Golden Roaches/Shiners for Smallmouth

[Otter17]

I was going to try some live bait for Smallmouth. The river/stream i fish gets a lot of pressure. And wanted to try some roaches(Shiners) for bait.

 

Any suggestions on the best size to buy for this time of year.

 

Thankyou

[Janderson45]

Speaking in vast generalities, bass are feeding on smaller baitfish in the fall and larger baitfish in the spring.  Of course there's always exceptions to this as bass are opportunistic feeders.  A hungry smallie won't pass up an easy protein rich meal if it's presented in the right way, regardless of the time of year.  Small to medium sized minnows will get you more bites, larger minnows might reduce the quantity of your bites but might also tempt a much larger fish into biting.

 

good luck!

[roadwarrior]

2 hours ago, Janderson45 said:

Speaking in vast generalities, bass are feeding on smaller baitfish in the fall and larger baitfish in the spring.

What?

 

I  fish the BIGGEST bait I can buy.

 

[Janderson45]

22 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

What?

 

I  fish the BIGGEST bait I can buy.

 

 

Did you read my whole post or stop after that line? At the end I addressed small/medium = more bites, large might mean a bit less quantity but potentially better quality.  Additionally, I said a hungry smallmouth won't pass up a good meal regardless of the size or time of year.

 

I haven't fished live bait in freshwater for years, but I do apply the same general theory to artificial baits as well.

 

 Young of the year baitfish or the previous seasons hatch are both much smaller and available in vastly greater quantities in the fall than they are in the spring.  Lots of young baitfish won't survive their first or second winter due to predation or lack of food.  Smallmouth gorge on the large schools of small baitfish in the fall, at least up here in the northeast they do.  I downsize my swimbaits, spinnerbait, jigs and topwater in the fall.  In the spring, when fish are breaking out of their winter funk, is when I throw larger baits for weary and sluggish fish that are more apt to expend the energy on a bigger meal.  I was under the impression that this was a pretty widely accepted practice?

 

Ive seen 10-12" golden shiners and 18" gizzard Shad used as bait down in Florida, would you throw those for smallmouth too?  Obviously not, the whole idea is to "match the hatch" and appear as natural as you can?

 

Different strokes for different folks I suppose, but I stand by everything I said.

[tkunk]

On 10/1/2018 at 7:44 PM, Janderson45 said:

Ive seen 10-12" golden shiners and 18" gizzard Shad used as bait down in Florida, would you throw those for smallmouth too?  Obviously not, the whole idea is to "match the hatch" and appear as natural as you can?

Agreed. Smallies will hit absolutely anything, but it's important to use bait that they can actually fit in their mouths. Last year, I watched 6 lb smallie try to t-bone a 4 lb sucker that I was using as bait for muskies. It was entertaining, but I knew that I wasn't going to hook her.

[Otter17]

Thanks guys! The size of Shiners I was going to use are 3”, possibly 4”.

3 hours ago, portiabrat said:

Agreed. Smallies will hit absolutely anything, but it's important to use bait that they can actually fit in their mouths. Last year, I watched 6 lb smallie try to t-bone a 4 lb sucker that I was using as bait for muskies. It was entertaining, but I knew that I wasn't going to hook her.

T-Bone a 4lb. sucker!?? Whaaaat! ? Dude, that would have been funny as hell!

[bowhunter63]

Back when I lived up in Wisconsin we used the biggest chubs or shiners we could get.We fished them on the river right at the base of the lifts .The Smallies would stage there every fall.

[PatrickKnight]

A couple of buddies were fishing for flatheads a last year and one caught a 17 inch smallie on a 10 inch warmouth. They are aggressive and will eat just about anything they can fit in their mouth.

 

[Otter17]

Wait a second! Is that even possible!? I didn’t even think a smallmouth could fit a 10” warmouth in their mouths. Even crazier that it was only 17”.  That is freakin impressive man. That again changes what I thought I knew about smallies! 

 

Thankyou for sharing that Patrick Knight! ?