Rain, wind and cloudy skies. It all adds up to prime smallmouth fishing, right? Well, kind of. Northern smallmouth live in clearer water. They get spoiled by having the advantage of better and expanded vision. From afar, they can see round gobies and all the other cornucopia of exotic baitfish that make them fat. Here’s a few comment made to me yesterday by Chad Pipkens.
“Northern smallmouth love sun, no matter where you are. That goes for if they are shallow or deep. They just bite better in sunny conditions. They feed visually and they can see the bait in the clear water. In cloudy they scatter and roam a lot more.”
On the flip side, Hunter Shryock had this to say.
“I’ve also had phenomenal days in the wind and clouds. The key is being able to adapt to how the fish will be positioned under the varying skies. They will scatter in cloudy skies and bunch up to use bottom structure as ambush points in the sun.”
No matter what though, the smallmouth are going to eat. My takeaway from the above is the sun makes it easier to pinpoint the locations of the smallmouth. In the cloudy conditions they are just tougher to find. You’ve got to grind it out.
Another takeaway is the forecasts call for rain and cloudy skies through Tuesday. Only then does the forecast show partly cloudy skies.