Do smallmouth feed on the surface?
Try a surface or moving presentation when fish are feeding up or searching shallow flats, weed edges and rock features. This can happen beyond dawn in Canadian water where temperature, light, cover and prey suit fish. If fish will not chase, adjust speed or depth and use a precise presentation; do not decide from the month alone.
The full story
This answer is one piece of a longer lesson — setups, diagrams and the reasoning behind it.
More questions about Diet
- How important are crayfish to smallmouth, really?
- What is the round goby story in the Great Lakes?
- What do young smallmouth eat before they switch to fish and craws?
- Which baitfish matter most — smelt, alewife, perch?
- Why do smaller baits often outfish big ones for smallmouth?
- What do smallmouth eat in winter?
- Do smallmouth really eat leeches and hellgrammites?
- Do smallmouth eat sunfish, young suckers — or other bass?
- Will a smallmouth eat frogs, mice, fish eggs or a dead baitfish?
Same topic, other species
- Do crappie really eat their own young? — Crappie
- Do largemouth really eat frogs, mice, and even birds? — Largemouth Bass
- Do muskie eat bass — and do they ruin bass fisheries? — Muskellunge (Muskie)
- Why do tiny baits out-fish big ones so consistently? — Yellow Perch
- Do pike really eat ducklings and muskrats? — Northern Pike
- Why are brook trout famous for eating anything? — Trout (Rainbow · Brook · Lake)
- Why does the fishing die during the mayfly hatch? — Walleye