Smallmouth Bass Fishing:

Springtime on Table Rock

Missouri’s bass fishing reservoirs are well known
to anglers, who flock there during the summer and fall.
Less well known, however, is the incredible early-season
fishing for pre-spawn smallmouth bass. The weather can
be hard to call, in the early spring. But savvy fishermen
have little trouble patterning the fish.

Bass fishing on Missouri’s Table Rock Lake can often be exciting. But I’d never seen it quite like this.

“Sunovagun!” guide Jerry Carsten muttered as he scooted from one end of the boat to the other. The smallmouth turned him every which way but loose as it scurried under the boat, made a run to the left, turned about and headed back toward the boat, crossed from bow to stern, almost tangled in the prop, and….well, you get the idea.

It was hard for Friend Wife and me to keep out of Jerry’s way as the bronzeback played him from one end of the boat to the other. Factory specs on his boat say it’s 20 feet long. This shrinks to a claustrophobic foot and a half when three anglers and a four pound smallie all try occupying that space at the same time.

We somehow managed to stay out of each others’ way long enough for Jerry to finally bring the fish to net. Grinning from ear to ear, Jerry gently returned it to the cool waters of the lake.

Pausing to relax for a few minutes, Jerry filled us in on some of the techniques used for early-season smallmouth bass fishing on this Ozark Mountain impoundment.

“The first thing to remember about bass fishing,” he stressed, “is that the bigger fish are more active in cooler weather. This isn’t to say you won’t tie into smaller fish, this time of year. But you’re just as likely to tie into a trophy, and should be prepared for it.”

Table Rock’s pre-spawn smallies are affected by temperature and weather. When the water temperature gets up to about 52 or 53 degrees, the smallmouth turn on, feeding more aggressively. A few warm, sunny days will heat the water, as will a warm heavy rain.

“Weather fronts on this lake affect fish as much as anyplace else,” he cautions. “At any one time you can fish through three to five weather fronts. And you have to adjust to your bass fishing techniques for each of those conditions.” In fact, he adds, you’re likely to fish through an entire season of weather in one day.

We had run into that very problem a few days before, bass fishing with friend Tim Lilley. Pre-dawn had found us dressed in layered shirts, pants, and rain gear to deal with the cold, drizzly conditions as we launched the boat. As the morning passed, the sun came out and the temperatures started rising. By lunchtime we’d stripped down to shorts and light shirts. Late afternoon brought still another weather change; thunderstorms rolled in, driving us off the water. Yet by dusk the skies cleared and the temperature plummeted. As evening drew on more clouds rolled in, bringing snow and sleet.

It’s quite a feat adjusting your bass fishing to these varied conditions. Carsten offers the following bass fishing tips:

“When the temperatures fall and the wind is blowing, the fish will face into it to feed. The angler needs to position his boat and his casts to take advantage of that condition.” By the same token, after heavy rains smallmouth like to feed where creek mouths and drainage ditches empty into the lake. “All they have to do then,” he quips, “is hang around with their mouths open. The food just drops right in.”

Knowing what conditions turn the smallies on is only part of the equation. “The smallmouth here are descendants of original fish native to this lake,” Carsten says. “As such, their hereditary orientation is to rocks rather than other structure.” That means using your electronics to scout out pea gravel points near the shoreline. Best smallmouth bass fishing grounds are those gravel flats located in two to five feet of water. If they abut deeper water---about six to ten feet with rocks or boulders on the bottom---that’s an added bonus.

“Another thing to remember about pre-spawn smallies is that they’re extremely spooky,” Carsten cautions. “You’ve got to be quiet, and you’ve got to take things real slow.” Stealthy approaches with your boat are the order of the day. And you can’t flail your lure around, churning up the water. Quiet, well-placed casts and slow, smooth retrieves are what hook fish.

Carsten’s number one bass fishing bait choice for pre-spawn conditions is a Carolina rig with a Zoom worm. “This rig always gets me fish in March and April,” he tells us. Other successful favorites are a three inch smoke colored grub on a 1/8 or ¼ ounce jighead; and a ¼ ounce squirrel tail jig rigged with a #101 frog chuck.

Most Table Rock regulars know these techniques. On our earlier trip with Tim Lilley we did exactly that, bass fishing the pea gravel beds with jigs and frog chunks. Often enough we’d actually cast onto the shoreline and ease the bait into the water, with extremely slow retrieves and hardly a ripple on the water’s surface.

But the next morning the wind had come up and was pounding the water to a white froth against the shore. Changing conditions call for changing techniques.

“We’ll rig with spinnerbaits,” Lilley advised. “With the wind blowing toward the bank, the fish will be facing outboard. Just drop the lure about two feet offshore. The smallies will suck it up.

We started casting, putting the spinnerbait into the water several feet short of the pebble-strewn bank. It didn’t take but three casts before a handsome bronzeback, weighing just under three pounds, hit my bait. The fun really began when the smallie turned toward the boat, moving almost faster than I could take up slack. When he saw the boat he slammed on the brakes and headed for deeper water almost directly in front of us.

By the time I’d played him to the surface we were both tired of the game. He came in easy, then, and, after a quick photo or two I released him---and used the same technique to take five or six of his siblings in the next few hours.