Fishing Report for Smallmouth Bass using Hard Topwater (Popping) in Spring (Post-Spawn)

Item: Lake Vermilion
Author: Mitch Bradshaw

Mitch Bradshaw

Gold Ambassador

6/9/21

Lake Vermilion

Species
Smallmouth Bass
Season
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Topwater Popping
Structure
Points
Water Temperature
70°

We found a good Smallmouth bite during the mornings of 6/5 and 6/6. We got out early to beat the heat and fished until about 10:30am. The water temps in the main lake had gone up by over 10 degrees from 5/31 to 6/5. Main Lake was 68-69 to start the day and was up to 72 in the afternoon. Bays were reading 72-73 in the morning. This quick warmup seemed to put a wrap on the spawning activity as the fish we caught seemed post spawn (we found one fish holding to a bed but weren't actively looking either). My damage was done almost equal parts Popper and Hair but the nod goes to the Popper. Basically fishing topwater on the shallow shorelines or the ones with laydown structure and then slow retrieving the hair on the deeper shorelines.