Smallmouths deep

[kicken_bass]

I'm not the best bass fisherman around but i know a little about smallmouth movements this time of year. what are the best methods and lures to use when targeting smallmouths in deeper water. depths of 10 to 20 feet  Thankyou

[Nick.Culver]

If fishing structure such as a ledge, stump, dipd, and channels I would personally use a drop shot. With ledges you can use a jighead and a grub or drag a carolina rig. Learn to pitch drop shots around docks. It a big producer for me. I key in on docks that are 20ft to 25ft deep this time in the year for myself and for where I'm from. The fish are in a late post spawn to early summer staging point. You can fish a wacky rigged senko and fish it out to 15ft. It's a great way to catch smallies on weed flats from 10 to 15 feet of water. Then you can toss deep diving cranks and bounce them off of rock piles and big boulders or even over run it on a gravel flat. Spinnerbaits works good to. You can get smallies to come from 20 feet down to take it at the top. Don't be affraid to throw a topwater in 20ft of water for smallies either. Now just as a procaution I come from Washington and we have really clear water. So a majority of the techniques are for clear water fishing. We have any where from 10ft of visiblility to 25ft. So I'm used to clear water. If your fishing murky water I'd fish a crank and the spinnerbait.

[Reelwise]

Nick, I agree with you. Drop shots are an awesome rig.

The Kinami worms are a great bait to use on a drop shot rig. Baby Bass and Red are my favorite colors.

I have drop shotted before, but recently Mike Norris got be back into it. Very effective rig for deep water.

[Wabassin]

To find deep smallmouth (in a postspawn/summer pattern) right now just find the thermocline,They will sit on the bottom side of it to be in the colder water. Then use a grub and jig head, dropshot, carolina rig, blade bait, or what ever they want to hit.Usually you can find them on the electronics and drift back over them with a drop shot or a grub on a heavy jig head and you can get them. If you can find them on docks this time of year try a 5inch hula grub on a 1/8th ounce jig head for a slow fall, and like Nick said dont be afraid to throw a top water.Huge smallies will go a long way just to wack a zara spook.They will also swim a long way to hit a suspending jerkbait.

Hope this helps.