The daily log from BASSTrakk proves as fact the narrow window of opportunity of success for the smallmouth anglers. That magic time is between 8:30-10:30 a.m. After that, the smallmouth catch falls off in examing the record of BASSTrakk.
Yesterday we witnessed the post-bite fallout when some of the smallmouth anglers got the jitters and moved upriver. Switching to largemouth proved a huge gamble but a good move as the conditions for largemouth fishing improve with the warming trend, cloudy skies, and incoming rain showers.
Today we are seeing the same migration of anglers punting the smallmouth bite and heading north to catch largemouth. Leading that charge at the top is Ott DeFoe, who abandoned his smallmouth spot. Now, he’s fishing with a crankbait, and plans to fish up the river.
A key thought is the smallmouth bite isn’t declining, it just remains short in time. On the flip side, the largemouth bite has the potential to continue improving. One prediction I’ll make is more smallmouth anglers making the Top 12 might switch to largemouth on Championship Sunday.
The exceptions, of course, are Jesse Wiggins and Seth Feider, who just upgraded his catch. The smallmouth wizard will be around tomorrow, and we can look forward on Bassmaster Live of hearing the “big ‘un dude” refrain from him.