you find one you will probably find others. This past fall I witnessed a Squam Lake local pull over 20 smallmouths of one hump vertical jigging a spider grub.
Last fall I tried a Silver Buddy blade bait for the first time. I had read an article written by Billy Westmoreland, who has caught more smallmouth over 8lbs., and he praised the Silver Buddy for it's ability to catch cold water smallies. I bought a few from Northern Bass Supply and took a trip out on Squam with my brother Kevin and friend Rob. We found hot action around mid lake humps even thought the water was barely over 40 degrees. My old thinking was during cold water you need to slow down. The Silver Buddy proved me wrong in a big way! We caught over 20 fish in the 3-5lb. range! What a way to wrap up a great season of fishing.
If you plan on using a 1/4 oz. to 3/4 oz. lure use 8lb. or 10lb. test.
For lures over 5/8 oz. you will want to go up to 12lb. test.
Next time you are out in cold water give vertical jigging a try.
Locate the fish and jig away!