Most bodies of water provide a very good morning bite for smallmouth bass. At times, the bite can be incredible with anglers catching a limit of bass in 10 casts or less if you know where the bass feed.
Spring
In the spring, the early morning bite may be tricky. With water temperatures in the upper 50s and low 60s, there will be days where the bite will actually be better as the water warms up later in the morning. So, instead of the hot bite coming between 6 to 8 a.m., it might actually be a better 9 to 11 a.m. bite, so you may be able to sleep in and still experience some excellent bass fishing.
Summer
In the summer, the early morning bite is very predictable. Once smallmouth bass go into more predictable summer patterns, there will usually be a lot of fish found deeper with some smallmouth bass feeding shallower during low light conditions. In the morning, you will usually have a very good morning bite from first light through the first 2 to 3 hours of the morning. Weather can obviously play a role in helping the bite or hurting it, but that 2 to 3 hour window is usually outstanding if you are fishing where the smallmouth bass are feeding. You can also find a lot of bass sneaking up into shallower water to feed on crayfish and a variety of baitfish in the shallows. The deep water bite is also usually very good as well if you can find them.
Fall
In the early fall, the early a.m. bite stays very similar to what you will see throughout the summer. However, as water temperatures drop back into the 60s and head towards the upper 50s, you can usually find quite a few bass sneak into the shallows early in the a.m. The bigger schools of bass are still usually in deeper water, so don’t rule out the deep water bite either, but that first 2 to 3 hour window is usually still very good.
As water temperatures drop into the 50s and then even down into the 40s, you can usually sleep in a little and experience the better morning bite in the late morning as water temperatures warm up a little bit.
