Smallie newbie

[FR0G]

I am going up to Idaho later in this month to visit my Grandparents in Clark Fork. They live on the Clark fork river, and their is small mouth in there. I have never fished for smallmouth before, and would like to know what lures to stock up on. Thanks!

[Crestliner2008]

Hope you have a medium, to medium lite, spinning rod & reel! Load it with 6 pound test quality monofilament line (like Trilene XL). Get a few dozen plain 1/8 oz. jig heads, along with a bunch of 3" curly tailed grubs in various colors (as long as you have some in chartreuse!). Hook these grubs on the jig heads with the curly tail portion following the hook bend. Cast upstream, let it settle a bit (depending on the depth) and start a slow retrieve, down & across the current, keeping the jig just above the bottom as much as possible.

You'll loose a lot of jigs this way - part of the game; but, you will catch your share of smallmouth bass this way as well!

[FR0G]

Yes, my dropshot setup is a 703MEF Powell with a 1500 Shimano Sedona. I have 8lb on it, but I can change. How about tubes?

[Crestliner2008]

Personally, I've found tubes to be more productive in the spring and fall. But they are a primo smallie bait, so give them a whirl. It would depend on the type of bottom you're fishing of course. Not a good option if you're fishing deep structures with a lot of grass.

[SuskyDude]

You pretty much can't go wrong with tubes ANY time of year. I fish them almost exclusively Nov-April, so when things start warming up, I usually put them down for faster baits. I would bring tubes for sure. 4" Tubes, dark color, on a 1/4 oz 3/0 jig head.

Cranks, spinnerbaits, topwater: all good. What ever you have confidence w/ for LM will work for SM.

Most important thing is where. Structure and current are your most important factors. Couldn't tell you a thing about that particular river that time of year, but I'm gonna guess they will still be in or near significant current. On shallow flats and below fast moving ledges in the morning/evening, and on the edge of the channel where they meet up with large shelves in the daytime have would be good places to start.

Good luck!

[bassmaster3000]

All i can really say would be plastic worms and yum salted soft plastic crayfish. worms i would say for colors: purple, pumkinseed, and black w/ a chartreuse curly tail. all worms should be 4 to 7 inches with a curly tail. Jig off bottom just like you would for LM. for crayfish: i would suggest natural colors. (brownish-gray on top with red to orange on the bottom), and also jig it very, VERY slowly on the bottom with a big jig head inside it. especially work it around docks. they are great around docks. other than that, the only other lure i've caught them on this year are 3" chartreuse curlytails. the thing is with those, most of the time i catch LM on them. infact my biggest LM so far was caught this year on one. I'm sort of new to bass fishing so my biggest LM is only 4 lbs. decent in my book though.

Hope you catch somethin',

BASSMASTER ;D

[IMPY03]

I have luck on Mepps In-line spinners in white and chartreuse. I throw mine down stream up stream and across and had luck either way just try different speed retrieves with all three to see what they like. Always retrieve slower when against current to keep the lure deeper.  8-)

[Jig Thrower]

You cant go wrong with green pumpking grubs or some gary yamamoto hula grubs