Fall/Winter warmwater species

[JusJoshinYa]

In the past, I have always transitioned into hunting mode as the colder weather approached and abandoned my fishing rod till spring. This year I think I will continue to pursue fish as long as the weather permits me to be on the water. Don't think my pontoon boat would be too fond of busting through ice. [] I will continue to target smallmouth, but as an opportunist I will gladly catch anything that will bite.

I am curious to know how many of my fellow BFT anglers continue to pursue warmwater species in the winter? To the individuals who do, what are your preferred techniques for the cold-weather fish?
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[SmartWeed]

Two years ago I decided to try to catch smallmouth every month of the year, from the section of the Snake that I usually fish. I was able to accomplish this goal, but I'll tell you, it sure was hard in December. I no longer have any interest in smallie fishing in December - unless we have some freak warming spell.

I found the best baits to be small drop shot worms, tubes, etc. to be the best baits - fished very slowly.

In 2008 I did catch this nice smallie at the very end of October. It took a Roboworm Sculpin on a drop shot.

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[JusJoshinYa]

Very nice fish!

I just recently tried drop shoting on the river. It seemed to be very effective. Do you try to locate slack water to do so, or will you employ this technique in heavy current too?
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[SmartWeed]

I usually use a drop shot rig in slower water. I like to use it in eddies what have a little depth to them, but by that I mean 5-15 feet. I like the drop shot right now because of all the grass in the river. You can throw it into all that drifting grass and it sinks directly to the bottom.
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[gstott]

October is one of the best fishing months around for me. There aren't crowds and the fish are stocking up for winter. Smallmouth and largemouth both move shallow and put on the feed bag. The end of last October I was nailing nice largemouth on lipless cranks burned along the weed edges, and the water was only 50. It's surprising how aggressive they can be. The walleye also tend to move shallow and become more aggressive, as do trout. Once it cools below 50, I do well fishing suspending jerkbaits very slowly, using more of a sweep than a jerk, with long pauses.
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[SmartWeed]

I have found that in the Snake River the smallmouth have already started moving to deeper water (which isn't really deep, but isn't the 1-4' they were in most of the summer). The majority of the fish are gone from the riffles and yesterday I found crawdad imitators fished in 5-10' got most of the fish. It is almost impossible to fish crank baits in this section of the Snake now due to floating grass.
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[forgiven]

Nice fish Phil! WOW!
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[hulapopper]

seriously nice fish ! very fat
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[JusJoshinYa]

You mention using a Sculpin lure, I just learned about these in the past year or so. I was actually given a pack of soft plastics that I believe were purchased at Walmart. At first glance I thought they were a baby catfish imitation. Through my own research and talking to others I could not find any information about them inhabiting the Snake River in southwest Idaho. Although there is mention of them in the Snake River above Shoshone Falls.

Obviously you have had success with them. Have I just not located the correct information on their whereabouts? Or are you using the lure to simply imitate a small baitfish?

Another question, when using small drop shot worms do you ever wacky rig them?
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[gstott]

That's true, river fish are pretty different. In the reservoirs around the Preston area, where I mostly fish, they tend to move deep in the summer, then shallow in the fall, and then deep again.

I hate all the floating moss in the river. I try to fish The Bear River down here for smallies, but I always get discouraged because within three seconds of any given cast you have a big wad of vegetation on your lure.
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[ilovesmallies]

nice fish. ive hit your goal of year round smallies but thanksgiving to march 1 in lakes are not easy. i usually switch to crappie and crows during the cold.brownlee was the best late spot for smalls but who knows now.
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[JusJoshinYa]

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[SmartWeed]

Josh, the Roboworm Sculpin doesn't look like any sculpin that I am aware of. I just like it because it comes in good colors and is very soft. It worked OK today, but the best drop shot bait for me today was a 3" pearl Senko. I don't wacky rig my drop shot worms, but know people who have had good results doing so.
This is a Roboworm Sculpin.

gstott: In my post of early this morning I should have also mentioned that the river smallmouth might also be moving into deeper water due to the extremely high water we are experiencing. The river was over 6' at the Murphy gage on Sunday, when the average the past several years was about 3-4'. This high water has also increased the amount of weeds floating down the river. I have found fishing very difficult the past week.

I understand that the high water is due to water being run through Brownlee to help flush salmon and steelhead smolts downstream. Apparently Brownlee is dropping despite all the water running down the Snake.
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[gstott]

That's kind of how The Bear has been all season. Usually I prefer fishing it when the flow isn't much more than 500cfs. It's been around 1500-1700 all year.

On a side note, I often wacky rig my drop shots and have had really good success doing so.
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