Well the theory is....They head to deeper water to recover. Dropoffs and points are supposed to be good. If there is a creek channel close to the spawning area, they can go there. I am not sure how long before they get active, but I would think they are catchable anytime. Reaction bites have been working on the smallmouth for me. Without the textbook points and dropoffs, they might hold tight to cover in shallow water away from their spawning area. I heard deep tapering banks with docks from spawning areas are good. they don't have far to go after spawning to get deeper.