smallmouth bass tips please.

[Dispy]

Wow thanks guys. Does anyone know much about new England smallies?

Kalin 5" Copper Smoke grubs on a 1/8 ballhead jig, Carolina rigged Watermelon Red Zoom Lizards and a Gold Bomber Long 5A or 7A is all you need to catch smallies from here to NY. These three combos won me a Ranger boat, truck, and trailer as well as cash and a few endorsements. PM me if you need specifics Ebour, I'd be happy to share 1000's tips and spots for your quest. Good to see you on the soft water side of fishing. I enjoyed your many threads at IS.

Cheers & Tight Lines!!!

[Fat Boy]

Well you hit one of my favorite topics, and now that I"m typin' watch out!

My suggestion if you are fishing a stream or river is to learn to fish tubes...find a color that matches the crayfish in your stream.  Go catch a few crawdads and take a pic, then go to your tackle store.  Also, try to determine what size most of them are, again make the match.  Also get some in the next size down, and up.  Get matching jigheads or you can Texas rig them, your choice.  The amount of weight depends on how much stream flow, but basically you have to get them down to the bottom with the minimum amount of weight necessary to do so.  If the water is muddy or off color, try adding glass rattles and scent, just stuff them up there and add a drop of crazy glue, and maybe try a bit darker color.  Another thing to note is check again in the summer and note if you see different colors, then add a match to your arsenal.  Often crayfish change color before they shed their exoskeletons.

Another good lure is the standard twister tail on an appropriately weighted jig.  In the rivers I fish, 1/8 oz. on a 4" grub works well most of the time.  Higher flow, maybe 1/4 oz., lower flow maybe 1/16 oz.  Colors are your choice.  You can match the crayfish or also match minnow colors.

Small plastic worms work well Texas rigged or exposed on a jighead too, again, try matching the crayfish for these.  Senkos also work well this way or wacky rigged.  In my neck of the woods, green pumpkin, watermelon, or pumpkin colors work well, and smoke purple or smoke blue work well when the crayfish shed.  

Twitch plastics like Zoom Super Flukes, Sluggos, etc. are also effective.  You can fish with or without weight, drift them or twitch them, or dead stick them...very versatile.  Match minnow but also try other colors that you find work well with the twister tails.

Crankbaits, suspending jerk baits, spinnerbaits can also be effective.  Ask someone who fishes your body of water what colors work best or try to match the forage as much as possible.  These baits are great search lures.

Finally, don't forget topwater baits.  Tiny Torpedos, twitching a floating Rapala, Jitterbugs, Pop-r's, and Zara Spook walking baits or similar style lures to the above are also awesome when the topwater bite is on...and don't forget buzzbaits, try all sizes, because the strikes can take your breath away and leave your face wet when they strike at your feet!

Finally, as always, match the size of the lure to your line, rod, and reel.  Matching set ups are key.  Personally, I like bigger hard baits on a baitcaster with 12 lb. line, and for soft plastics spinning tackle with 8 lb. mono or fluorocarbon.  I prefer large spool capacity spinning reels and medium power extra fast action rods for my soft plastics.  Other softer/slower rods could prove effective for crankbaits and other techniques.

Let the fish tell you, remember patterns, and keep trying until you get them down.  They are an awesome species to target.  In rivers, think seams and eddies, look for structure where they can hide and expend the least amount of energy while having the ability to ambush their prey.  Those places change when water levels change, or temperature, or oxygen levels...so pay attention to that too.

Lake smallies are a slightly different animal, but basically, smallies is smallies.  Larger crankbaits work well as do sinking style crankbaits as well.  In the great lakes, the same stuff works, but keep in mind big lures catch big fish too.  Also, jigging spoons work well in the cold.  Find the reefs or structure and you'll find the bass...

...and good luck!

[Fat Boy]

A couple more tips...slower moving baits in colder water like 50 degrees or less.  Hair jigs work well, basically any black or brown hair tied on a jig, it doesn't have to be fancy. Tubes also work well in the cold.  Fish slow, even dead stick, and think about the fish being in a place where they don't have to expend much energy...deep more slack pools near current for example, perhaps with structure of some sort, preferably rocks but could be log jams too.  Often try a smaller bait if you don't get bites on your usual baits when the water is cold.

As the temps increase, move to more aggressive baits.  Like largemouth, they feed heavily in the spring prior to the spawn.  Larger baits in general work well because young of the year fish and crawdads have yet to hatch, so they're feeding on adult prey for the most part.

After the spawn, downsize somewhat and go back to a slower presentation for a couple weeks...these fish just went through a lot of trama and they aren't really on the feed yet, so tempt them with something easy for them to catch.

Then, along comes the warmth of late spring and summer, and they go on the feed again.  Just about anything goes this time of year.  Think agressive, but there could be days where that slow tube is the ticket.  Hot weather, think deep and/or oxygenated moving water.  Backs of ledges, fronts of ledges, deep pools behind fall, and even shallow riffle may hold smallmouth.  Night fishing can be productive, especially in the summer, of course for topwaters but also try other baits.  You'd be suprised how they can find a jig, worm, tube, or spinnerbait at night too.

If you fly fish, smallies are a lot of fun on the fly.  Match the hatch like trout, use streamers and poppers.  A very effective fly in our rivers is the blue damselfly, and also "worm" style flies.  7 weight rods are a good choice, but you can go up or down as long as you have the right fly.

In the fall, they go on the feed again, like largemouth...fish actively and agressively when the water is warm, and when you get sudden cool down or strong cold fronts, slow down and downsize if need be.  

