Spawning Smallmouth

[CJ]

Just wondering what some of you smallmouth guys do to catch smallmouth during the pre-spawn and during the spawn?

[Master_Hunter_1977]

my go to bait pre-spawn is suspending JB. husky jerk and lucky craft, with a few megabass.

I love to site fish for smallies on their beds durning the spawn I will use a drop shot rig with a bright worm.  I like this technique b/c you can keep the bait in the strike zone a ton.

Good luck fishing.

[BigCheese]

I have had the chance to make two seprate trips to the North-East to fish for spawning smallies.  IMO you could throw an old shoe at them and they would eat it.  Never have I seen a fish so agressive on the bed.  I used tubes and Senko's all you had to do was get it close and watch for your line to swim off.  I wanted to see how far they would swim off the bed with a bait in there mouth and had a few fish that would go 25 feet before the spit the bait out.

[roadwarrior]

I don't fish for spawning bass.

I think they should be left alone.

[5bass]

Whenever I can actually see a smallmouth spawning,2 baits that will usually draw a strike are a 4" double tail hula grub (Chompers) and a MadMan craw tube.I also like to use a brighter color because smallies usually spawn deeper than largemouth and the brighter colors help me see what's going on.Colors wont matter much to a smallie on a bed.

Be on top of things though,a smallmouth is a master at picking up your bait and moving it away VERY FAST.More than a few times Ive had a smallmouth circle my bait going round and round the bed,then all at once,suck it up and spit it.It seemed like the fish was doing circles to lull me into boredom,then BAM!!!....bait gone.

I fished over one last year on a bed that was 5# easy.This fish would just nudge my bait with its nose until it pushed it off the bed.I never caught it because it never opened its mouth.Not once.

If you know of any places in your lake that have some decent sized flat rocks,go there.A smallmouth will spawn right on top of a rock if its flat enough.

Watching a smallmouth on a bed is awesome.You will see the speed they have as they are getting aggravated at your bait.Back and forth,100 mph across and around the bed.It's really amazing how quick they are.

[Ozarker]

I don't fish for spawning smallies.