Jake the Cake Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 1/8 oz Rooster Tail for Smallmouths in the river. Favorite colors have to be yellow, black, and white. 1 Quote
Mumbly Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 Topwater gets my vote for favorite method. Certainly not the most effective at times but there is nothing (to me) like a smallie busting on a spook, popper or propbait. Super spook jr, pop'r and torpedo being my most used. 3 Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Posted January 11, 2016 Jerkbaits are my second most productive lure by a long shot. I like fishing then but it can get frustrating using then in river and snagging. Fishing more Wacky rigged senkos is one of my main fishing goals next season. Dropshot is my other big one. 1 Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Posted January 11, 2016 1 hour ago, Jake the Cake said: 1/8 oz Rooster Tail for Smallmouths in the river. Favorite colors have to be yellow, black, and white. I'm a Mepps Aglia man, myself. That is EASILY my most productive lure ever. For all species. Partly because when I was young it was my go-to confidence bait, partly by how awesome it is haha. I've caught literally at least 1 of each kind of fish I've caught on it: smallie, largemouth, pike, muskie, walleye, rainbow, catfish, crappie, bluegill, northern snakehead.... it'd be my "only 1 lure forever" choice I see guys posting about. 1 Quote
Jake the Cake Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 Just now, WI_Angler1989 said: I'm a Mepps Aglia man, myself. That is EASILY my most productive lure ever. For all species. Partly because when I was young it was my go-to confidence bait, partly by how awesome it is haha. I've caught literally at least 1 of each kind of fish I've caught on it: smallie, largemouth, pike, muskie, walleye, rainbow, catfish, crappie, bluegill, northern snakehead.... it'd be my "only 1 lure forever" choice I see guys posting about. I do love some Mepps action! I've found here in MO that finesse seems to work better for me so that's why I go with the Rooster Tails. A bit smaller to entice even the finicky ones. If they're hitting hard I'll usually upgrade to a Mepps to see if I can weed out the dinks. Agreed though, anything in a river with a set of eyes seems to love a Mepps or Rooster Tail 2 Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Posted January 11, 2016 13 minutes ago, Jake the Cake said: I do love some Mepps action! I've found here in MO that finesse seems to work better for me so that's why I go with the Rooster Tails. A bit smaller to entice even the finicky ones. If they're hitting hard I'll usually upgrade to a Mepps to see if I can weed out the dinks. Agreed though, anything in a river with a set of eyes seems to love a Mepps or Rooster Tail That's a good point, I'm gonna have to give Rooster tails a try when the Aglia isn't working. I never thought about it as more finesse but willow vs big Colorado type blades....makes sense. You gotta love the multi species ways of an online spinner! Throw it in a river and catch anything at any time 1 Quote
smallie.mike Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 My favorite way to catch smallmouth is standing in waist deep current in a secluded river on a beautiful day when it's warm enough to wear a t shirt and cool enough to wear waders. At that point it doesn't even matter what I'm catching them on. 2 Quote
SwimJiggin Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 For river smallies I love cranking. I have some Bomber 8a's in purple firetiger that work great. In the morning when the light is low I target LMs, but when the sun gets higher and the breeze picks up I switch to a crank. I just love the way they crush it. I try the find the right casting angle to bring it right through Bronze St. USA. Quote
Super User ww2farmer Posted January 12, 2016 Super User Posted January 12, 2016 My favorite way to catch them is FAR from my most productive way to catch them. Actually when I catch them this way, which is fairly often, it's often mixed in with largemouth. But flipping for them in heavy cover is pretty exciting. #1 they are not buried in the grass as often as largemouth, but when they are it's pretty much like poking a bear with a stick. Set the hook and they are mad, and they want you to know it RIGHT NOW. A 4+ lb smallmouth clearing the water higher than your head a rod and half's length away before you even know what's going on is quite the sight. While the fight is not as long as most of my smallmouth battles because of the heavy tackle used, the best description I can give of the battle is it's about like grabbing a full grown barn tomcat by the tail to give him a shot of antibiotics if he's acting sick , it'll be over fairly quickly if you can get the cat in the empty 100lb burlap grain bag to but some kind of tough material between your skin/eyes/throat and the cats claws and teeth , but even in the short amount of time it takes to get the cat under control and in the bag, your pretty sure you lost the fight and the cat spared you and not the other way around. 3 Quote
