paul mueller

What lake is that?

Heres a short video on a pair of smallies protecting their nest from bluegills:

Dobyns rods make great rods, i love them for smallies. i would recommend a Savvy 702 SF. You will not be disappointed

My 2 favorites are a 4inch swimbait from reins called a fat rockvibe shad and a punisher lures hair jig. I've caught a ton of big smallies in 40 degree water with these baits

They also work well in lakes in deep water with slender swimbaits attached:

Yes, my transducer is mounted on my trolling motor, The key is to keep the line close to the trolling motor to get the best read on the graph, sometimes its easier said than done when its windy but with practice and setting your trolling motor to the right speed, it can be done.

MaineBassMan is right, you don't need a high end fish finder to fish this way. Technology is so advanced that even the introductory fish finders have a lot of features in them and when you properly tune them you can really get a lot out of them. They are really sensitive and capable of doing all the things that you need to see your bait and the fish responding to your technique. Electronics are very effective when you have fish grouped up in tight schools and especially when they are reluctant to bite because you can see how the fish is responding to your presentation and tweak it until you find a certain rhythm that they prefer. Electronics are definitely one of the most important tools a bass fisherman has.

Punisher hair jigs are the best hair jigs i have ever fished. They work great on both smallies and largies, my favorite colors are camo, black/blue and black. they come with a nice gamakatsu hook and the head design comes through the rock really well. I like using a zoom super chunk jr.,a strike king 3x chunk or a reins ring craw for trailers. I fish these on a Dobyns Champion extreme DX 742 sf spinning rod with 15# power pro braid tied with a double-uni knot and a 8# gamma edge fluorocarbon leader. The braid really helps you feel light bites and get better hook sets. I have caught smallies up to 5 1/2 pds. and largies up to 6 1/2 pds. on this setup.

I just started using braid for drop shotting not too long ago. Last August I won the FLW Forrest Wood Cup on the co-angler side. 80% of the fish I caught came on a drop shot rig with braid and a gamma edge fluorocarbon leader. We were fishing lake Ouachita and I only had one spinning rod on the boat with a shaky head tied on, I discovered during the event that the fish preferred a drop shot and stuck with that set up all three days. Theres no doubt in my mind that I was able to feel more with the braid. The water was clear so I used a long leader. I know I won that tournament because I was fishing braid and since then, I use it on all my drop shot rigs. If you are a straight fluoro guy like a lot of people are, try Gamma touch in either 5 or 7lb test depending on the clarity of water you are fishing, its made just for that. Thanks for watching

The majority of the rods I used to fish with were loomis, at least for technique specific presentations. My drop shot rod was a 6'10 loomis drop shot glx rod. When I switched to the Dobyns champion extreme DX702sf, I immediately fell in love with it. It is a little longer and just as light. The thing that really separates it from the loomis is that it is more balanced with the reel which improves the sensitivity. It also has more tip action which works the bait a lot nicer without sacrificing backbone. The loomis glx was a little stiff compared to the DX. This also helps play out a large fish with light line. I agree with you on a lot of fluoros being garbage, I have never used toray line, heard it was good but it is more money than gamma. The reason I have never tried it is because i have never had a problem with gamma. The line that I was using in the video is off a regular spool of 6lb. test gamma edge. The double uni knot has worked great for me, give it a try. Thanks, Paul Mueller

The smallies were caught on candlewood lake in connecticut, I am using 10lb test power pro with a 10ft. 6lb. test gamma edge fluorocarbon leader tied with a double uni knot. I have been fishing gamma for 5 years and it is the most unbelievably strong line i have ever used. I just recently picked them up as a sponsor, it was a no brainer. The edge fluoro really shines as a leader with the braid, other fluoros weaken at the knot a lot quicker. The length of the leader between the hook a ds weight that i use is 6ft. That is relative to the water clarity i am fishing, sometimes i use even a longer leader. The smallmouth in this lake feed looking up and often suspend, so the long leader is a necessity. Thanks for watching

Hey guys, here is a video that i filmed on drop shotting with electronics for smallmouth bass. Click on 1080 HD for best picture. Enjoy:

Here is a video on how to catch smallmouth during the tough conditions of fall turnover phase: