Creek Fishing For Smallies

[bassmaster2234]

Have any of y'all ever had any luck catching bass while wading creeks about 2-5 foot deep using bitsy flip 1/8 ounce jig, green pumpkin and red flake zoom fat Albert grub, rebel craw crankbait, plastic craw, frog colored mini torpedo, or a white 1/8 ounce roaster tail....if not please tell me what you have the most success on.

[elkriverangler]

I grew up Wading Small Creeks and had good luck on some of the Lures you mention. The Rebel Teeny Craw, Plastic Craws and Tiny Torpedoes.

I caught a lot of Smallmouth on those 3 Lures.

I probably caught more on 3" Grubs, Kalins and Berkley than anything else.The best colors for me were generally Smoke/Pepper and Brown/Amber with Black Flakes.

That mix of Lures you have should catch a lot of Creek Smallmouth but you also might want to add some 3-4" Senkos, Yum DIngers or other Brand and some 2 1/2-3" Tubes in the mix.

I fish a Medium Size River but do more Fishing out of my Kayak than Wading and for the most part Senkos are my best producing Lure.

[Mobydick]

I have fished a creek near my home for more than 10 years now. My bag usually consists of the following:

- Several colors each of Yum Dingers, Yamamato Senkos, and Wake Tiki Sticks in 4" and 5" (Watermellon, Junebug, Grn Pumkin, Baby Bass, Black Blue Flake)

- Several colors of Zoom UV Speed Craws (Watermellon, Junebug, Pumkinseed)

- Several colors of Zoom Baby Brush Hogs (Watermellon, Black Blue Flake)

- Several colors of Mizmo Big Boy Tubes (Green Pumkin, Red Shad Laminate, Smoke Red Flake)

- Several colors of Zoom Flukes (White, Arkansas Shiner, Watermellon Red Flake)

- Several Rebel Humpback crankbaits

- Several KVD 1.5 Squarebills

- Several Lucky Craft Pointers (78's and 100's)

- Several Spinnerbaits in 3/8 oz (White, or any translucent color)

- White Lunker Lure Buzzbait

- Black 5/8 Jointed Jitterbug

- Several SK Bitsy Bug Jigs

You have some good baits, and I agree with elkriverangler that you should add some senkos and tubes to the mix. I find that whether I use a 3" stickbait or a 5" stickbait, I seem to catch the same number of fish (sometimes more on the larger bait), but the larger baits usually average better quality fish. Id say my most consistent catchers are green pumkin tubes, white spinnerbaits, and natural color senkos. Try using larger baits for a trip or two and see if that doesn't increase the quality of your fish.

Tight Lines,

Ian

[mikebone]

try spinnerbaits and even little spinners ive always had luck with flashy baits when im fishing shoreline creeks

[Addicted to Smallies]

Small creeks are some of my favorite smallie spots. Over the last 10 years or so, I have come to the conclusion that if you can't catch some decent fish using 1) Green Craw, 2) Green Pumpkin Baby Brushog, or 3) natural colored tube, then there aren't any fish to be had - one of those will work at any time of the year under any conditions, just about. Senkos can work well, too, but I find that things that resemble Crawfish work best in smaller streams for me.

Once you've found the right spots in the creek using one of the 3 things above, then you can try some of the other baits mentioned like cranks and spinners to try for larger fish, but if one of those first 3 doesn't catch a decent fish, you might not be in the right spot.

Maybe I'm biased, but ANY time I hit a new creek, that's the order I go in and it seems to work well for me. That said, some of my bigger ones come from cranks, but to find the fish, I'd go 1-3 above first. It's the opposite of big lakes and bigger rivers -- in smaller streams, cranks aren't as good of a search bait IMHO.

[mod479]

I also suggest trying tubes....2.75" - 3.5" size in green pumpkin, watermelon, smoke, and/or black.

Start out dragging them on the bottom (with the current) utilizing slow horizontal sweeps of your rod. If that doesnt produce, try snapping the tube off the bottom and then letting it sprial back down, also when it comes in contact with weeds or moss, rip it out of there hard and sometimes they will absolutely crush it.

[mrmacwvu1]

jerbaits are great on creeks

[bassmaster2234]

Thanks for all the great info....I'm heading to the creek in the morning to try out all the new techniques....I'll let you know how it goes

[BassMaster34]

The best bait you can find Is a wardens 1/8 ounce white rooster tail I've caught numerous amounts of fish but my best catches have been a 5lb small mouth and a 7 pound largemouth in a creek near my house

[gall]

alls i do is fish criks now and my hands down best bait in my area yum crawbug in green pumpking rigged on a 1/8 oz bullet weight i cast parallel to the shoreline or cast down stream slowly dragging it up over the limestone into pools they smash them around my area or any type of craw bait works pretty well for me and in early morning or dusk torpedo

[clayton86]

I grew up Wading Small Creeks and had good luck on some of the Lures you mention. The Rebel Teeny Craw, Plastic Craws and Tiny Torpedoes.

I caught a lot of Smallmouth on those 3 Lures.

I probably caught more on 3" Grubs, Kalins and Berkley than anything else.The best colors for me were generally Smoke/Pepper and Brown/Amber with Black Flakes.

That mix of Lures you have should catch a lot of Creek Smallmouth but you also might want to add some 3-4" Senkos, Yum DIngers or other Brand and some 2 1/2-3" Tubes in the mix.

I fish a Medium Size River but do more Fishing out of my Kayak than Wading and for the most part Senkos are my best producing Lure.

probably one of my best producing baits for wading the rivers by me how ever i tend to stick to bitsy jigs or tubes only cuz it weeds out most not all but most northern pike but them rebel craws work amazing for smallies and even better on pike some times. nice thing i like about them is if i get snagged i let out some line let the current take it out cuz they float wait a second or two start my retrieve and bam fish on. i also like to throw weightless flukes when i wade the creeks.