This past week I angled for smallmouth bass on the Allegheny River with my favorite fishing partner, my wife Marilyn. We really enjoy being on the water this time of year. Often when one of us mentions to someone that we are still fishing into November and December, they immediately ask 'what can you catch when the water is so cold?' I try to explain that 40-something degree water is prime for river smallmouth bass and walleye, but generally they give us a funny look. Well, here's the deal...
On this most recent outing, we actually fished only three hours, with the balance of the time spent running the river and doing fishing photography. We landed 30 smallmouth bass; all but one were between 15 inches and 20 inches. Each bass came on a Get Bit Bait tube, especially their Crawling Tube (see lure close-up). Tubes are fished slowly along rocky bottom in slower moving pools and eddies. Rod and line are also very critical elements in cold water. We use 6-pound Gamma Edge (fluorocarbon) line on incredibly sensitive G. Loomis 2-power GLX 6'10" spinning rods. The proof is in the pictures!
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