Hossmagnet

I have been using 65lb braid with a 4 foot flouro leader. It works really well but kind of a hassle having to retie. Does anybody have good luck with just straight braid?

I went down there last night and caught lots of little ones in the shallow. I have to go down stream about 3 miles to run into the 30-40 fow of water. I looked for the bait balls, but didn't find any...Thanks for the advice, i will keep trying this.

Thanks for the reply, i will try it. Only problem is going to be the very respectful water skiers, and worse the jet ski's.

I started fishing a river fed reservoir last year and just crush the smallies in April. I catch big numbers and giant fish in about 8 FOW. The dam is about 13 miles downstream and gets depths over 70 FOW. Its hard to find the Big Smallies this time of year. The current is slower and the water gets really clear. Do they go further upstream into shallower water or are the just harder to catch? I thought maybe they like to stick in the shallower water for more oxygen. Went out on Tuesday and caught 12 smallies, biggest was only 14"

i agree with the crawfish color with orange in murky water, shad colors in clearer.