Maumee river Report October 12, 2019- Emerald shiners still available

The cooldown has fish activated. When the water starts to cool down in mid to late October, the fall smallmouth start to feed up for the winter months. At this time of year, the rivers are absolutely full of shad minnows which the fall smallmouth feed on to get ready for the winter. Another area that can be very productive are points and weed lines that have a strong water current, effectively pushing the baitfish directly into the path of smallmouth ready to ambush their prey. An example would be points or ends of islands which create current breaks and allow the smallmouth to remain out of the current and wait for baitfish to wash down to them. If fall smallmouth are hiding in an eddy or deep patch just at the end of some thick current, fish those points .  We have seen a lot of success catching fall smallmouth on almost everything at this time of year including crankbaits, jigs and of course a variety of soft plastics. So make sure and try everything in your tackle boxthis month! You can prepare as best you can, but you’ll never know exactly what they are biting on until you show up that day and dangle it in front of them.

*click on images to enlarge*

All anglers at some point in their life have used worms. Its funny when people say they dont use  nightcrawlers anymore. That is absolute crazy talk. The classic technique is to  suspend a nightcrawler at whatever depth you want and allow for it to move about freely. It is this frisky movement that drives fish crazy.  I have caught walleye, crappies, and large cats as well using this technique. It is a cheap and easy way to go fishing. It does not require a huge experience level to be able to fish with this rig. It will catch probably anything that swims by it and will provide all the action you have ever want when fishing a lake or river.

Have fun be safe and good luck fishing.