Question For You Stream Smallmouth Gurus

[Troutnut69]

This will probably sound like a dumb question , not my first or last I'm sure. I've got a couple days off coming up and was contemplating hitting one of our smallie streams in Southern Missouri on Friday for a short float. My question is this....looking at the weather forecast it looks like the temps are going to drop 20+ degrees between now and then and I was wondering how that will affect those stream bass. I've had enough lake fishing experience in my gear days to know that a coldfront like that can seriously put the fish in a holding spell as far as eating. Will it affect the stream smallies negatively as well or will the fish still be active? Just weighing my choices between taking my chances or hedging my bets and just hitting some trout water. Thanks in advance for any advice you might have....Jeff

[Chief Grey Bear]

The cold front won't affect as much as the rain is going to.

My corner is under a flood watch until tomorrow night.

I don't think autumn fronts have much effect on them anyway.

I think that sometime a front in the Spring can, but not very often.

[fishinwrench]

Yeah a cool snap won't shut them down like it does on a lake.

Get in before the leaves start falling like crazy though if you can. A blanket of leaves makes smallie fishing suck for awhile....especially with fly gear.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I think they are more interested in taking in some protein right now and it's too early light wise for them to start moving to winter holes. This can be some of the best fishing, and the most aggravating.

[Gavin]

Look for were the minnows hang out. Wood & slack this time of year, but near current usually .

[Amery]

As long as the water stays "warm" the fish will bite well. The rain is another issue.

[Dman]

I had a trip to the Big Piney scheduled for this weekend and decided to postpone it until next weekend. I haven't been fishing rivers and stream as long as I have fished lakes but rising muddy water and cold front's are the worst combo to negatively affect fishing that I know of.

I too would be more worried about the rain causing the stream to rise and muddy up than the actual cold front.

Just my 2 cents ...

[Dman]

I forgot to mention that's a great question, one I was wrestling with myself this week, glad you asked!

[Al Agnew]

I agree, cold fronts don't affect stream fishing enough to matter whether or not I go.

As for rising, muddy water, yep, it ain't good, but it depends upon how much rain there was and how warm the rain was. Enough cold muddy water coming in to make the stream cold and muddy and it's really tough, but just enough warmer muddy water coming in to make the river rise a little and get a little murky and it can be the best thing that can happen in the fall.

[carptracker]

Very much like to fish with a gentle rise and a slight staining to the water. Caught a smallie last Sunday that still had a live shad in his mouth when I went to take out my senko, he was an aggresive feeder. One of the locals who rents a camp spot caught 6 smallies in a row on a fluke, so they are actively foraging. They seem to move to wood and mouth the bait more as the water clears later in October. Pretty and productive time of the year to be on the river.