Southern Vs Northern Smallmouth Lures and Techniques

[ATA]

Guys, Going to visit Big Bear Lake in southern CA, I am going for few days Crappie and Smallmouth fishing, I was looking online and all I see the tips are from northern guys and suggesting good old hair jigs and marabou jigs plus some dropshot and A-rig.

Nothing on southern smallmouth behavior and what to use for them and where they located.

I am going to visit the lake on February 48° / 22° and 5 days rain. I have no idea about wind though.

[Jig Man]

Well I am kind of in the middle not north or south.  Before the deep freeze we were catching them on jigs (the Jewel Pee Wee Bass Whacker in 7/16 with a 4” Yamamoto twin tail grub in watermelon/red was good) and the Ned rig which was best.  They were on or near rocks..

[TnRiver46]

I woould never go after SMB without a plastic worm 

[WRB]

Too early for both bass and crappie fishing at Big Bear lake imo, good trout fishing however.

Big Bear’s micro climate is very cold and the remains cold until May when both Bass and Crappie are more active.

The majority of Big Bears Smallmouth population lives in the western or dam end of the lake from Metcalf Bay west, deeper water areas.

Drop or Slip Shot rigged Roboworm in purple tones or oxblood red flake and black hair jigs for Smallmouth or Largemouth and marabou crappie jigs fished around docks for crappie. From shore a Thill slip bobber set about 10’-12’ with 2 lb leader, size 16 gold treble hook with Power bait dough ball about 3/8 diameter ball for trout or trout spinners, spoons like Thomas Boyant in gold colors, 4 lbs line.

Neighbor lake Arrowhead has good Smallmouth bass fishing, but a private lake.

Tom

PS, Cachuma has a good Smallmouth and Crappie in February.

[Dwight Hottle]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I woould never go after SMB without a plastic worm 

 

I have never ever fished for smallmouth with a plastic worm. I guess I need to enlarge my tool chest. 

[TnRiver46]

I’m sure you’ve seen the Great Lakes tourneys @Dwight Hottle, little green or brown worm on a drop shot is what at least half of the field is using. 
 

granted that’s not at all popular on TN river , Texas rig and shaky head seem better 

 

also I wouldn’t worry too much about your tool chest, what you do catches a little minnow every once in a while 

[gim]

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I would never go after SMB a fish without a plastic worm 

 

Fixed it for ya.

[TnRiver46]

Good point , I even caught a rainbow trout on a Texas rig purple worm once 😂 

[Reel]

Let's define WORM. Is a Ned rig is a worm !!!!

[TnRiver46]

Half of one anyway 

[Kirtley Howe]

Well, I am a northern SMB fisherman, but since you are going in February to what is a pretty cold water lake at that time of year, then these tactics should still work.

1) Jerkbait worked with VERY long pauses. 

2) Crankbaits that run at the appropriate depth worked as slowly as possible.

3) Weightless wacky worm.

[MIbassyaker]

Other than gobies in the great lakes, I don't imagine there is all that much difference between Northern and Southern smallmouth fishing, as long as you pay attention to seasonal location & local forage. 

 

I would bet a larger difference is between free-flowing rivers vs. lakes, which could apply anywhere.  For instance, in MI, most of my smallie fishing is rivers, and the techniques and tactics I use have more in common with other river anglers in the South than Great Lakes anglers here.  @TnRiver46 likes a worm on the bottom? So do I -- behold: river smallmouth candy:

[Susky River Rat]

You can never go wrong with a Ned rig  for smallies. Summer, winter or apocalypse.  

[softwateronly]

My smallmouth fishing is far from refined, but to me lake smallies key in harder than LM.  Meaning, if they're on bait or looking up, they ignore the jigs right below or in front of them, and vice versa.  I like everyones suggestions and would add in some heavy metal to your options; blade baits, spoons, and small swimbaits/underspins.  

