What To Do When Only The Lttle Ones Bite?

[dulouz]

The past few weekends I have been fishing a river for smallmouth. I motor up stream and anchor near a slack water area and cast to the bank, hitting as many spots as possible and cast paralell as well. Last weekend I had really good luck with a Bandit 100 in Chart/Rootbeer. I didn't catch a lot, but enough and they weren't big but they did fight good. Today I was out and all I caught were tiny, tiny fish. The ones you don't know how they got their mouths around the hook. I tired other lures: spinnerbaits, tubes, buzzbaits. All with no luck. Yet everytime I went back to the crankbait I caught the little guys. I would think if the little ones are biting the big ones woule be too. If this helps, we haven't had much rain in several weeks and the river has been consistently dropping for a month or so. Any insights?

[clayton86]

Id try looking for deep bends that's where I'm getting all my bigger river smallies. Deep hole + wood or big rock = hold on tight

[Andy C]

And don't be afraid to use larger lures. Smallies aren't shy about attacking a 1/2 oz spinnerbait.

[slonezp]

As I throw them back in I always say "Tell your mother to come back and bite my lure" It normally doesn't work.

[Bluebasser86]

Like Clayton86 said, find some deeper water with some sort of cover. Big fish will usually seek out the best spots. Lots of rivers this time of year are running low on water so deeper holes tend to attract more fish this time of year.

[pitchin fool]

Always try a jig and craw, also. I know you won't get as many fish, but them big girls love the jig and craw!!!

[Gavin]

Walk the dog plug or a big jig...

[LargeChuckles]

Small smallies live in different areas than big ones. Big ones are also more spooky, especially with low and dropping water.

[405z06]

Sometimes that is all that is biting. You probably aren't doing anything "wrong". I did a 15 mile float this past weekend on a great Ozark stream. My buddy and I combined didn't catch a single smallie over 15". Same trip last June we couldn't keep the fish off our lines.

They can be more moody and finicky than women

[northern basser]

I've been fishing river smallies a ton this summer and agree with some points already mentioned and have some new ideas.

1) deeper water w/ rocks and or wood structure

2) finesse jig w/ a craw trailer or a t-rigged craw like the money craw by YUM.

3) rapala skitter pop (#7) pulled across the surface with short/fast motion... pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pause.....repeat.

4) take that jig/craw and work it at the bottom of a fast moving rapid, throwing it into the fast current and lifting it off the bottom every few seconds while its carried downstream to the pool at the end of the rapid.

The river I have been fishing has been dropping also and has seemed to make fishing tougher. They seem spookier.

[Big Cat]

Sometimes that is all that is biting. You probably aren't doing anything "wrong". I did a 15 mile float this past weekend on a great Ozark stream. My buddy and I combined didn't catch a single smallie over 15". Same trip last June we couldn't keep the fish off our lines.

They can be more moody and finicky than women

Which stream did you hit?

[405z06]

Which stream did you hit?

The Big Piney from Slabtown to Ross

[Nick]

On streams particularly, one catches a pretty good sample of what's living it it. Streams are shallower and most of the water column can be pretty thoroughly covered in a good day's casting. I imagine you are catching smaller bass because that's what lives there. If your waters have a great population of big smallies you'll catch them best when the water temps drop around the 50-45 degrre mark. Slow down and fish the deeper holes and you find out pretty quickly how many quality fish you have there.

I go north about every summer and catch 20x more big smallies than I can in streams here in Missouri. I doubt that I'm a 20 times better angler when I go there.

We have a lot more fishing pressure here in Missouri, just a 12 in. limit, and the giggers spear bass illegally which really hurts our numbers of larger bass.