Staying abreast of fish movements during the fall can lead to landing nice fish like these two smallmouth bass, which were caught and released by Dave Keith.

To have regular success netting river smallmouth during the fall, anglers must be able to locate the types of water conditions that hold them and also understand why the fish are there.

Water temperature and current are the two biggest factors.

Free-flowing smallmouth streams feature a combination of riffles, runs and pools. The ratio of one to another depends on the gradient of the terrain. Rivers that hold higher densities of bass tend to have a good balance of all three.

During the early portion of the fall, when water temperatures are falling through the 60s and 50s, good numbers of smallmouth still will be in current areas. At this time, I find concentrations of fish in tail-out sections of pools, and in runs.

Rivers are subject to rapidly changing levels. This is true throughout the year, but it seems to be more of a factor during the fall, when much of the country is vulnerable to rain driven inland by hurricanes.

Tail-outs are most productive during normal, stable flows. High, dirty water creates too much current in tail-outs and wipes out bass' ability to see prey. Forget tail-outs during such conditions.

A run can still be productive during mildly higher water, depending on its specific physical makeup. But as rule, the productivity of runs plummets when the water rises. Expect early fall fish to head for the banks when the flow comes up any significant amount.

When water temperatures fall into the 40s, most river smallies will be stacked in and around slower current flows. Some of these spots will be quite obvious.

Larger slackwater pools are formed below (and sometimes above) current deflecting structures, such as major sand/gravel/rock bars. Such features usually are formed at the mouths of smaller feeder creeks.

Material from the tributary is washed out into the main river during high flows, resulting in a natural wing dam of sorts.

Islands sidetrack the force of the river's current, sometimes creating the proper current situation for cold-water bass. The same is true of major river bends. Slackwater pools often form in these twists, particularly if the river widens at that point.

Larger pools of this nature frequently include an eddy effect, in which the current swirls below the object that averted it. Generally, this results in current that pushes back up river along the bank within the eddy.

Paying close attention to this flow can pay off. Often, the sweetest spot is directly downriver from where the upstream eddy current ceases. It's this point, where the current is again slowly flowing downriver, that seems to draw in biting bass.

Smallies don't seem to like it within the eddy backwash, maybe because that current can be pretty strong. It's not always the case, as I have caught bass in the eddy current. But it's been a light backwash.

Big pools are pretty easy to spot. The items that create them are big: debris tends to collect on the surface, flagging their presence. But more subtle spots exist that represent a significant portion of the late-fall bass-holding areas.

Small irregularities along the bank of a run or pool create small pockets of quiet water. Smallies, particularly when they are in a feeding mode, will hunker down in these slots, just off the main force of the current. It's usually necessary to fish such an area to get a feel for the current (and fish-holding potential) a particular bank section has. And it will change when the water level changes.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.