Super User Crestliner2008 Posted January 12, 2016 Super User Posted January 12, 2016 My favorite presentation, from post spawn through early fall, is the drop shot. Reason being is that it can (and will) produce more fish than any other presentation I've ever tried. Now I'm fishing a deep, clear water reservoir and am targeting off-shore structures. If I were fishing another body of water, I might very well be doing something different. 2 Quote
Super User Spankey Posted January 12, 2016 Super User Posted January 12, 2016 Finesse fishing various soft plastics by far is my favorite way to go at smallies but, way too often I get hung up throwing a spinnerbaits or crankbait longer or more often than I really want to. Over the years. My larger smallies have come off plastics. Quote
Buckeye Ron Posted January 16, 2016 Posted January 16, 2016 My favorite smallie technique is to use a guido bug type craw rigged weedless or a small crank bait if they're really active. Dropping a plastic craw into a brush pile or edge of a weed line is killer. Quote
Hogsticker Posted January 16, 2016 Posted January 16, 2016 I don't think there is any denying that top water is most fun. Mine being a popper. The anticipation, the heightened sense of everything that surrounds you, watching it all happen, it's just a kick in the pants. Combining the best of both worlds in terms of what I enjoy using and the level of productivity it brings, a paddle tail swimbait on a swim jig or swarming hornet takes the cake for me. Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted January 16, 2016 Author Posted January 16, 2016 I've never topwater fished for smallies specifically, not many spots around her it's the brest choice, but it sounds like I'd better get on it! Pretty much most people say top haha. Better get me a couple spooks Quote
EvanT123 Posted January 16, 2016 Posted January 16, 2016 Topwater is my favorite. I really like the gunfish or academy knock off. Just seeing the explosion and then feeling the pull. I love it. Dragging a tube would be a close second. I like feeling something different and bamm fish on or sometimes stump or stick lol. 1 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 17, 2016 Global Moderator Posted January 17, 2016 While I do love getting smallies to blow up on a fast moving spook, I look forward to that spring jerkbait bite way more than I do the topwater. I only got after them a few times with jerkbaits this year, but it always produces some of my biggest smallies of the year. This year, it produced the 2 largest in fact. 4 Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted January 17, 2016 Super User Posted January 17, 2016 Man, those are some beauties! Quote
Super User HoosierHawgs Posted January 17, 2016 Super User Posted January 17, 2016 8 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said: While I do love getting smallies to blow up on a fast moving spook, I look forward to that spring jerkbait bite way more than I do the topwater. I only got after them a few times with jerkbaits this year, but it always produces some of my biggest smallies of the year. This year, it produced the 2 largest in fact. What's your spinning set up for jerkbaits? 1 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 17, 2016 Global Moderator Posted January 17, 2016 25 minutes ago, HoosierHawgs said: What's your spinning set up for jerkbaits? A 30 size President on a 6' 8" M/F Ethos and 8lb gamma copolymer 2 Quote
Super User HoosierHawgs Posted January 17, 2016 Super User Posted January 17, 2016 3 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said: A 30 size President on a 6' 8" M/F Ethos and 8lb gamma copolymer Cool, I thought that was an Ethos. Sounds about similar to what I would use. Thanks! Quote
Super User Dwight Hottle Posted January 17, 2016 Super User Posted January 17, 2016 Jerkbaits are my favorite. Jeff's favorite too. 1 Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted January 17, 2016 Author Posted January 17, 2016 31 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said: Jerkbaits are my favorite. Jeff's favorite too. Easy to see why, that's an awesome fish! 1 Quote
Drew03cmc Posted January 17, 2016 Posted January 17, 2016 I prefer a shaky head approach, 3.5-4" craws on an 1/8oz head in rivers. I don't have lake smallie experience. 1 Quote
Will Wetline Posted January 18, 2016 Posted January 18, 2016 On sunny, breezy afternoons in the early spring I like to throw jerkbaits for smallies. This big mama weighed 5.8 lbs. and ate a Pointer 100. 3 Quote
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