Best Bait Tips for Northern Smallmouth - Top 3 Tips

[WRangler506]

I've been reading a lot lately on what to focus on for Northern Smallmouth, MI and Ontario.

 

Downsizing baits, smaller jigs and trailers?

 

Minnow shaped baits rather than shad shaped? (What are the best smallmouth crankbaits?)

 

Fishing underwater structure like humps, rocks edges, current.

 

How to fish grubs properly?

 

Top 3 techniques to focus on? (tubes, jigs, cranks, spinnerbaits...)

 

Any help with details on the questions/comments above would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

[roadwarrior]

1.  Rage Tail Menace, T-rigged, 1/4 bullet weight and 3/0 EWG hook

2.  Rage Tail Swimmer

3.  Megabass Ito Vision 110

 

 

Bonus:  BPS Tender Tube #71

[mattkenzer]

21 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Bonus:  BPS Tender Tube #71

Have you tried #94? 

[Dwight Hottle]

For suspended smallies the number one bait is a jerkbait. Other good baits are spy baits, swimming a grub on a jig, spinnerbaits, hair jigs, swim baits or other depth controlled baits for suspending fish. When smallies are tight to the bottom vertical jigging a blade bait, jigging spoon or a jig tipped with live bait or plastic trailer works. You can also drift fish with blades baits or tube jigs or grubs. Casting and trolling crankbaits will also work well. My favorite crankbait is a hot'n tot because they flat out hunt. 

Bait shape decisions are based on what the predominate forage is. Smelt, emerald shiners & perch are best matched with minnow or stick baits. Alewife & shad are best matched with shad shaped baits. 

[tkunk]

It depends on the season, but my favorite baits, in no particular order, are

1. Keitech 2.8-3.5, retrieved very slowly
2. Pointer 78-100, retrieve depends on water temps and wind
3. drop shot (I can't fish tubes very often because of snot weed)

Random notes:

• Hair jigs are awesome for prespawn
• In my experience, crankbaits like DT10's-DT20's are excellent for size but terrible for numbers
• Burning spinnerbaits is fun when it's warm and very windy

My #1 tip is to fish the windy side of all structure (above and below the water's surface), because that's where the active fish are likely to be. With a few exceptions, the windier it is, the better the fishing will be.

 

 

 

[WRangler506]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

1.  Rage Tail Menace, T-rigged, 1/4 bullet weight and 3/0 EWG hook

2.  Rage Tail Swimmer

3.  Megabass Ito Vision 110

 

 

Bonus:  BPS Tender Tube #71

Do you fish the on a castin or spinning setup usually, and what specs of the rod?

Thanks

40 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

For suspended smallies the number on bait is a jerkbait. Other good baits are spy baits, swimming a grub on a jig, spinnerbaits, hair jigs, swim baits or other depth controlled baits for suspending fish. When smallies are tight to the bottom vertical jigging a blade bait, jigging spoon or a jig tipped with live bait or plastic trailer works. You can also drift fish with blades baits or tube jigs or grubs. Casting and trolling crankbaits will also work well. My favorite crankbait is a hot'n tot because they flat out hunt. 

Bait shape decisions are based on what the predominate forage is. Smelt, emerald shiners & perch are best matched with minnow or stick baits. Alewife & shad are best matched with shad shaped baits. 

What jerkbaits do you like most? I know I need to swim grubs on jigs more, and try some hair jigs. The water stays cold for a long time most places I fish.

[Dwight Hottle]

1 hour ago, WRangler506 said:

What jerkbaits do you like most? I know I need to swim grubs on jigs more, and try some hair jigs. The water stays cold for a long time most places I fish.

 

 

I’m a jerk bait junkie. I have lots of expensive baits from Japan and lots of not expensive baits. For sheer numbers of bass caught the rapala husky jerk & smithwick rogues have done a beat down on Lake Erie smallies over the years. The husky jerk deep diver alone has probably put 40-50 six pound smallies in my boat. Very, very effective. 

I also use a lot of lucky craft pointers 100 series, 100 series deep divers, 127's & 128's, Ima flits and Duo Realis 100 & 120 sp. 

 

[WRangler506]

4 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

 

I’m a jerk bait junkie. I have lots of expensive baits from Japan and lots of not expensive baits. For sheer numbers of bass caught the rapala husky jerk & smithwick rogues have done a beat down on Lake Erie smallies over the years. The husky jerk deep diver alone has probably put 40-50 six pound smallies in my boat. Very, very effective. 

I also use a lot of lucky craft pointers 100 series, 100 series deep divers, 127's & 128's, Ima flits and Duo Realis 100 & 120 sp. 

 

I must not be fishing them right. Ive only tried the HJ10 for bass, never the DDHJs. I have tons of both for walleye trolling.

[Dwight Hottle]

5 minutes ago, WRangler506 said:

I must not be fishing them right. Ive only tried the HJ10 for bass, never the DDHJs. I have tons of both for walleye trolling.

HJ12's & HJ14 size. Go big or go home. 

[soflabasser]

3 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

1.  Rage Tail Menace, T-rigged, 1/4 bullet weight and 3/0 EWG hook

2.  Rage Tail Swimmer

3.  Megabass Ito Vision 110

 

 

Bonus:  BPS Tender Tube #71

The rage tail menace looks like it will do good in the places I fish for smallies. Might get a couple packs of them and give them a try on my next trip up north.

