During the fall, smallmouth bass will school up similar to summer, but these fish tend to not move as much. The experts believe they may be conserving energy so they can fatten up for the winter. The nice thing about them staying in one place longer is that it is much easier to find them and once you do find them, you get a chance to target them with several different baits. Smallmouth bass do put the feed on during the fall. You can get away with slightly larger baits in the fall, but because they have small mouths, most anglers still use baits in the 4 to 5 inch range. As water temperatures cool below 60 degrees, smallmouth bass tend to prefer bait fish over nightcrawlers. Live baits such as minnows, chubs and small perch tend to produce much better results. When a severe cold front hits, down-size to regular fathead minnows or small shiners and you should still be able to put some fish in the boat.
