Favorite Tactic

[WI_Angler1989]

Just for fun, what is your favorite way to catch Smallies? Is it a particular technique? Is it a specific lure? Water column presentation? You tell me!

 

Mine is this little guy: 1/4oz Cadman's Smallie Crawlin jig.... tubes, baby bizz bugs, killer kraws... whatever they're hungry for.

[TnRiver46]

1/8 oz round ball head. Baits vary from zoom dead ringer, zoom finesse worm, 2.5 inch paddle tail, and 2.75 inch bitsy tube

[heavyduty]

I enjoy them all but for my favorite, when they absolutely.... crush..... a spinnerbait!

[Spankey]

There is nothing I love more than 4:45 am with the river like a sheet of glass and a Smallie exploding on a Rapala Skitter Pop or Pop-R. That will fire me up anyday.

 

Finesse worms, tubes, craws and grubs I'm up with doing that. As well as crankbaits. I love it all. 

[WI_Angler1989]

46 minutes ago, heavyduty said:

I enjoy them all but for my favorite, when they absolutely.... crush..... a spinnerbait!

That's an awesome bite! Not exactly the same, but I fish a lot of inline spinners, and they SLAM those a lot too. 

 

14 minutes ago, Spankey said:

There is nothing I love more than 4:45 am with the river like a sheet of glass and a Smallie exploding on a Rapala Skitter Pop or Pop-R. That will fire me up anyday.

 

Finesse worms, tubes, craws and grubs I'm up with doing that. As well as crankbaits. I love it all. 

Awesome! I've got to get better at getting out early. My summers are super busy and I let fishing slack. Topwater is great on glassy water.

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

1/8 oz round ball head. Baits vary from zoom dead ringer, zoom finesse worm, 2.5 inch paddle tail, and 2.75 inch bitsy tube

Open hook? I snag like crazy here...

[A-Jay]

Really Hard to pick just one presentation ~

While I've had some very memorable days on the water fishing jerkbaits,

I am going to have to say an A-Rig.

Just because they always totally Hammer it ! 

A-Jay

 

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, WI_Angler1989 said:

That's an awesome bite! Not exactly the same, but I fish a lot of inline spinners, and they SLAM those a lot too. 

 

Awesome! I've got to get better at getting out early. My summers are super busy and I let fishing slack. Topwater is great on glassy water.

Open hook? I snag like crazy here...

On the worms I rig them weedless like this 

[WI_Angler1989]

4 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Really Hard to pick just one presentation ~

While I've had some very memorable days on the water fishing jerkbaits,

I am going to have to say an A-Rig.

Just because they always totally Hammer it ! 

A-Jay

 

Cool! Ive never used an A-Rig, myself. I've seen some of your bass though, so if these fish are hitting it... it's gonna be awesome!

[keagbassr]

 Buzzbait. 

[Tizi]

I absolutely love fishing at night with top water:  whopper plopper, creek chub injured minnow, rico poopers, jitterbigs, etc.  Love the big blow ups at night.

[gim]

Pretty hard to beat a good topwater bite but it’s just not very often that they’re in the aggressive mood to have it be effective.

[Hewhospeaksmuchbull]

Only smallies I've caught have been off of a spinnerbait and jerkbaits.

 

I really like fishing the jerkbait, feel like I'm working for the fish. Love manipulating the bait to get the fish to commit. Love when they follow my bait to shore, kill bait... twitch... BAM!

[WI_Angler1989]

7 hours ago, gimruis said:

Pretty hard to beat a good topwater bite but it’s just not very often that they’re in the aggressive mood to have it be effective.

Topwater is so much fun! I had a couple days last spring that were lights out on the Whopper Plopper. So many hits! Big ones, small one... literally every cast.

[RyneB]

Hard for me to narrow down favorite, but when a smallie hits a 7 inch glide bait. It's about as good as it gets. 

[SCWatrboyo1]

My favorite for 100+ degree days middle of summer between river shoals. Turns river into pond fishing

Love some swim baits, but my absolute favorite is without underspin on 1/12oz 4/0 ewg with a ribbit frog. Hammers the smallies down south

Love a 1/20oz for flukes as well

[Bluebasser86]

Jerkbaits, smallies hammer them and I catch more big smallmouth on them than anything else.

[Jermination]

3/4 oz football head jigs. The window can be tight when they are on this bite, but when its time you can nearly call your shots hopping through rocks. I catch more smallies on the ned than anything, not my favorite but undoubtedly the most consistent producer. Good ole dt-6 has also produced some really fun days on the pond

[J Francho]

For smallies?  Ripping a 1 oz. Hopkins Shorty Spoon.

[Steveo-1969]

My favorite tactic for my river smallmouth fishing is a skirted finesse jig. TOTALLY addicted to the {THUNK} and the hook set!! I love fishing this jig so much I had @Delaware Valley Tackle build me a custom rod specifically for fishing this bait.

 

WHOO!!!!!

[WI_Angler1989]

7 minutes ago, Steveo-1969 said:

My favorite tactic for my river smallmouth fishing is a skirted finesse jig. TOTALLY addicted to the {THUNK} and the hook set!! I love fishing this jig so much I had @Delaware Valley Tackle build me a custom rod specifically for fishing this bait.

 

WHOO!!!!!

I hear ya!! That's my favorite thing about the tube/craw setup I run: that THUNK!

I do fish a lot of Siebert Sniper Jigs too and they SLAM those

[MickD]

On 2/14/2020 at 3:38 PM, WI_Angler1989 said:

but I fish a lot of inline spinners,

I had just about forgotten about these when my partner got a big smallie from a group that had already seen us.

[Adam.love05]

JERKBAITS!! ?

As well as underspins.. But I have over a hundred jerkbaits.. Love the constant work to find the correct cadeance, color, and they gotta be the best looking bait out there! 

[Born 2 fish]

Jerkbaits are my favorite.

[WI_Angler1989]

Now I wanna fish a jerkbait!! ??

[Born 2 fish]

5 minutes ago, WI_Angler1989 said:

Now I wanna fish a jerkbait!! ??

Me to hopefully within a month or so.