10 Top Fall Smallmouth Destinations

At a recent major tournament in smallmouth country, a top touring pro was quoted as saying “Catching big smallmouth is just about the most fun you can have with your pants on.” Interesting choice of words for sure, but also not a surprise to most northern anglers - they live and breathe smallmouth. For southern anglers, that comment should be taken only one way; if you haven’t gotten a chance to go somewhere where the smallmouth grow big and mean, make it happen.Here’s the 10 best brown bass factories right now, in no particular order.

1. Door County, Lake Michigan

Many people have heard about the legendary smallmouth fishing in Wisconsin’s Sturgeon Bay, but in reality Sturgeon Bay is just one small bay on the Door County Peninsula. Other locales like Sister Bay, Ephraim, Egg Harbor, Chambers Island, and the Strawberry Islands also have tremendous populations of giant bronzebacks. It’s big water, so prepare accordingly. Late May through July is peak time for numbers, but giants can be caught all year.

2. Lake Erie, Sandusky Ohio

Although it’s the smallest Great Lake, Erie probably holds the largest population of smallmouth due to its relatively shallow depths, making much more of the lake ideal smallmouth habitat. Although the fishing is great in many ports along Erie’s shore including Buffalo, Dunkirk, and Erie, the Sandusky Ohio area has a pedigree of giant smallmouth. Bring a selection of tubes, drop-shots, and a drift sock – when it blows on Erie, you’ll need it.

3. Mille Lacs, Minnesota

At 132,000 acres, Minnesota’s Mille Lacs is big water that in many ways resembles one of the Great Lakes. It also puts out smallmouth like one of the Great Lakes. Historically known more for its walleye fishery, Mille Lacs has become a smallmouth factory in recent years due to improvements in water quality. Local anglers routinely catch 4 and 5 pound fish, and getting 20-50 bites a day is the norm. Mille Lacs is a structure fisherman’s dream, and there are countless humps, rock piles, and shallow bars teeming with willing smallmouth.

4. Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior

No list of smallmouth fisheries would be complete without mentioning the greatest of the Great Lakes. Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay isn’t known to many smallmouth anglers; mostly because the ones that are in the know keep their mouths shut. In actuality, the main reason for the obscurity is due to a 21 inch size limit, 1 fish bag that prevents tournaments from visiting. The size limit is in place to protect the bass though, which grow extremely slowly in Lake Superior’s cold waters – its working too, as catching a 5 pound smallmouth is a daily occurrence for Chequamegon Bay regulars.

5. Dale Hollow Lake, Tennessee

After suffering through a stretch of lean years after 2000, the waters that produced David Hayes almost 12 pound world record in 1955 are back with a vengeance. Stable water levels and improvements in habitat have paid off, and the 4-plus pound bronzebacks that made Dale Hollow famous are becoming more common the last couple seasons. The best time to fish Dale Hollow is from October through April, a time when you can expect both numbers and a chance at a giant.

6. Pickwick Lake, Alabama

Known more for its dynamite summertime ledge fishing for Largemouth, Alabama’s Pickwick Lake is also a major smallmouth producer once the water temperatures drop in the fall. It’s got abundant offshore structure, massive schools of shad, and plenty of rocky habitat that big smallmouth love. Known more for trophies in the 5-8 pound class than numbers, the peak time to land a giant bronzeback on Pickwick is November through April.

7. Wilson Lake, Alabama

Although it’s much less famous than its larger Tennessee River cousins, Wilson Lake is without question the Tennessee River smallmouth king. It’s got unbelievable quantities of rocky shoreline, bluff banks, and pea gravel points that smallmouth thrive on. If you’re located in the south and want to catch smallmouth till you’re sore – head to Wilson in the fall or early spring.

8. New River, West Virginia

Massive lakes and impoundments aren’t the only places that giant smallmouth call home. They are also fond of river systems, and the best of them is the New. The New river flows from North Carolina through Virginia and West Virginia before dumping into the Ohio. Along the way it carves out some of the most picturesque gorges, cliffs, and rapids east of the Rockies. Smallmouth abound in the New, and its mix of rapids and deep pools allows them to commonly grow to 4 and 5 pounds. Although there are some reaches of the New that are accessible by boat, the best fishing is centered in the Beckley, West Virginia area and is best accessed by raft or drift boat. There’s not much more exciting than having 4 pounds of bronze engulf a buzzbait as it ricochets off a rock.

9. 1,000 Islands Area, New York

As recent major tournaments by BASS and FLW demonstrated, it’d be foolish to leave Lake Ontario off any list of top smallmouth locations. In 2013, it took over 80 pounds to win a major tournament out of the 1,000 islands area, and nearly that again this year. The eastern portion of Lake Ontario has everything necessary to produce heavy stringers of smallmouth, and there aren’t many anglers chasing them.

10. Lake St. Clair, Michigan

If you took all the things necessary for major smallmouth productivity and threw them into a hat, shook it up, and dumped it on the ground – the pieces would probably land in the shape of Lake St. Clair and its 430 square miles of dynamite smallmouth habitat. It’s got rocks, grass, ample spawning habitat, reefs, current, and a huge baitfish population – all in a package shallow enough that smallies can live anywhere they want. In short, Lake St. Clair is one of the crown jewels of smallmouth fishing, and any die-hard smallie chaser should immediately put it on his or her bucket list.