New To Smallies... Difference Between Fishing For Smallies And Bucketmouth/smallies And Trout.

[coryn h. fishowl]

I'm 16 and only about 2 years into largemouths but I want to know more about smallmouth fishing, Primarily:

1) what to do different when fishing for smallies in still water than when fishing for biggies...and visa versa

2) What to do differently in still water than when trout fishing. (this one is for those of you who practice the witchcraft known as trout fishing.)

I'm kinda self/ internet taught here...NEED HELP  

[jhoffman]

Well, obviously not many "trout" baits are going to work for bass. May I suggest a lot of reading and searching.

 

You can get specific results from this site on google as well as the search here.

 

Instead of typing  ...: Smallmouth Bass into google

 

Type instead...: Smallmouth Bass, bassresource.com

 

Narrows your search to only this website

 

Find some techniques you are interested and start digging if I were you I would search things like:

 

Smallmouth Bassfishing in the Mid West, Bassresource.com

 

Differences between Largemouth and Smallmouth, bassresource.com

 

Smallmouth lake techniques, bassresource.com

[Scott F]

If you have transportation at age 16, from where you live, get to a river to get smallies. You've got some good ones within an hour of where you live. You don't need a boat, you can wade or fish from shore on the Kankakee, DuPage or Fox Rivers. You've also got Lake Michigan, but the action is better and more consistent on the river.

You can learn a lot from the internet, but on the water learning is much better. Join a fishing club, not necessarily a tournament club, to speed up the learning process. The Illinois Smallmouth Alliance is all about fishing rivers. You can learn a lot fishing with those guys. There are a few tricks to reading current on a river that are easier to pick up when you are standing in the river. 

[The Young Gun]

I'm 16 and only about 2 years into largemouths but I want to know more about smallmouth fishing, Primarily:

1) what to do different when fishing for smallies in still water than when fishing for biggies...and visa versa

2) What to do differently in still water than when trout fishing. (this one is for those of you who practice the witchcraft known as trout fishing.)

I'm kinda self/ internet taught here...NEED HELP

I'm just 15 1/2 and I live in northern Wisconsin In a huge smallie and trout infested streams an cricks. I personally target trout and smallies different. Where I catch bigger smallies is in a tributaries that are a little but bigger in size than trout cricks. Every stream and water is different around here so you just have to bank fish and experiment with baits and walk through some tough brush and stuff to find the big ones. Small mouths are so much different from LMB. If your trying to catch SMB don't think about LMB. Just start completely from scratch. Personally, grubs/walleye jigs and 4" worms are my favorites with occasional jerkbaits. Hope I helped

[coryn h. fishowl]

i just picked up a copy of SMallmouth Bass An In-Fisherman handbook of Strategies.  So far... very informaive.  I'll pick up a copy of their largemouth book too.

"  I reject your reality and substitute my own."

[cyclops2]

In almost every case the smallmouths are in rocky running water or they will make a short duration swim into a still backwater area at sundown and bite anything that they can find. 5 minutes would be a long time in each still water place. They can swim long distances from sundown to sunrise to be at a different spot to have the sun shinning from BEHIND them. They can be absolutly fearless to you wading in a prime bait area.

They will school up by size & go hunting together. My favorite lures are abouta 4" RAPALA green shad pattern solid or jointed body. Long casts work best. Vary the speed WILDLY. Stopped or steady speeds CAN work. But a steady speed for 3' & the a quick jerk to FAST as you can wind for 5' then back slow down again.....The hits come on the speed up, fast & slow down.

You ....MUST..MUST have VERY THIN & POINTY hook points. I Carry a VERY SMALL fine sharpening stone in the box. It is only 1/2" X 3/8" X 2" long. Not critical. But must let you sharpen at least 3 sides of the hook.

The smallies are as fast as a trout when they come from behind the lure. Very sharp hooks can catch some of these speed demons that cause a slack line & then jump. The SKINNY hooks penetrate deeper & quicker & hold on better to a Smallie jumping before you can reel up the slack & set the hook.

I find Smallies to be a open water group type of fish. They normally are NOT line shy. Use a NON_STRETCHING BRAID LINE due to their speeds & jumping abilities in 1' to whatever depths.

Wear a life vest & get a CHEAP pair of baseball shoes with SPIKES. Smallies LOVE SLIMY COVERED BOULDERs & ROCK LEDGES. A CHEAP SKI POLE with a wrist strap IS NEEDED. WHY ?

AS you wade out into the rocky currents you WILL SLIP like I did. The current pushed me backwards & JAMMED BOTH feet under a sharp rock ledge. I was pinned down underwater with nothing to push myself up for a breath of air.

I was drowning each second & I could not twist or roll free. I took my fly rod apart & used the 2 pieces together to push myself high enough to get a breath of air. Lots of pushups allowed me to finally get free..

Make sure the SKI POLE HAS A SNUG WRIST STRAP.

It saved me the same way on a VERY BIG BOULDERED trout stream.................NO ONE can be bent flat backwards in a current & arch fowards fast or long enough to keep breathing without a skipole for help...Keep the pole tip VERY POINTED to work when needed.

Enjoy

Where there are trout. There can be smallies. Both will eat the same food & lures.