In the winter, think slow again...tight to the bottom.  Jigs, tubes, etc. fished slow and maybe dead stick in the right spot.  Keep an eye on your line because you may not feel the "bite".  It may be a spongy feeling...anything weird, set the hook.

OK...there are books on this subject, many web forums, many posts on this site to search through, but basically this thread has a lot of good info.  If there is someone in your neck of the woods posting a hot pattern, pay attention and give it a try (like Dipsy's tip above), it's his experience that gives you an edge on your home waters and it might work.  And, if everyone is using that pattern then you can always try things that work in other parts of the country...sometimes something a bit different will work.  Let the fish tell you...

[davejohnson2]

i fish the susquehana river in NY and all i do in the summer is fish the bottom of riffs, or in deeper holes on the river with a floating rapala, but just reel it in, cast and retrive almost like trout fishing, gets them every time

[O]

These are all great tips and everyone has their favorites.  My personal "go to" lures are the Cotton Cordell Big O in crayfish color and the Heddon Excalibur Spittin Image Topwater, any color.....These two lures work in almost any condition and location where ever I have tried them.

Good Luck!

[BoutTime]

I think Fatboy has all the angles covered. LOL Being that smallies are my favorite fish to catch too, I'll add my 2 pennies.

Find a hump or rock that has easy access to a dropoff and you should be in business. Rocks, and rocky bottoms are the holy grail.

Ive found that scented grubs (I use 3") on a 1/8th leadhead rigged on a spinnerbait arm work great. These clip on arms can be found at Wally World for like $1.04 a pair, by the jig heads. (picture a Beetle spin with a curly tail grub body) There are 3 or 4 options of blade sizes, but I usually use the biggest one. These arms are rugged enough to haul in 22-23" smallies, ask me how I know. You can use this setup as a search bait in any depth, and switch off to something else once youve found them if you so desire. Or continue to catch fish on them! I slow roll these deep and hook a bunch, but they can be used in a bunch of different ways. Pumpkinseed works great for me, or any brown/green hues. This setup works great in rivers or lakes.

Bandit 100 shallow cranks are very good too, (or any square billed crank) over and off the edges of submerged weedbeds and around submerged rocks.  Noisy rattles are best.

Another good option is in-line spinners such as Mepps and Roostertail. Ive had tons of luck with a green sparkle Roostertail.

Obviously when its hot, you can pick your favorite topwater too. I use Rattlin Chug Bugs.

Good luck in your pursuits!

[Fat Boy]

Ive found that scented grubs (I use 3") on a 1/8th leadhead rigged on a spinnerbait arm work great. These clip on arms can be found at Wally World for like $1.04, by the jig heads. (picture a Beetle spin with a curly tail grub body)

To me, it's ironic that you posted this BoutTime, because when I first started smallie fishing I always carried the spinnerbait arms with me and used them frequently, especially if the water was murky or if it was clear but on a cloudy day, and I also did well on them.  Over the years I became settled in other patterns and kinda got away from using them.  But, I was putting together my smallie spring tackle bag and came across some, made a point to make them easily available, and with the intent of using them again...  Great tip.  They also work well for a mixed bag of species just about anywhere.

[BoutTime]

To me, it's ironic that you posted this BoutTime, because when I first started smallie fishing I always carried the spinnerbait arms with me and used them frequently, especially if the water was murky or if it was clear but on a cloudy day, and I also did well on them.  Over the years I became settled in other patterns and kinda got away from using them.  But, I was putting together my smallie spring tackle bag and came across some, made a point to make them easily available, and with the intent of using them again...  Great tip.  They also work well for a mixed bag of species just about anywhere.

Yessir, they work for perch through brookies. (I caught 2 brookies on a salted brown 3") This setup has been my go-to for years, because of the large amount of variety they bring to the table. Crash and burn, top skimming, slow and deep, bounce off cover and all in between. The thing I like best is you can feel the thumping of the blade and can adjust your speed to what you desire.

The combos are massive too. Different size jigheads and hooks, grub body colors and sizes and blade sizes. A large portion of my tackle boxes are dedicated to grub fishing.

[gotabig1]

If your fishing a lake find rock piles or other structure during the day and topwater at night. On a river i have luck fishing pools before and after the fast water.

[Dispy]

Gold Bomber Long A producing again....
This was a brand new lure out of the box, notice the bite marks around the trebles

[BoutTime]

Is it hook rash right out of the box?

[Dispy]

Is it hook rash right out of the box?

No lol...those are fish bite marks as stated. Fish just love this bait when fished correctly, all bass from here to Florida and lake trout/salmon too.

[BoutTime]

Ahh, I read it wrong I guess.

Never used the long A (that I can recall), but Ive got tons of 4As and square As. Those work great for me.

[slipperybob]

That's hook rash from the fish thrash.  I like my Bombers too.

[Fat Boy]

I always like using lures that get those bit marks.  Fish always seem to keep hitting them often when they won't hit a newer one of the same bait.  Why?  Heck, I don't know.  But there is something about that particular well bitten lure that triggered the strike...perhaps it has slightly different action or flash, a difference that we can't perceive but fish can?  I don't know really, except that each well used and bitten crankbait gets a place in my box and more use than newer ones.  The new ones are my replacements if the lucky ones are lost.

That said, with those old ones, keep the hooks sharp or replace them and the fish will keep on biting them.

I had a silver Pop-R that was bitten so much the silver paint was all but gone...now it's more of a bone color, and the fish keep on hitting it.