Fishing Deep of SMB

[Mottfia]

Hey Guys,

  I'm curious about something. When I was out at lake Wilson I saw alot of guys way off the bank fishing for Smallies. So I'm wondering how do yall guys do it? Please give me as much details about it as you can. I'm a shallow water fisherman that is looking to jump into that open water world. Thanks guys

[Crestliner2008]

I fish a deep, clear, hill-land lake here in MA (Quabbin) and mostly fish off-shore. Been doing this for quite a few years now. Fishing open water is all about location and food. Find food on a drop-off or side of a point, or creek channel and you're golden. Anchor and start fishing. It can be a pain to anchor and pull many times during the course of a day, but the proof is in the pudding, so-to-speak - as you will see.

Now it comes down to presentations. I'd pick the drop shot as my No. 1, followed by Senkos (wacky-rigged) and hard jerks. I haven't tried the shakey head yet, but that should work well. I also try tubes from time to time to give them something different.

Yesterday we hit the Quabbin early and the fish were co-operating nicely. The best part is that we were all alone...fishing out in the middle of the lake and catching one after another. Not sure how many we actually caught, but at least a doz. & 1/2 each. All very respectable smallies. No dinks. Some folks claim to catch 30 or 40 smallies on this lake in a day. But they're beating the banks and most are a pound or a pound & 1/2. We don't consider those bass.   We even got a 4.3 lb. salmon and a 3/4 lb. white perch, to round things out. Only the salmon and the white perch were taken home for the table. We always CPR our small mouth bass. A religion with us.

Here are a couple of pictures of what we caught yesterday and what you can expect if you put in the time and the study:

This is a sample of what you can find off-shore, if you use your electronics properly and don't beating the banks:

Hope this is of some help to you.

[roadwarrior]

Nice fish!

Generally speaking, the larger smallmouth will be associate with

structure in current on all of the Tennessee River reserviors. In

addition to tubes, grubs and jigs, the 3/4 oz Ledgebuster Single

Blade Spinnertbait is a big bass lure that very few anglers employee.

Give it a try, you might be surprised!

8-)

[Crestliner2008]

LedgeBuster - I have several of these spinnerbaits on my boat, but rarely use one! DUH! See, that's the problem....sooooo many lures..... soooo little time!  

RW, I guarantee, I'll be giving them a whirl next time out. Thanks!

[roadwarrior]

I'm not convinced there is a "magic presentation" and I would expect it to vary from day to day, but what has been successful for me is letting the lure sink to the bottom, lift the spinnerbait with a long draw, then fall on slack line.

8-)