Need Help Catching My First Smallmouth.

[cast_and_destroy]

I've caught largemouth and just recently my first spotted bass. Now I need 1 more.

The lake I fish (texoma) isnt known for being "full" of smallmouth but they're in there.

Is there anything I could do to increase my chances of catching my first smallmouth ?

Where should I fish ?

Are there any lures smallmouth prefer ?

[Tyfisher]

I've only fished in a smallmouth lake twice, but its been very productive and I really just applied my LM knowledge and was met with success. Girlfriend caught a 3+lb smallie on the first trip. I was fishing clear water and found soft plastics to work best. I caught about 12 today, most of them on a wacky rigged Zoom finesse worm (summer craw, green pumpkin). Also had success with a T-rigged ribbon tail worm in purple.

Smallmouth are known to prefer a rocky bottom and seem to cruise around rather than sit and strike the way LM do. Not really sure there is a good way to catch smallies over LM, downsizing lures might increase your chances? Either way, I wish you luck, I've had a blast catching them and they're a beautiful fish.

[MIbassin]

weed edges, sandbars and rocks are great places to find smallies. my most successful smallmouth lure is a 4 inch senko. cast em out let them sink the the bottom then raise your rod tip about a foot and repeat

[greyleg33]

Agree with the little harder bottom recos. Hard bottom with mixed weeds would be great. Wouldn't worry a whole lot about smaller baits. A 5" smallie thinks nothing of zapping a DD22 or 3/4 oz spinnerbait. I catch most of mine on wacky 5" Senkos.

[tomustang]

3-4" tube or 3-5" single tail grub. I prefer 3" white powerbait curly tail grub, the 4" pearl and green pumpkin rage tail grubs, on basic jigs and swim jigs.

[retiredbosn]

Smallies love current find a rocky point with current if one exists. IMO nothing fights like a river smallie. Barring that the advice given is sold. The best bait for catching a quantity of smallmouth is a curly tail grub. For quality craws

[BassinDrB]

In Canada, Southeastern Ontario to be precise we have one of the greatest Samllies population on Lake Saint Francis (St Laurence River). They can be as big as 7 or 8 pounders. In fact, the biggest 5-fish bag came out of that body of water and it weighed over 30 pounds!!!

They are usually located around rock piles, weed edges, ledges, current-breaking rock points and believe it or not, they are also found on sand flats.

My approach is sarting fast with spinnerbaits and jerkbaits and if they are not hitting those lures I will switch to 3.5" tubes dragging them along the bottom or would also try wacky-style senkos or deep with drop-shot.

The size of the lure depends of the season. In the spring and fall I would down--size and during the summer months my baits will be bigger. As for colour, always try to match the colour of the baitfish that you see swimming around. If you are using tubes or drop-shot make sure that you are always making bottom contact and keep your line tight in case you get a hit you can set the hook immediately.

One last piece of advice, ALWAYS use quality equipment and technique-specific so you have optimal sensitivity for those bites. Be ready for a good fight!

Good luck catching'em!

DrB.

[SudburyBasser]

my most successful smallmouth lure is a 4 inch senko. cast em out let them sink the the bottom then raise your rod tip about a foot and repeat

Another vote in favour of Senkos. I use a 6" watermelon Senko a lot and I find that doing a slow reel with pauses and a rod tip pop every few feet then allowing it to sink a little before resuming a slow reel really does well where I am. I think it's actually impossible to fish a Senko improperly, ha ha.

[kowz76]

Fishing in a lake that has both smallies and largemouth, I find that I always get the smallies on rocky bottoms. Mostly on offshore ledges. From my experience they're much more likely to be away from the shore, shallow flats and large weed beds. As for lures, I'd reciprocate what everyone else has said, senkos, ribbon tail worms, really anything that'll catch bass. Good luck!