Crestliner2008

The ice out range is usually 40 - 45 degrees, at which point smallmouths in lakes will start to move out of the deeper water - on warm, sunny days - and start to travel their "roads" toward the spawning areas. A few warm days will send them all the way, but not to spawn....rather to gobble up some of the prey species taking advantage of the warming waters. You can find the bass on the deeper edged to these flats once the ice has receded. Tubes, blade baits and jigs are great. Once the water gets up to 48 - 52, they'll start to go over the "lip" more frequently, until the water there warms sufficiently for the spawn to begin. This is when hard jerks really come into their own. Just do not forget to bring along some Senkos! I don't fish the spawn myself; rather I find fish at other stages of the progression, during this period. It's just a "thing" with me - I'm just against bed fishing. (I do not believe it harms the population, but it does kind of seem like "shooting fish in a barrel!") This is not difficult either. All bass do not spawn simultaneously. Some are always pre-spawn and you can even find some post spawn, once the temps get into the upper 50's. Hope this is of some help.

Great interview and great post! Thanks!

There are plenty of youth organizations that would love to have tackle donated. Check with your local Boy/Girl Scout units, Sportsman's clubs and other civic groups in your area. Just specify that they are intended specifically for young fisherman!

Either BPS or Cabela's carry expanding split rings to use on lures with a high probability of hanging up. You buy them based on the line size you are using and when pressure is applied, the ring expands and releases the hung up lure. Haven't tried them yet, but I probably will this season. I'm thinking this would be a fantastic application for blade baits! Also, just going to a single hook vs. treble can and does reduce your hang ups considerably. I do this with a few of my trusty hard body lures which I do not want to lose. And it seems to work!

I love the large size, for LM especially. I've never done well with poppers for smallies, probably because I'm fishing deeper water usually. When I do throw a topwater out there, it's usually a 100 Sammy. Also, I did find that the smaller size Chug Bug didn't have nearly the dramatic action of the larger one. It's definitely a bass slayer!

One or two follow ups: As far as presentation of the DS goes, I've learned a very important lesson over the years. That is, not to overwork the bait you present. It's very easy to want to "do" something with it, while it sits there, suspended above the bottom. However, if you have a chance to see your presentation in VidCam (i.e.: AquaView) on the bottom, you would see your bait quivering lightly there, with no movement required on your part. Pretty neat stuff! What I do is dead-stick it as soon as my sinker settles. If nothing after a minute or so, I'll give it a few shakes, then stop again. Sooner or later, your rod tip will bend toward the bottom, at which point, all you have to do is to start reeling as fast as you can! I mean, FAST! When the smallie feels the hook, there's only one place he wants to be....in the air! Most fish are lost when slack is given on this initial line take up. As far as rivers go, I have used it in eddys and some current breaks. In this case, most of my success occurs when I "slip" (Dan Gapen, circa 1970) the current with my trolling motor. That means that I allow my boat to drift downstream - bow up - at a rate slower than the current. What this does is to make it easy for you to maintain bottom contact with your sinker. All you need to do is to raise your rod tip a bit to move the sinker downstream with you as you drift. Very effective! And no movement on your part, like shaking, is required. Also, in river, I'll up-size my sinker from 1/4 oz. to 1/2 oz....sometimes even up to 3/4 oz., depending on the current and depth I'm targeting. I think I've covered just about everything in your question rw. Let me know if I missed anything. Good Luck!

If you don't mind sharing a secret, I would like a detailed description, starting with line, rod & reel; suggested length between lure and weight (size?); lure/bait suggestions. Also, if you fish the rig in current, do you drag or hop the weight? 8-) To start off with, here's a copy of the diagram I posted sometime last year as far as terminal tackle goes: The rod I use is a 6'6" Med-Light action (spinning of course) BPS rod, with a 1500 Sahara. I load this with 6# test fluoro for my main line and the diagram will show two variations of pre-tied leaders which I use in 4# test fluoro. You can't set your drag too tight, remember! A 4# smallie will snap 4# line very easily. We have to use this light a set-up where I fish, as water clarity is usually down around 20'. The length of the leaders varies; what I do is run a length of line between my two outstretched arms. Then I tie the hook to the center of this leader (using the palomar knot). Some I leave with long droppers, which are effective if the bass are very active and tending to suspend off the bottom. Others are short, which I use when they are very finicky or early in the season. Weed growth and the distance the bait is off the bottom, dictates which I use when. You want to keep your worm in the midst of the bait or just above the weeds. The leader's are pre-tied and wrapped on a "Tackle-Tamer", which is a velcro tube available from Netcraft (www.jannsnetcraft.com). I carry two tubes with six of each of the leaders in the diagram. You have to change your leader after every 3 fish or so caught. I run the line near the hook, thru my lips to see it needs replacement. Any kind of nick is just asking for trouble with line this light! Replacement with the Tackle Tamer set-up is fast & easy. The clips (also available from Netcraft) make snapping the old off and snapping on the new one, very quick and efficient. I like to nose hook 4" razor worms with some green in them. I've also had a lot of success with helgramite imitations, tubes and fin-S fishes or those kind of fish shaped plastic bodies. A lot of selection is based on the forage and the depth they are in. The newer Gulp products seem to be exciting the DS world, so I'm going to be trying some of those this coming season. Hope this is of some help.

