Current Fall Smallmouth Bass Behaviors

Fall Brawl Smallmouth Citations (October)

In November, as daylight saving time ends and days get shorter, the reduced daylight hours and cooler water temperatures can significantly impact Smallmouth Bass behavior in river systems, especially in terms of feeding and movement patterns.

We had to overcome some pretty tough conditions throughout our region in early October brought about by two hurricane systems that hit the south and pushed massive amounts of rain into the region after making land fall. This rain generated massive flooding in many of the region’s river systems and interrupted the “Fall Transition”.

The impact of Hurricane Helene specifically disrupted Smallmouth and virtually scattered them throughout many of the river systems as rising water reached flood stage and beyond. Now that the rivers have settled back in to the normal Fall levels and have cleared up clarity wise in most instances, Smallmouth are returning to the traditional patterns heading into November.

1. Reduced Daylight and Feeding Patterns

• As daylight hours decrease, Smallmouth Bass feeding times are likely to shift earlier in the day, as they may try to take advantage of the limited daylight. Bass are visual predators, so they rely on light to locate and ambush prey effectively. With shorter days, they may be more active during the limited daylight, concentrating feeding efforts in those hours.

• Lower water temperatures in November often slow down Smallmouth metabolism. This can result in a reduced need for food, meaning they will feed less frequently than in the summer months, though they still need to sustain energy reserves for winter.

2. Movement Patterns and Water Temperature

• As water temperatures drop, Smallmouth generally begin to move into deeper sections of the river or areas where water temperature is slightly warmer, such as pools, eddies, or areas with slower currents. These areas can offer more stable temperatures and shelter from fast currents, conserving their energy in colder conditions.

• During shorter daylight hours, the water in shallow, sunlit areas may warm up slightly more quickly during the day. This can attract bass to these spots briefly for feeding during the warmest part of the day, usually mid-morning to early afternoon. But as soon as these areas cool off in the evening, they will likely retreat back to deeper sections.

3. Effects of November Weather Patterns on Behavior

• Fall weather can be unpredictable, and November often brings cold fronts, rain, and wind. Cold fronts, in particular, tend to reduce feeding activity temporarily, as Smallmouth become sluggish in the face of rapid temperature drops.

• In contrast, stable, milder weather may encourage them to be a bit more active. On sunny days following a cold front, for example, bass might move to shallower waters where the sun warms the surface.

• Look for those patterns in the weather where the temps remain consistent for a few days. This will stabilize the water temps as well in short windows providing opportunities for anglers.

In general, the reduced daylight hours and colder temperatures in November mean that Smallmouth will exhibit more cautious, energy-conserving behavior with shorter and less frequent feeding windows. Anglers can often have success targeting them in deeper, slower-moving parts of the river, especially when the sun has had a chance to warm these areas slightly. Much like water levels in the Fall, there only needs to be a slight deviation in the water temps for Smallmouth to move to those areas.

For example, in my home river system we have a treatment plant that will alter the water temps in the river in its section and this attracts Smallmouth heading into the winter months as it also offers slightly deeper areas for the Smallies to spend the winter. Smallies will transition to these areas in November especially if the weather is mild and feed along the way and migrate to their preferred areas and remain around them until they are triggered by the water temps to finally move to the bottom and hunker down for the winter.

In October, even with the tough conditions witnessed in our river systems anglers participating in Fall Brawl which runs until the end of November managed to catch multiple citation size Smallmouth. Citation Smallmouth measure twenty inches or more and during this time of year often will be the biggest ones weight wise many anglers will come across. One of the major differences between the Fall feed and the Spring feed is the amount of fishing pressure. Fall has considerably less fishing pressure for Smallmouth than the Spring and that means far more opportunities to come into a pod of feeding Smallmouth.

Anglers Like Jason Netzer (MD) managed to get into one of these Fall transitioning pods to catch his biggest Smallie ever from a kayak.

Fall Brawl for the Smallie Chaser River Bassin community already has 21 anglers chasing Smallies this Fall plus have single day events on November 5th (Election Day Fish Off) and an event featuring the New River on November 9th. The New is an incredible Fall fishery for citation Smallmouth. Fall Brawl already has seen 261 Smallies caught in October with (11) 20 inch+ Smallmouth being caught !! The largest (longest) thus far has been caught by Todd Cox (VA) with a 21.50 inch Smallie. Todd was also fishing the Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) Smallmouth Challenge Series concurrent with Fall Brawl and finished in 3rd place in the nationwide event with a total of 101.50 inches.

“Put It On The Map Series” launched last week where we breakdown river systems in the region for anglers who may be unfamiliar with rivers and address access, river topography, community holes, baits and such for regional river systems. The first installment is the Piedmont Section of the Upper Potomac just outside our nation’s capitol. Lost of baits covered in this long format presentation:

**GIVEAWAY** Comment Giveaway On “ Put it on the Map” video for Random Drawing Featuring Googan Baits Shipped Directly To You!!

Resources:

Facebook Groups:

Smallmouth Army:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1322144201945490

Smallie Chaser River Bassin:

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSmallieChaserChannel

https://www.facebook.com/groups/885248796934955many challenges for Smallmouth anglers especially those fishing from a kayak or wade fishing.