Great Smallmouth Fishing, But Not Quite Dialed

[Spotswood]

My buddy and I went out fishing in Manitoba's Whiteshell Provincial Park, a nice small lake that shall remain unnamed. We did well, very well in the morning, topwater jump baits early, then square billed cranks. Afternoon we had a rough go though, we have a really hard time finding any fish in the afternoon, any ideas?

Fish were definitely feeding heavily on crayfish, lots coming up with crays in their mouths. Most fish caught were in the 15" range. Best of the day was 17.25".

Best of the day

Real chunky one, fat on crays.

[Spotswood]

Some more information on the lake, water temps are high 60s right now, Canadian shield lake, so pretty clear water, rocky bottom, deepest point is just over 21ft, most of the lake is more in the 16ft range. Fish species are black crappie, yellow perch, walleye, northern pike, and smallmouth.

[mod479]

Nice smallies, they're feeding on craws you say?

Try some similarly sized/colored tube jigs, or texas rig a beaver style bait. probably only need 1/8 to a 1/4oz of weight. Throw those around the points you mentioned. If that doesn't work I'd do some dropshotting.

[roadwarrior]

Beautiful fish!

Two bait suggestions:

Rage Baby Craw, naked, 2/0 Offset Worm Hook, 1/8 oz bullet weight unpegged.

Rage Craw, Rage Rigged, T-rigged and/or JIKA rigged.

[Spotswood]

Nice smallies, they're feeding on craws you say?

Try some similarly sized/colored tube jigs, or texas rig a beaver style bait. probably only need 1/8 to a 1/4oz of weight. Throw those around the points you mentioned. If that doesn't work I'd do some dropshotting.

I've used tubes a bit there, with limited success, I'm not very confident with them yet so I'll have to give them more of a try, I've been having trouble finding a good color resembling the craws in the area.

As for the drop shot, do you know of any particular plastics that would work good in this situation?

[Spotswood]

Beautiful fish!

Two bait suggestions:

Rage Baby Craw, naked, 2/0 Offset Worm Hook, 1/8 oz bullet weight unpegged.

Rage Craw, Rage Rigged, T-rigged and/or JIKA rigged.

I've been looking for Rage baby craws for a while, and having a heck of a time finding them up here, our local tackle selection is not great.

Now when you say rage baby craw, naked, what do you mean? Hook point exposed or what?

[mod479]

Can you describe the craws appearence?

Dropshot baits? floating worms, cross tail shads, erie darters...etc.

Check this thread out for more ideas... http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/105292-best-smallie-dropshot-baits/

[Spotswood]

The craws are a mix of green and orange, rapalas clackin crank in the green crawdad color is a pretty darn close match to the color of them.

[mod479]

_{Try a watermelon or green pumpkin tube, dip the tentacles in an orange dye! Or keep throwin those cranks, if your lake is anything like the one I fish, it all comes down finding a school, and staying with them.}