Best Smallmouth Lure

[J.Bass]

I fish rivers and Creeks alot for smallmouth bass. The smallmouth bass are finicky and pressured. I usually fish in-line spinners, I have okay luck. I seen on (TFN) The Fishing Network, where they used hair jigs to catch smallmouth. Also the water I fish has lightly colored crawdads. 

 

My question is what lure(s) are good for these conditions? Is a jig really good for these conditions? How about plastic/senko style baits?

[The Young Gun]

I'm by far no seasons smallie expert, but I fish a crick and river by my house an a brown senko or even Walmart knock off has always caught me the most. A jig and mister twister.

[plumworm]

Find a tube bait that is as close to the color of the crawfish in your steam and fish it with the smallest tube jig that will keep you on the bottom. Best smallie bait that I know of.

[J.Bass]

Find a tube bait that is as close to the color of the crawfish in your steam and fish it with the smallest tube jig that will keep you on the bottom. Best smallie bait that I know of.

This sounds good, will try this.

[J.Bass]

I'm by far no seasons smallie expert, but I fish a crick and river by my house an a brown senko or even Walmart knock off has always caught me the most. A jig and mister twister.

I will try a senko too.

[tytay89]

Swim a 1/16 oz t rig baby rage craw on a small wide gap hook or a sinko i only use 3 inches of em

[ClackerBuzz]

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/107444-favorite-river-smallie-bait/unread/

[J Francho]

Check out Jeff Little's Draggin' Head jigs. They were designed to solve the issues of tossing a jig in current.

http://www.confidencebaits.net/about_us.html

[J.Bass]

Check out Jeff Little's Draggin' Head jigs. They were designed to solve the issues of tossing a jig in current.

http://www.confidencebaits.net/about_us.html

these look awesome thanks! I like how they look.

[J.Bass]

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/107444-favorite-river-smallie-bait/unread/

thanks I looked through that. Good info.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Jeff Little is the truth when it comes to river smallmouth fishing. I also like to use Slider's for that type of presentation.

 

One of my favorite river smallie techniques is fishing a buzzbait cross current in riffles during the heat of summer, especially on an overcast day. Jeff's YouTube page is really good, you should check out his videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SmallmouthBassFish/

[moguy1973]

Find a tube bait that is as close to the color of the crawfish in your steam and fish it with the smallest tube jig that will keep you on the bottom. Best smallie bait that I know of.

x2

...

Find a 3.5-4" tube in a similar color to the craws in your streams and rig it with a 1/4oz tube jig head weedless...Smallies love them...

[Gavin]

Small hair jigs, tubes, senko's, jerkbaits, and deep cranks are cold water staples..Fish slow, then slow down some more....

 

Start breaking out some warmer water baits when the water temp climbs towards the 55-60 degree mark.

Some warm water staples top to bottom.

Buzzbaits, Walkers, Poppers

Flukes, Spinnerbaits, Shallow Cranks, Swim Jigs, Jerkbaits

Jig n Chunk, Tubes, Deep Cranks, Assorted plastics

Good luck

[CPBassFishing]

Give these a try on a stand-up jighead and bounce them along the bottom. Best finesse craw on the market IMHO. These things are like crack for an addict to the fish. http://www.***.com/Power_Team_Lures_Craw_Doeuvre/descpage-PTLCD.html

[J.Bass]

Small hair jigs, tubes, senko's, jerkbaits, and deep cranks are cold water staples..Fish slow, then slow down some more....

 

Start breaking out some warmer water baits when the water temp climbs towards the 55-60 degree mark.

Some warm water staples top to bottom.

Buzzbaits, Walkers, Poppers

Flukes, Spinnerbaits, Shallow Cranks, Swim Jigs, Jerkbaits

Jig n Chunk, Tubes, Deep Cranks, Assorted plastics

Good luck

Awesome information. I got tubes. I will have to fish them more for smallies. Also got jigs. Will be trying your lure information this year good info thanks. Btw what Small hair jigs you use? I been wanting to try hair jig lures.

 

CPBassFishing:

I got some strike king rage craws, those look nice but im going to stick with the rage craws. I like them better. Will try with a standup jighead I bought a pack this year on clearance. Owner standup jigheads. Thanks for the technique.

 

[NEjitterbugger]

My favorite smallmouth spot is in a river with lots of crawfish, so many that I think they get bored of eating them!

 

I have the best luck with any small(3") Rapala...

[smalljaw67]

I fish a large river as well as afew lakes for smallies and there were days when the river was diry or high that we would go up in the creeks until we could get no further and fish for these spooky critters. I say that because those resident fish are different than their big water cousins, I find that they rarely go after something larger than what is the norm for the creeks which is in shap contrast to smallies in larger bodies of water. If I were you I would go with 4" sleder senko type worms, the case magic stick and the jacks worm are great for using in small creeks. A tube is a good bait, try using a 2.5" to a 3" maximum, on as light as weight as possible, I use my own 1/16oz jig heads but you can buy them as well. Moving typs of baits would be an in-line spinner  or small saftey pin type spinners like a strike king mini king spinnerbait or a beetle spin, those are deadly on small water smallies , just remember to keep it simple.

[roadwarrior]

Hollow Belly

 

 

http://www.bassmaster.com/news/hite-hits-new-high-eighth-win

 

 

 

 

[KY Outdoorsman]

Honestly, i started off smallie fishing with the regular treble hook plastic crawdad. I forgot the actual name but they're hard to beat. Rooster tails are good lures as well. White flukes with a size 3 hook is a good selection too IMO

[smbrule!]

Netbait 4" Baby Paca Craw

[kanasbassfisher08]

well in ks we like to use a thing called the ned rig its a 1/16 ball head with half of a sinko ran up it and i glue mine just cus i get tired of readjusting it but works best if u swim it like a swim jig or never letting it touch the bottom and thats our secret worth a try hope it helps!

[motodmast]

if i were you i would pick up a pack of beavers ( reaction innavations smallie beaver), match the hatch or just go green pumpkin, if your river has a rocky bottom, i would rig it on a 3/8 oz football head, try that out i bet you will get good results

[Felix77]

Toss between a finesse tube 2.5 - 3.5" and a Finesse worm on a drop shot

[SudburyBasser]

I predominately fish smallmouth bass because the lake I frequent only has smallies and I have tremendous luck with a wacky-rigged 6" watermelon Senko (in fact, the smallmouth in my avatar was caught with that exact presentation). Not to say other finesse presentations don't work but I slay them with the Senko -- and I'd probably do better with a smaller Senko but I do occasionally hit LMB lakes and I don't feel like carrying multiple sizes.

[HeavyDluxe]

I love threads like this... For one thing, I get so many good ideas and new 'leads' on baits.  I'm so grateful for this board for that!

 

The other cool thing is that threads like this show just how many different presentations can (and have) produced fish for people...  There's always new stuff to learn, and probably a lot of productivity hidden in the piles of tackle we already have.