River Bank Grass flippin???

[smallieking]

i wade a lot of rivers for smallmouth and there are alot of bank grass in the rivers but it is in shallow water. i see alot of small panfish and minnows around them but never any decent size smallmouth but i cant see inside the grass just the edge.  I ran into an angler who said he caught 4 really nice smallies flipping the bank grass on a 4 power worm trigged with a really light bullet weight    Does any river smallie anglers out there do this???? and if so can you give me any tips on it

[Tin]

It's just like flipping any other grass. Put the bait in holes of the grass or any irregular features of the grass. They will set-up on the same ambush points a largemouth will.

[basser89]

I had this scenerio similar to this two weeks ago when I was fishing from shore on the Potomac. I was in an area that was no more than 2' deep and had a ton of grass. From the bank out about 10' was a small channel that ran about 2' deeper than the rest of the area. I had tried a top water toad but no takers so I switched up to a 4" tube. I Pitched it to the edge of the grass and let the current take it. I had several hits and landed one (guessing most of them were smaller smallmouths) with the exception of the "bluegill" hits. I had the tube t-rigged with an 1/8oz bullet weight pegged.

[smallieking]

o really?  yea im fishing just north of you and the grass sounds very similar   idk im going to give it a try next year  sometime  why not

[stepchild]

My cousin invited me to fish a river for some smallies and I was just baffled at the fact that the cmallies were all holding in classic largemouth spots!!

The river was stained and they were holding along the edge (and just inside) of stump fileds, thick weeds and shallow lilypads. I was using pretty much the same thing, a 4-inch power worm, t-rigged, with a pegged 1/8 ounce weight. I also used a 5' Senko rigged the same way and got bigger fish. I don't know if it was the slower fall or the bulkier bait, but it seemed to work.....oh, and both were in Junebug colors

[basser89]

I was just baffled at the fact that the cmallies were all holding in classic largemouth spots!!

The river was stained and they were holding along the edge (and just inside) of stump fileds, thick weeds and shallow lilypads.

Was the river levels up when you found them in that pattern? When the upper Potomac floods, I have a spot I go to where I can find largemouths and smallies in a 10-15 yard stretch. They hold in bushes and laydowns, the stronger current pushes the smallies into this area.

[stepchild]

Oddly enough, the water level was normal...maybe even lower than normal. But this used to be a river where A LOT of runoff from farmers fields would just pour in, so it's got this chocolate milk look to it.

The smallies were all very light colored, but healthy nonetheless.

[Tin]

I was just baffled at the fact that the cmallies were all holding in classic largemouth spots!!

The river was stained and they were holding along the edge (and just inside) of stump fileds, thick weeds and shallow lilypads.

Was the river levels up when you found them in that pattern? When the upper Potomac floods, I have a spot I go to where I can find largemouths and smallies in a 10-15 yard stretch. They hold in bushes and laydowns, the stronger current pushes the smallies into this area.

That is a norm up here to. It is generally big smallies though and you won't get a largie over 3.

[Bassaholic007]

I fish the upper St. Croix on the MN/WI border alot and it is very similar to the structure you are talking about. I prefer to flip the grass with 1/4oz texas rigged tubes. I also do well throwing a spinnerbait on the outside edge of the grass.

[Dan:]

I have had times while fishing a small shallow river when I would fish the smallie spots and get nothing. No bites in the deeper water, nothing in the rocks, and nothing in the current. Then I just started fishing shade with sandy bottoms and timber and ended up catching a ton. That has happened several times on that river, the smallmouth just switch to largemouth spots for some reason.

[Korea_Bassmaster]

hey i fish a river in michigan and i always fish the little holes along the bank, but in the middle of the river there is long stringy weeds! would that work the same way?