[cueball]

1. Drop shot

2. Drop shot

3. Drop shot

[FryDog62]

Good suggestions above.  I’ll throw out another I had good luck with up here in the North last year: Maxscent General wacky style or drop-shot wacky style.  Best color was the orange - very close to the crayfish color on Mille Lacs, Rainy, Vermilion, etc.  

[roadwarrior]

22 hours ago, WRangler506 said:

Do you fish the on a castin or spinning setup usually, and what specs of the rod?

Spinnining tackle for the Tender tube (MF/ 6# Tatsu).

Baitcasting for the others.

 

[MikeInWyandotte]

1. KVD Coffe Tube in green pumpkin 

2. Z-Man TRD worm on mushroom head jig (green pumpkin, coppertreuse or mud bug.

3. KVD Dream shot on drop shot rig in green pumpkin.

 

For options 1 and 3 sometimes helpful to dip tip in chartreuse or methiolate dye.  All three have been slaying smallies for me in Lake St Clair, Lake Erie and the Detroit River for the past five years now.  

 

All this said, no artificial bait can top a live crayfish... it is simply irresistible to smallmouth. 

[BuzzHudson19c]

Tips for northern smallies (keep in mind these are based on river small mouth from my own experience)

 

1. They are probably shallower than you think.

2. Use obnoxious colors, lots or chartreuse/black.

3. Run topwater baits faster than you think you should.

 

My top picks for smallie baits

 

1. Buzzbait

2. squarebill

3. ratltrap

 

[Adam.love05]

I live in northern Vermont and my best baits are :

1) Shakey head 

2) wacky rig

3) small swimbaits

4) jerkbait

5)crankbait

 

If I had to pick three... 

Tough one, but I'd pick 3,4,5 just because they are my favorite ways to fish! 

I get most success from 2,3,4 usually.. 

 

[rejesterd]

1. Big spinnerbait (3/4 oz), especially at dawn/dusk or when it's completely overcast during the day.

2. Rebel Big Craw crankbait.

3. Dropshot with a 4" Roboworm, Fluke or Senko.

 

I probably catch 60-70% of my smallmouth in the summer using these.  Jerkbaits and shallow-running squarbills would be a close 4th and 5th though.

[Turkey sandwich]

Lots of great suggestions on here on baits and techniques, so I'll touch a bit on locating fish.  Smallmouth move much, much more than largemouth.  The standard seasonal patterns for largemouth are similar.  During the summer and into the fall, offshore structure is prime in lakes.  They want ambush points and will set up oriented into the current using current breaks often like largemouth will use a weed line. They'll also move a lot from day to day, but can be found shallow, especially later in the day.  

 

In rivers, from the summer through the fall you'll generally find them in or around current, as that's what provides them with food.  Generally, you want to find current breaks where they can hold in softer water.  If you can find areas where fast and slow water meet, and especially if there's nearby depth, you'll find very consistently find fish.  

[DubyaDee]

If you're looking for some broad info like this, I'd suggest keeping things as simple as possible. Get a 7 foot Med Light rod and you can cover 90% of smallmouth presentations. 

 

Tubes, grubs, jerkbaits/flukes, dropshot, spybaits, ned rigs, poppers, baby spooks. You don't need all of these, just pick what suites your style of fishing. If you're a jig guy, bring some tubes. If you're a frog guy, bring a few baby spooks and a popper. Fish what you've got confidence in and you'll be fine. 

 

Some of my favorite days are when I only keep my tube rod on my deck. Keep your lure wet, and cover lots of water. 

 

 

[Further North]

On 4/26/2018 at 10:41 PM, cueball said:

1. Drop shot

2. Drop shot

3. Drop shot

While I admire the dedication of folks who can take one presentation and stick with it, I'd go outta my mind if I tried that.

 

Flies seem to be getting left off the list, so:

 

1. Baitfish pattern
2. Ol' Mr. Wiggly
3. Just about any popper

Regular gear:

1. Smokin' Rooster, Texas rigged
2. #5 Mepps
3. Senko

[Boomstick]

My top three for northern smallies..

 

#3) Crankbaits or jerkbaits

#2) Spinnerbaits

#1) Drop shot. Try a KVD dream shot or Roboworm Akive shad nose hooked.

[A-Jay]

Jerkbaits in the spring.

Drop shot in the summer.

Spinnerbaits in the fall.

Lighter gear on every presentation.

Looong Casts in clear water less than 25 ft.

A-Jay

[TOXIC]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Jerkbaits in the spring.

Drop shot in the summer.

Spinnerbaits in the fall.

Lighter gear on every presentation.

Looong Casts in clear water less than 25 ft.

A-Jay

Exactly.  My baits totally depend on the time of year and current conditions.  3 baits is like going into a gunfight with 3 bullets.  I couldn't do it.  

[A-Jay]

1 minute ago, TOXIC said:

Exactly.  My baits totally depend on the time of year and current conditions.  3 baits is like going into a gunfight with 3 bullets.  I couldn't do it.  

OP alluded to 3 top tips - 

 But I'll routinely carry a few extra 'clips' and they'll show brass right to the bottom.

A-Jay

[jbmaine]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

OP alluded to 3 top tips - 

 But I'll routinely carry a few extra 'clips' and they'll show brass right to the bottom.

A-Jay

A-Jay, that rod on the right, has it been modified for full auto casting?☺️