Good smallmouth baits for creek pools?

[TriStateBassin106]

Hey all, as a Largemouth Angler I have always been interested in catching brown bass. There's a creek/river about 20 minutes away from where I live (NJ) and it holds Brown bass. Can anyone recommend anything to throw in those pools? Maybe some grubs or NED rigs? I'm new to all this so I was thinking maybe spinners?

 

Look foward to the responses.

[Scott F]

If river smallmouth are active and feeding, nearly anything you throw will get bit. Ned rigs, jig and twister, topwaters, spinners, senkos, crankbaits, all will work. The thing that makes guys successful is finding and getting to the spots where they are. 

[Finessegenics]

Really cant go wrong with a ned rig! I like to use the classic Finesse TRD but the Finesse CrawZ can also work great. Find a color suitable to your water clarity. My personal favorites are coppertreuse, green pumpkin goby and green pumpkin orange from zman. I imagine since its a creek it should be quite shallow. I dont recommend using any weighted head heavier than 1/8 oz. My usual retrieve doesnt involve my rod much as i let it sink, hold it still for 5-10 seconds and then crank my reel 1 or 2 full turns and let it fall again.

 

If you want to try something different, go for tiny swimbaits in the 2-3" inch range. I like the 2.8" Rhythm wave by Jackall on 1/8oz round jighead. Usually just swim it but if the fish arent as active, i'll jig it off the bottom. 

 

[Black Hawk Basser]

Little square bill crankbaits are killer for me!  #5 Rapala Countdowns are pretty stellar, too.  Zoom Flukes get good quality but not quantity.

[TnRiver46]

Round ball jig head and curly tail grub . 

[Krux5506]

creek smallies are fun. Ned rigs, curly tail grubs as mentioned. I like fly fishing them with woolly buggers. 

[fishballer06]

I just got done doing some creek fishing last night for smallies. A 2.8 or 3.3" Keitech on a 1/8oz jighead is a killer, as well as a compact 1/8oz spinnerbait as well. 

[Manly Studson]

3/16 oz jigs with craw trailers, Rebel Teeny Wee Craws, wacky rigged Senkos, spooks, and poppers work well.

[Drew03cmc]

Walking baits are my favorite way to catch creek smallies. I like those 3.2 to 3.75" long, around 1/3-3/8oz. Any of them in a halfway natural hue will work. Also, the Whopper Plopper 90 works well for creek bass. When they slow down and won't smash the topwaters, I tie on a 3/16oz Tackle HD Stealth jighead and a 3" Tackle HD HiDef Craw. Again, this is for creeks. In rivers, which are considerably larger, my bait choices also tend to be larger. 

[bowhunter63]

Strike King bitsy bug jig with a craw or baby menace trailer. They tear them up down here in the Ozarks.

[RyneB]

Finesse jigs, small poppers. I also like to carry a good amount of good old ball head jigs, and a bunch of different plastics. Whether it's a simple black grub, a hand pour goby, Keitech 2.8, small finesse worm. I can switch them out easy and cover water and pick apart spots. 

[moguy1973]

Anything largemouth eat a smallmouth will also eat.  Don’t overthink it. 4” tubes, Ned Rig, walking top waters, 90 or 110 whopper ploppers, square bill cranks, inline spinners, willow leaf spinner boats.  All should work fine.  Smallies are pretty aggressive fish and are awesome fighters when you hook up. 

[Mbirdsley]

I’ve caught more river/creek smallies than you can shake a stick at on Green pumpkin tube.  I buy zoom but, any should work.  Since it’s a Pool I would imagine lots of snags at the bottom so I would t-rig it. Tube jig will work but, might get hung up a lot. All you do is cast them out and slowly reel it in. You Need enough weight for it to tick off the bottom as you bring it in and maybe kill it once in a while Kill it. 
 

 .  Size 7 jointed and non-jointed rapala’s work good.  The jointed seem to work better in cooler water.

 

Ned rig will work well but, you will loose a lot to snags. Best success for me is to some how get situated down stream a bit and cast ned rig up stream. The current should push ned rig into pool.  Only reel fast enough to keep slack out of line and help the ned if it gets caught up.