How to catch deep water Smallmouth

[Cam R]

I go to Canandaigua Lake, NY often and go primarily for Carp and Perch but I want to give Smallmouth a try in there. It’s a very deep lake (276 ft max 127 ft AAV). I was just wondering what lures to use to either drop shot or jig for the deep water ones.

thanks

[Dwight Hottle]

Blade baits & or jigging spoons like a hopkins spoon will get the job done. Works best with braid & a short leader. I like to use an ultra small swivel for connecting the braid to leader because it helps with line twist. 

[Cam R]

14 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Blade baits & or jigging spoons like a hopkins spoon will get the job done. Works best with braid & a short leader. I like to use an ultra small swivel for connecting the braid to leader because it helps with line twist. 

Will a mono leader work? Or is fluoro better since the fish cannot see it

[Dwight Hottle]

I personally like mono better than fluoro for knot strength. 

[Cam R]

11 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

I personally like mono better than fluoro for knot strength. 

Is 1/2 or 3/4 oz preferred?

[FryDog62]

If you’re in a boat and trying to cover a lot of water, a Jigging rap or snap rap can work very well too... it started as an ice fishing method so it will work as temperatures drop too. 

[TnRiver46]

Deep winter smallmouth is probably my favorite thing ever. I use basically two setups : 1) spinning rod with 6 lb mono. Lures are all on a 1/8 oz ball head jig. Bitsy tube, 2.5 inch gulp minnow, 2.5 inch paddle tail shad grub, or zoom finesse worm. 2) baitcaster with 10-12 lb mono. Lures are spoon, blade bait, rattle trap, or suspending jerkbait 

[WRB]

Maybe a member who lives near this finger lake can give you some advice fishing it.

Quick look at fishing reports indicates this lake had a massive fish die off about 5 years ago. You may be better off driving to Caygua lake.

Smallmouth bass in general roam around a lot so the key to catching them is to locate where they are and how deep to fish. My guess is somewhere above the thermocline, if there is one this time of year, would be between 8' to 35' sound long tapering points.

Tom

PS, look up drop shot rig, FC line is popular and mono works good also, 6-8 lb line, size 1 drop shot hook, 1/4 oz drop shot weight and 4" to 6" finesse worms.

[Dwight Hottle]

3 hours ago, Cam R said:

Is 1/2 or 3/4 oz preferred?

1/2 is good for moderate depths up to 25' deeper than that I like to use 3/4 or even an ounce.

[WRB]

Take a look at Glenn's new Drop Shot vedio in the General Fishing forum.

Tom

[roadwarrior]

21 hours ago, WRB said:

Take a look at Glenn's new Drop Shot vedio in the General Fishing forum.

Tom

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/fall-dropshot-tips.html

 

[ww2farmer]

When I fish deep for smallmouth, which is usually in cold water, I like 1/2 oz blade baits, or dropping a drop shot down to fish I can see on my graph screen. If the wind is really blowing, I will cast out a small bait on a 1/2 oz football head and let the drift of the boat drag it along the bottom through the areas they are holding.

[Cam R]

3 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

When I fish deep for smallmouth, which is usually in cold water, I like 1/2 oz blade baits, or dropping a drop shot down to fish I can see on my graph screen. If the wind is really blowing, I will cast out a small bait on a 1/2 oz football head and let the drift of the boat drag it along the bottom through the areas they are holding.

Do you jig the blade baits?

[Vilas15]

1 hour ago, Cam R said:

Do you jig the blade baits?

You can jig them straight down, or cast out then rip them of the bottom and lower the rod as you crank up the slack, then rip again. The fish will hit it on the fall, or when you go to rip you'll set the hook automatically. You can also do more of a slow lift off the bottom, lots of ways to do it.

[ww2farmer]

3 hours ago, Cam R said:

Do you jig the blade baits?

This video will explain how I do it better than I can type it out.

 

 

[MickD]

From my experience I conclude there is no one single way to retrieve a blade bait.  You have to find what the fish want.  I think there is a wrong way, and that is to jerk the lure aggressively a long way.  I'm talking my experience with smb and walleye.

[FryDog62]

On 10/27/2019 at 5:25 PM, ww2farmer said:

This video will explain how I do it better than I can type it out.

 

 

Crazy in that he seems to barely be lifting the lure... doesn’t even look like enough to make it vibrate but maybe it does a little..?

