smallmouthbeginner Posted January 31, 2008 Posted January 31, 2008 When is the best part of the year to use these hardbaits for smallies in rivers. I just recently picked up a bunch of hardbaits and am looking forward to trying them out, and what are the good water temps to use these in? Where should i cast to? Cover or Open water? Quote
smallieking Posted January 31, 2008 Posted January 31, 2008 summer mostly poppers use around shallow cover cranks in more open water during the prespawn in spring cranks work well also post spawn when bass turn on fry they hit darker looking cranks im no great expert on hard baits though Quote
smallmouthbeginner Posted January 31, 2008 Author Posted January 31, 2008 Well even if your not an "expert" on hardbaits. thats very helpfull thanks man Quote
smallieking Posted January 31, 2008 Posted January 31, 2008 lol yea i use poppers once and a while and very rarely fish for smallies with cranks well yea hope u catch them Quote
smallmouthbeginner Posted January 31, 2008 Author Posted January 31, 2008 Im not only going to fish with these, im also going to buy zoom super flukes, you told me flukes should work, im also getting jigheads, O how much weight should the jigheads be smallieking? Quote
smallieking Posted January 31, 2008 Posted January 31, 2008 ight i have an entire tackle box full of just jig heads alright for tubes i use a 1/4 ounce internal tube jighead for shakey head worms i use a 3/8 ounce ball jighead then for other baits like beavers and bottom bouncers and craws i use a 1/8 ounce jighead i mix them up though depending on depth and the amount of current just experiment and u will find what works best for u Quote
smallmouthbeginner Posted January 31, 2008 Author Posted January 31, 2008 ok sounds good. what companies do you recommend? Quote
smallieking Posted January 31, 2008 Posted January 31, 2008 it really doesnt matter i just go grab some of the bullet weights in the size im looking for i do like tru-tungsten but its more expensive and harder to find so dont even worry about that just worry about the size of the weight Quote
smallmouthbeginner Posted January 31, 2008 Author Posted January 31, 2008 What size hooks for the flukes? Quote
smallmouthbeginner Posted January 31, 2008 Author Posted January 31, 2008 k. thanks for helping me out. GOOD LUCK FISHIN TO YA! Quote
smallieking Posted February 1, 2008 Posted February 1, 2008 lol yea no problem just holla if u need any more info yea good luck to u too even though the bite isnt for a few more months Quote
brgbassmaster Posted February 1, 2008 Posted February 1, 2008 hey i love fishing for smallies in small rivers and wading and catching them. i use hard baits all yr long in the river i fish. the deepest the river gets is 6 ft. i start out in the spring fishing crayfish colored crankbaits. throw upstream and reel it down because the fish are looking upstream waiting for food to come to them. if you see beds then you can try plastics like worms or swimbaits or small tubes and grubs thats what i do because the river is shallow so i do that for spawners. but when i am wading during the spawn they will nail the crankbait also, and usually when i can actually see the bass spawning is when i am on the shore thats when i use plastics. then in the summer i use the strikeking 1/8th ounce buzzbaits, pop r's firetiger color, zell pop in shiner color. and white terminator spinnerbaits with the 4.25 willow leaf blade. fall same as summer. idk if the river you fish has big smallies but the one i fish the average is 18inches hard to belive but its true. they will take all those baits practically jerking the rod out of your hand. Quote
TeamBerettaGold Posted February 5, 2008 Posted February 5, 2008 Im with brgbassmaster. Ive got a river in my back yard and ahve been fishing it since my mom would let me cross the street (if you ask her that was just last year...lol) I love casting small crawfish cranks, strike king series 1XS, its pretty shallow so it just digs and bumps off all the rocks and the smallies just eat it up. Tube jigs are also huge, yum and gitzit, 1/8 ounce if the current is bad, 1/4 when it is. I like to use a 60 degree wide gap jig head, seem to hook up a lot more then with a 90 degree. Also love to t-rig a smaller beaver. Quote
smallmouthbeginner Posted February 5, 2008 Author Posted February 5, 2008 Ok thanks, I have also heard that the rebel crawfish crank is very good for smallies and very easy to use. Quote
skip Posted February 8, 2008 Posted February 8, 2008 Lehigh River, PA The best time for poppers and other surface hard baits (including 0-1ft divers) was the 3 weeks right before daylight savings ended (mid fall). After that it went back to tubes and the like. And the floating torpedo (with propellers) was a fun, yet inconsistent, hard bait for most of the fall. Skip EDIT: This goes for the Delaware river too. Quote
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