Wintering holes are sites where a significant portion of the range-wide population of one or more species overwinter annually. In attempting to research the definition for “wintering site”, you might not find much out there as it relates to specific freshwater fish. There is no concrete, precise definition or description that I’ve found as

  Guides and the most serious late season anglers rely on live bait almost exclusively. Across most fisheries, live minnows work. Folks can fish with only a single rod with live bait rig in-hand, or under a multi-rod, two-pronged approach like I do while continuing to cast and jig with artificials. Two lines in the

  All living creatures respond to seasonal changes. As water temperatures will plunge throughout October month, we must respond accordingly and slide deeper to the depth levels where smallmouths will be.

  The invasive Round Goby invasion of the Great Lakes in the 1990’s shaped smallmouth fisheries forever. Their abundance and blanket of the lake bottom transformed what were once pedestrian and average 2-to-3-pound fish into megalodon specimens now surpassing 7-and-8 pounds. Their infinite food supply continues to this day, where gobies fuel the smallmouth’s sustenance,

  “Assuming it’s safe to get out there, how late in the year is smallmouth fishing still potentially good?” asked a Lake Ontario-based angler, at one of the many Facebook smallmouth fishing pages I follow behind the scenes.