Best Finess Options

[gettin bent]

I been one giant smallies. But i cant seem to get them to go on tubes, cranks, blades, jerkbaits, and drop shotted everything. Im about to start to loose my mind. Did long casts and dragged. I have tried everything and havent lit them up. Any suggestions fir wary smallies. Im in 8ft and clear water. Any help would be great.

[A-Jay]

You're on Giant smallies in 8 ft of clear water in August ?

 

Say hello to St. Peter for me . . . .

 

Cause that's got to be Bronzeback heaven right there

 

A-Jay

[fishguy613]

weightless fluke

[mod479]

I been one giant smallies. But i cant seem to get them to go on tubes, cranks, blades, jerkbaits, and drop shotted everything. Im about to start to loose my mind. Did long casts and dragged. I have tried everything and havent lit them up. Any suggestions fir wary smallies. Im in 8ft and clear water. Any help would be great.

 

You've found fish, thats half the battle, but are they still there?? What's your rod/reel/line?

 

If you're not catching them, but are seeing them..... those fish know you're there too. More than likely this is your issue. Back way off your spot and make the longest cast you can to them if you know theyre still there. Put the blades and hard jerks away til fall/spring. I'd start earlier too, with a topwater, or a crank to see if you can relocate fish and get a reaction.

 

If they are still where you found them, focus hard on the dropshot, try different style baits and experiment with leader length. Or back off them and toss a 4" soft stickbait wacky rigged. A tube is my confidence bait, and I would not leave until I dragged the bottom with a brown or black one. A soft jerkbait rigged weightless might be the ticket in that shallow water, I'd recommend a zoom fluke or yamamoto d-shad on a 2/0 skip gap gamakatsu hook, although I also like them on keel weighted EWGs if they wont come up to the surface. Give them an erratic action, fast jerks and then kill it. Many bites will be while bait is moving and they will slam it good if you show them the right color.      

 

Usually smb are roamers, so dont always assume they will be that shallow, because 8ft of clear water in the blazing heat of summer is not the norm. Hell, by the time I am done typing this your fish might be offshore for the day, or maybe they'll stay put, really depends on where the foods at.

 

Back off them and keep a low profile, and you can score. Be silent and patient.  

[OkobojiEagle]

I been one giant smallies. But i cant seem to get them to go on tubes, cranks, blades, jerkbaits, and drop shotted everything. Im about to start to loose my mind. Did long casts and dragged. I have tried everything and havent lit them up. Any suggestions fir wary smallies. Im in 8ft and clear water. Any help would be great.

 

 

Are you sure they aren't carp?

 

 

oe

[gulfcaptain]

Throw a 4" Fat Ika at them.  Seems to work really well on S. Cal's heavy pressured spooky bass quite well.

[Dwight Hottle]

Live leech under a slip bobber drifting or longggggg lined.

[Felix77]

Man ... if they aren't biting a tube or drop shot then maybe try a weightless senko or mojo rig with a roboworm.  One of those has to work!

 

You didn't describe how you were presenting your tube or drop shot.  Maybe try varying your presentation a bit.  Hop instead of drag or deadsticking if you can deal with being that slow.  At times I had to deadstick a tube and literally wait for my line to move to get a catch otherwise it would be spit out.

[Driftb]

I fish a pool in the Delaware that is full of large fish and I have noticed that if I can get a topwater stick, like a Sammy or a Spittin Image to the fish early in the day, I have my best chance.  I like to walk the dog and I think something about a stickbait brings out the mean in a smallmouth. If you get to the big fish, they will fight to get the lure, and commonly a school of fish chase the fish with the lure all the way to the boat.  I once had a huge +20" smallie take my topwater,  When I got him close to the boat, a little smaller one (maybe 16-17") got it away from him.  He took line, fought like hell, and when I was getting ready to land him,  right at the boat, I saw a 15 incher come in and grab the lure, ripping it out of the bigger fish's mouth.  After that, the school scattered and we caught smaller fish in the area.  Usually a smaller fish will dart out and connect first.  Once the big fish follow him to the boat, it's all over.  They take off and don't want to bite again.  You can even follow one and try to feed him a wacky worm.  Sometimes they will take it, but if the big fish hesitates, usually a smalller one will dart in and take it.  The big one will sit back and watch him get caught.  Best chances are real early or real late in the day.  Off colored water, like after a rain helps too, and a little wind, as the fish are less spooky then.   Those topwater lures are appealing more the the fish's territoriality and aggressive nature or curiosity than feeding instinct.  If you are in the area where you know the fish are, don't try to sight fish.  Stay a little off and do long casts.  The bigger fish are very wary and shy, and eye contact usually is a deal breaker.\

 

One other thing to try is speed. Sometimes when there is a tough bite, we catch the fish at the end of the retrieve, when a guy is ripping the lure in the cast it again.  Then we will   Unfortunately, a lot of the time, the fish grabs the bait's tail and it just gets ripped in two.  The best lures for that bite are a 3.8" or 4" Keitech  swing impact, or the cheaper but equally effective Berkely Havoc Beat shad on a 1/8-1/4 oz 2/0 Gammy jig head.

[gettin bent]

Thanks guys good tips. I will let you guys know how i get them to go.

[NathanW]

Must be Florida strain smallies .

 

In all seriousness, I have seen largmeouth sit lockjawed if front of a finesse presentation many times but never in my life dealt with smallies that arent biting. Its one thing to have fish that spook easily but if they arent spooking and just looking at your bait pass them by I am in disbelief. Smallmouth are nasty predators.

[gettin bent]

Must be Florida strain smallies .

 

In all seriousness, I have seen largmeouth sit lockjawed if front of a finesse presentation many times but never in my life dealt with smallies that arent biting. Its one thing to have fish that spook easily but if they arent spooking and just looking at your bait pass them by I am in disbelief. Smallmouth are nasty predators.

Oh these smalliez are tempermental little basses. Lol. Ya once the see the boat it impossible to get them to go on artifical. Leeches no problem. But plastics wont get a sniff. I just purchased about $300 buck worth of plastics to find out how to get them to go. Its a northern strain fish. One would figure they would be easy but on this lake its common to watch schools of giants just hang around the boat and chill in the shade it provides. So far im averaging 1 hook up for 30ish sighting. Funniest thing is watchin a group of 5-6 pounders in single file lining up behind one piece of cabbage weed on sand. I laugh everytime. But i will keep ya posted when i get better results.

[gettin bent]

Well after a deck full of torn plastics i narrowes it down to the best bait. I had best luck drop shotting a xzone pan slammer on a small #4 hook and 4# test line and long bombing. Key here was the proper hieght for pan slammers. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

[TeamBassin]

I would throw a weightless watermelon seed fluke and start out working it fast and if that didnt work then slow down and you could even put a small split shot on. Now if a fluke doesn't work i would definitely try a senko with some JJ's magic chartreuse  on the tip of the tail.

 

[MN Lakes Area 14]

They're just being real picky. Plain and simple. You put a lindy and plain hook with a live minnow and you'll nab every one of em up!