When Fall turns into Summer

In the past couple of weeks I have had the chance to fish same body of water six times.  Most of those outings were in the 2 hour time range, not a large sampling but enough for this time of year.  Late October and the first week of November are typically those last few days when an angler can get out and chase a few smallmouth around the rivers.  This year Mother Nature decided to take those cool, crisp November days and turn them into summer-like days.  We had several back-to-back 70+ degrees days the first week of November...can 2020 get any more bizarre???  With this temperature swing, the water temperature rose quickly.  At one point in a seven day stretch the water temperature rose 10 degrees.  That is a lot for fish, especially when the fish were setting up in their winter pattern.

The interesting change of weather, and the frequent stops at fishing the general areas helped me to peak into the world of the smallmouth bass.  In late October the bass already changed their eating habits, preferring smaller baits like a ned rig, stick baits, grubs and the occasional jerkbait.  Once the unusual summer-like weather hit the bass started to prefer a 4-inch tube, a much larger bait.  Water temperatures ranged from 42-57 degrees throughout this observation.  Fishing has always intrigued me, why do you catch them in a location one day and not the next time?  What bait are they looking for in certain situations?  Amongst other countless questions I am always mulling over while out fishing.  The past couple weeks have helped me answer a few of those, and has let me peer into the world of a smallmouth bass, one that seems complex and ever-changing.