stk44 Posted March 25, 2016 Posted March 25, 2016 My water temp in the Allegheny River near Pittsburgh, PA is around 45-46 degrees. I plan on kayak fishing this weekend, and there is a good highly pressured spot that I will most likely avoid. This spot just so happens to be a good sized feeder creak that small mouths tend to stage outside of just before spawning. There are boulders, eddies, a wall, and all kinds of good spots, but you have people that setup on the banks with a lawn chair and have 15 rods in the water, it gets a bit stressful. I was going to head downstream and fish a couple of unpressured islands. There are some smaller eddy's formed on the downstream side of the island with some brush, stumps, and partially submerged trees. I've never fished it, but from google earth, it looks as though the left side of the island is shallower, maybe 5-7 feet, the point of the island drops into 10 feet of water, and the right side could be potentially 10 feet to 15 feet. I was going to start hitting the downstream side of the island with a 1/2 oz spinner bait, and drop shot a jerk shad or tube, and pitch a jig. Any other suggestions? Quote
Nick S Posted March 25, 2016 Posted March 25, 2016 Sounds like your on the right track to me. If the water temps are still in the mid 40's I'd stick to the jig or tube fished slow. 1 Quote
stk44 Posted March 26, 2016 Author Posted March 26, 2016 On 3/25/2016 at 10:06 PM, Nick S said: Sounds like your on the right track to me. If the water temps are still in the mid 40's I'd stick to the jig or tube fished slow. Expand Sounds like a plan. I guess the only way I'll know for sure is by fishing it. 1 Quote
Nick S Posted March 26, 2016 Posted March 26, 2016 On 3/26/2016 at 2:33 AM, stk44 said: Sounds like a plan. I guess the only way I'll know for sure is by fishing it. Expand half the fun of fishing is discovering new areas and learning how to fish them. I'd add a jerkbait to your arsenal if the water temps are in the mid 40's. 1 Quote
Catch 22 Posted March 28, 2016 Posted March 28, 2016 At 45/46 don`t be afraid to test the main stream water with some tubes and hair jigs 1 Quote
1simplemann Posted March 28, 2016 Posted March 28, 2016 tubes and cranks are working for us right now. We caught about 25 yesterday. 2 3/4 tubes 1/4 oz, KVD 1.5 in red crawl worked well for my partner, I was using a Salmo hornet in Dace color. Quote
stk44 Posted March 28, 2016 Author Posted March 28, 2016 On 3/28/2016 at 3:44 AM, 1simplemann said: tubes and cranks are working for us right now. We caught about 25 yesterday. 2 3/4 tubes 1/4 oz, KVD 1.5 in red crawl worked well for my partner, I was using a Salmo hornet in Dace color. Expand Thanks. What types of structure are you fishing? Quote
1simplemann Posted March 29, 2016 Posted March 29, 2016 Rocky river banks that have overhanging cliffs. 1 Quote
stk44 Posted April 3, 2016 Author Posted April 3, 2016 I didn't get to do more than 30 minutes of actual fishing, me and my buddy scoped out the two islands and got a slight idea of the depths and contours. I was having issues with my sonar so I wasn't too effective. all I did was throw an IMA pin jack 200 Which dives to about 6 feet. Water temp was between 47-50 degrees depending onwhere I was. Would a grub, spinner bait or lipless crank be a better search bait for smallmouth? Quote
mrmacwvu1 Posted April 3, 2016 Posted April 3, 2016 I typically use spinners as my search bait 1 Quote
stk44 Posted April 3, 2016 Author Posted April 3, 2016 On 4/3/2016 at 3:06 PM, mrmacwvu1 said: I typically use spinners as my search bait Expand Ok, and i take it I should slow crawl for anything under 55-60 degrees? Quote
mrmacwvu1 Posted April 3, 2016 Posted April 3, 2016 depends I have caught them burning them in cold water Just have to let the fish tell you what they want I have also had good look yo yo ing them like a jig Quote
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