[Crestliner2008]

Barely lifting it off the bottom is what triggers the attack. Deep water smallies are tuned into vibrations much more acutely than we are. And they can pick up these vibes from much longer distances. I know it's difficult to understand, but these subtle jigging motions on/off the bottom are more effective than 2' hops. It's not about what we feel, but what the fish perceives as action of prey. JMO.

[A-Jay]

12 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Crazy in that he seems to barely be lifting the lure... doesn’t even look like enough to make it vibrate but maybe it does a little..?

That's the Magic - 

 In the coldest water, I have my best success lifting the bait slowly enough to where I can almost count each vibration the bait makes as it moves.

Think about that for a second.

Imagining that I only want 4 or 5 vibrations, that can only happen if I only lift it 6 inches or less. 

Big movement will get bites, but subtle is the deal.

 

Perhaps watch how these bass look & act like under the ice. (video clip below)

Super early & late season soft water temps are only a tick warmer than this - so it may stand to reason that a bait may need to be / appear easy to eat to even draw interest. 

I learned a ton from watch this especially regarding how important it is for me to slow down.

And when I think I'm fishing slow - to go even slower in cold water deals.

btw - the angler here Aaron Wiebe of uncut angling is a fairly unique human - but I do like his style.

Hope that helps

A-Jay

 

 

[FryDog62]

8 hours ago, A-Jay said:

That's the Magic - 

 In the coldest water, I have my best success lifting the bait slowly enough to where I can almost count each vibration the bait makes as it moves.

Think about that for a second.

Imagining that I only want 4 or 5 vibrations, that can only happen if I only lift it 6 inches or less. 

Big movement will get bites, but subtle is the deal.

 

Perhaps watch how these bass look & act like under the ice. (video clip below)

Super early & late season soft water temps are only a tick warmer than this - so it may stand to reason that a bait may need to be / appear easy to eat to even draw interest. 

I learned a ton from watch this especially regarding how important it is for me to slow down.

And when I think I'm fishing slow - to go even slower in cold water deals.

btw - the angler here Aaron Wiebe of uncut angling is a fairly unique human - but I do like his style.

Hope that helps

A-Jay

 

 

Aaron’s a hoot... one of the reasons I got Panoptix... 

[H2Power]

Great videos ....

 

I used to fish Canandaigua (not since 2012).  It can be a challenging lake, but late October is a really good time for fishing the lake.  I have had success with two methods ... first, searching points, especially rocky ones, I have found solid schools of fish where you could load the boat in a hurry.  Dragging a tube and/or drop shotting worked well.  10-25' deep.

 

Finding a good school on a point is no sure thing.  But I have done equally well just covering lots of water hitting shallow points, isolated targets like laydowns and flats with a whacky senko or jig.

 

I've had days with 18-19# bags doing the above.  I don't recall fishing any deeper than 30'.

[Cam R]

On 11/19/2019 at 10:29 AM, H2Power said:

Great videos ....

 

I used to fish Canandaigua (not since 2012).  It can be a challenging lake, but late October is a really good time for fishing the lake.  I have had success with two methods ... first, searching points, especially rocky ones, I have found solid schools of fish where you could load the boat in a hurry.  Dragging a tube and/or drop shotting worked well.  10-25' deep.

 

Finding a good school on a point is no sure thing.  But I have done equally well just covering lots of water hitting shallow points, isolated targets like laydowns and flats with a whacky senko or jig.

 

I've had days with 18-19# bags doing the above.  I don't recall fishing any deeper than 30'.

Thanks for the help. There was a mass fish die in 2014 so unfortunately its hard to get quality bass there now, im in the south end so it makes it even harder

[BassinCNY]

This thread sparked my curiosity about Canandaigua. I've fished the lakes all around it but never Canandaigua. Based on the latest NYS DEC fish survey https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/115267.html I don't think I will any time soon. Unless I want perch.

[Yatch]

I am an experience fisherman that mainly fishes one local lake here in Wi. (now) My lake is max. at 100 ft. Over the years in peak summer (now) I have noticed fish marks in 25 to 35' of water on two flat areas of the lake. Lake is clear with a lot of sand and rocks.  Based on my catches lotsa perch, pike and smallmouth. I have boated 3 s/m this year fishing shallow that were 18" .  I have spent some time with a crawler drop shot without any bites in these deep areas.  I plan to stay with this program unless I find something else to try.  Any ideas? Thanks

[cyclops2]

Flats are great for bigger fish at different light levels.  The smallest fish are dragging belly or swimming on their sides. Tossing BEHIND and into deeper water works well in that situation.