Hey, Keith here. Mid-October is one of my favorite times of the year, and it isn't just because the leaves are turning and the air is cooling.

River smallmouth are on the move right now, leaving their summer riffles for the deep holes where they'll spend the winter.

This migration puts them within reach of anyone fishing from the bank or shallows.

Last October, an empty riffle on an Arkansas creek taught me that lesson the hard way, and the fish I found half a mile downstream proved it.

Today, I break down the smallmouth migration so you can catch more in October. 

Last October, I drove up to the Arkansas Ozarks to wade a little smallmouth creek I won't name because the locals would never forgive me.

Back in June, a shallow riffle at the top of my favorite stretch had given up a fish on nearly every cast, so that's where I started. The air was around 50 degrees, and the water was 60.

An hour later, all I had to show for it was a pile of sycamore leaves on my treble hooks and two goggle-eye no bigger than my hand.

I sat down on a gravel bar with a honey bun and thought about making a move to different water.

About half a mile downstream, the creek bent hard against a limestone bluff and dropped into a deep green pool, with a spine of chunk rock running off the bank.

I stood on the gravel bar on the inside of the bend and threw my trusty Berkley Krej right where the fast water spilled into the pool.

On the third cast, a two-pound smallmouth ate it on the pause.

I caught three more on the jerkbait before the sun hit the pool and the chasing stopped.

Then I switched to a Flat Worm on a Ned rig and dragged it slowly down that rock spine, and the best fish of the day, one pushing three pounds, came that way.

By lunch, I had eight smallmouth, all from that one bend.

That simple move to deeper water saved my trip.

River smallmouth travel a lot in the fall.

In one study on the Mississippi River in Minnesota, radio-tagged smallmouth migrated an average of 18 miles to reach their wintering areas.

Similar trips have been documented on the Snake, Wolf, and Susquehanna rivers.

They don't make that trip all at once, though.

They group up and stop for days at deep pools and outside bends along the way.

This leaves long stretches of shallow water nearly empty.

What I've noticed is that once you find one of those rest stops, it keeps reloading as new fish move in.

Smallmouth don't follow the calendar, but once the water dips below 60 degrees, they start moving and feeding more.

In the mid to low 50s, they stage between their summer spots and their wintering holes, which usually happens from late October through mid-November.

That's also when I recommend switching from topwater to subsurface baits. The bite peaks in the 50s and upper 40s, then slows once the water hits the low 40s.

This isn't the time to walk long, featureless banks or fish midriver riffles. Focus on the places where traveling fish stop.

BONUS TIP: The deep, slow water above a dam is a common wintering spot, and many tailwaters have public bank access. Check the release schedule before you go, since the water below a dam can rise fast.