I'm assuming you are referring to a warm climate lake like Mead or something similar. What "kind" of lake are you going to fish? What is the water temps normally at this time of the year? What kind of forage do the bass feed on? Where is the thermocline normally at that time of the year? These important questions have to answered before anyone can give you a a logical response. The bass will not be 100'+ deep, typically. Unless it's one of those So. CA big bass lakes. Can't be more specific until we have more information. Sorry!

Try a product called, "Plastidip". It's a rubberized coating that is available in various colors, including a white base and a clear top coat. It can seen on pg. 26 of the Netcraft catalog; or seen online at www.jannsnetcraft.com. When I use to mold my own jigs, I coated them all with this stuff. Very chip resistant and long lasting. However, bullet sinkers were never given this treatment, so I don't know how it would hold up for you?

You really think it's a "very slow method"? Any method will be slow if you fish where they ain't. If you find bait on structure, you're going to kill 'em on the drop shot. In the six years I've been drop shotting, it's my most consistently productive presentation - when I find the fish!

The Symetre is a great spinning reel, but don't overlook the Sahara as well. Not as costly and performs equally well, in my opinion.

Yep and also do a search at the top of this site on "Drop Shotting". You'll find a tremendous amount of detailed information.

In the example above, the roadbed becomes a "break", which is a change in bottom content, from the surroundings. That's a good thing, but only if it has something on it to attract bait and ultimately game fish. Find something different on that roadbed break, such as a fallen tree or stumps or brush - whatever. That's a "break" on a "break" (Google "Structure Fishing" by Buck Perry, circa 1960). Then once you find that, the "break on a break" needs to actually be attracting bait in some form or another. This will lead to you seeing game fish as well. Now you've found a great place to start. Understand that it takes a combination of elements to create a spot which will produce fish. Don't ever forget that 90% of the fish are in only 10% of the water you are fishing!

On this past weekend's TV show Bass Pros, Rick Clunn had some pretty good things to say about baits with a single knocker vs. those with multiple rattles. For what it's worth? I'd like to try one.

Can't find any recent site for Burke, but a lot of folks are selling some of their oldies.

I don't understand the desire to use bc gear for smallies, unless you are using heavy spoons or blade baits in deep, open water conditions. You can even crank with spinning tackle. Going to a lite bc rig is like using a .375 H&H magnum for rabbit hunting. Yep, it can be done, but why? Smallies & spinning equipment go hand in hand. Can't get around that fact. But, like everything else in life....to each his/her own.

A quick re-iteration; why buy a special 8' - 9' rod, which will have very little application for the rest of the fishing season, just for FnF? Especially when smallies can be caught with regular tackle and a multitude of presentations which are tried & true? I just don't get it? But if you want to try it, a standard 7' lite action rod with a slip bobber should do just as well. No one will ever convince me it won't. But then again, I'm old school!

On a similar note to rw, I'm going to be trying the chatterbait type jigs. Slow, close to bottom and noisy vibrations should attract LM's quite well.

Get yourself a medium action spinning rig and load it with a quality 8# test fluorocarbon line on one spool and 8# test monofilament on the other spool (most reels today come with a spare spool). The mono spool will do you well for topwater fishing and the fluoro spool will take care of anything sub-surface. With more experience, you can down size to 6# test line on either spool. This rig will handle tubes, hard jerks, fin-s fish jigs, curly tail jigs and/or any other presentation technique you will need.

reo - I think it was mid year last year that we have a great discussion on this technique here. RW can probably direct you to the link, but if you do a search, you'll get all the info you need.

X2 - It's kind of like this "new" swimbait craze. You spend a lot of time fishing and very little time catchin'. Top that off with the cost of very specialized tackle and for me, it's a looser. I already know how to catch smallies in cold water, without having to spend that kind of money on a "specialized" technique. If you already have the gear, it might be worth a shot though.

I'm 64. When I was about 10 or 11, I found a beat up issue of Outdoor Life Magazine near a dumpster in the old apartment block I lived in (and the one my folks had lived in for 40 years). I read it and instantly got hooked on the outdoors. Shortly thereafter, the building attendant gave me a tubular steel fly rod, in 6 sections, which colapsed into one another, & a reel. Since I lived close to the CT River here in MA, I fished there with friends quite often. By the time I was 12, my Dad got interested in fishing and both he & I fished from then on. I've seen all the trends and techniques come & go. It's all been good!

Redhed - yes.

I think you can get what you are looking for at Netcraft. They're called "Hitchhikers" and are on pg. 48 of their 2009 Catalog. www.jannsnetcraft.com

I agree, hard jerks can and do work - but not well - in cold, muddy water. It's the degree of success you are looking for, especially in a tourney. I would choose my lures to increase my percentages, not just maybe catch you a fish or two. You want to win, right? Tough fishing conditions, no doubt, but you can put the odds in your favor by using something like a black skirted, large Colorado bladed spinnerbait (with a trailer!) for searching (slow rolling it), with a back-up rod presenting a blue-black jig with large trailer and rattles. That would be my strategy. But then again, I don't fish tournaments! JMO Folks