 

scott

[WRB]

I mentioned Lake Arrow about 15 miles from Big Bear Lake as the crow flies. Arrowhead is a third the size of Big Bear and 2,000 feet lower elevation (5200 vs 7200) but has very good Smallmouth bass fishing compared to Big Bear. Less pressured fish that react to all the normal lures including jerk and crankbaits.

Right now Big Bear still has ice and today it’s snowing. Should be ice free soon but the water warms very slowly reaching about 62 degrees in the summer, a little warmer east end sheltered areas.

The Ned Rig would work at Big Bear, just overlooked it.

Tom

[PaulVE64]

On 1/20/2024 at 1:16 PM, Dwight Hottle said:

 

I have never ever fished for smallmouth with a plastic worm. I guess I need to enlarge my tool chest. 

I'm a big fan but this shocked me a little bit.

 

[Dwight Hottle]

@PaulVE64 I said that tongue in check to pull @TnRiver46's chain. I always fish for smallies with jerk baits 90% of the time because it works for me. When I can't get bit on a jerk bait because they are tight to the bottom I use a blade bait or jigging spoon or even a spintail jig like Jackall Deracoup or Manns Little George. I'm not saying plastic worm style baits don't work I just fish other baits that mimic their success. Drop shot baits have never been my thing because other baits work for me. I'll also use hair jigs & spy baits when the bite sucks.   

[TnRiver46]

You just reel the spy bait slowly ? Always wanted to buy one of those 

[gim]

On 1/20/2024 at 10:27 PM, TnRiver46 said:

Half of one anyway 

 

They make a full size TRD and even a jumbo version too.

 

I use the full size one quite often for largemouth.  Haven't used the jumbo version though.

 

I use the "half" one somewhat frequently for smallmouth when the bite is tough.  Flat, calm, sunny days on waters that have clear visibility.  I'd prefer to use another tactic like a jerkbait, crankbait, etc but sometimes they just want the half worm.

[roadwarrior]

18 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

You just reel the spy bait slowly ? Always wanted to buy one of those 

Drift with the current, pop it when you hit anything and have your lure retriever at

the ready.

[softwateronly]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

You just reel the spy bait slowly ? Always wanted to buy one of those 

 

Spybaits shimmy on the fall and often get bit that way.  Stop and go retrieves or dead straight, you have to figure it out each time it seems.

 

scott

[Swamp Girl]

I have caught many smallmouth twitching F13 Rapalas on the surface. Those bass were color sensitive. One color one day and another the next. In Maine, they hit all my largemouth lures, but if I'm fishing for them, i.e. I look in the water and see nothing but rocks beneath me, I'll cast a brass-bladed Mepps. 

[Pat Brown]

Inline spinner/Jerkbait/crankbait have caught me piles of smallies up North.  My dad and uncle never gave me finesse lures to fish for the smallmouth up North, but fast forward 20 years, thanks to YouTube and pro bass fishing tournaments, I'm aware NOW, that would have worked really well.

 

I'd bring a couple spinning rods for small swimbaits, Ned rig and a dropshot if I was you!

[TnRiver46]

The 2019 bassmaster classic is a good one to watch if you want to see what SMB fishing is like here, especially for all you sonar haters out there. Same with pickwick 2021 elite event. The river was flooded and brown and people were getting 5 lb SMB with red crankbaits (wheeler) and 1 oz spinnerbaits. Zaldain got the big bag of the tourney with a 6-8” magdraft swimbait. Steve Kennedy was flipping a big jig into a laydown near my house and winched out a big smallie in the 2021 regular season event. Nobody can really catch any of them with their small finesse baits on sonar until Gustafson unlocked that. Still yet he is the only competitor capable of that and only came in with 2 fish during his 2023 classic victory (also the river wasn’t flooded that year). Funny how that works , 1 angler out of 53 was scoping/vertical fishing and all you hear is “they are just cheating out there with that sonar!” 
 

meanwhile the other 52 guys are throwing jigs cranks and spinners and everyone forgot