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Top Smallmouth Baits There are certain circumstances when small lures are the only kind that will catch smallmouth bass. But that's also true of other species and their preferences in lures. For instance, walleye sometimes prefer an elongated plug, while at other times they prefer a short and stubby one. That would indicate the fish that select the long crankbait, a Bomber Long-A or a Rapala for instance, are feeding on long, thin baitfish such as smelt, perch or emerald shiners. The walleye that hit the stubbier lures, such as the Hot-N-Tot or Bagley DB2 and others, likely are eating shad, alewives, white perch or similarly shaped forage.
To make a blanket statement about lures for smallmouth, or any other species for that matter, is not wise. That's like saying you cannot go wrong if you go to Lake Erie armed only with chartreuse weight-forward spinners. They might work many days, but what are you going to do on the days they don't?
It's wiser, then, to follow the advice of another old fishing saying: Match the hatch. While that was meant to apply to fly fishermen who seek trout feeding on hatching insects, it also applies to smallmouth bass anglers. That is, if the bass are eating two-inch crawfish, throw a small crankbait in crawfish pattern or a jig-'n-pig. If they are hitting schools of shad, toss chrome or shad-finish crankbaits, an in-line spinner or a white safety-pin style spinnerbait, or a topwater plug.
To be sure, there are times when little lures are the correct choice for smallmouth bass. For instance, when the water is too clear for 10 pound test line and the bass are afraid of their own shadows because they are skittish in the visible depths, it's time to downsize to miniature lures. And when you are absolutely certain the fish are feeding on tiny aquatic life, you should scale down your offerings. But the rest of the time, stained water like most tri-state anglers encounter means we can use lures the same size as we would for largemouth.
A myriad of crankbaits awaits the angler who decides to stock his bass tackle box. The assortment can be truly overwhelming. The number of manufacturers is large enough on its own. Then add the various models each maker produces. When you further complicate things by having to decide between a range of sizes, your head can begin to swim. Then, of course, you must pick between the whole spectrum of colors painted onto the various patterns.
The best crankbaits for smallmouth bass are not difficult picks, however. In fact, you can stock your tackle box with two basic color-pattern combinations: crawfish and shad. If you know for certain the smallmouth in your favorite lakes prey predominantly on yellow perch or other small forage fish, you can add selections of crankbaits in those colors and patterns.
And you can throw in an assortment of sizes and models in the so-called hot colors, chartreuse and pink. Chartreuse is one of the all-around top choices for colors on smallmouth baits, so make sure your tackle box has some.
A good number of your crankbait selection should be of the deep-diving variety. Smallmouth tend to hand around structure in many tri-state reservoirs that is on the deep side of points and around dropoffs or road beds near creek channels. The deep-divers get to the fish's zone quickly and will stay there throughout the retrieve.
Medium runners are good when you are parallel-casting along rip-rap or working the shallow sides of a road bed. Shallow runners are good when the fish are scooting aggressively across sand or gravel flats less than four feet deep, or when you are fishing for bass holed up in weeds that grow up to two feet of the surface.
Despite its tendency to carom into the depths, the deep-diver is the most useful of the various styles of cranks. The big plastic beaks on the divers tend to let them bound along the bottom and kick up puffs of mud and debris, bounce off rocks and stumps and rip through stringy weeds on the deep sides of beds of vegetation.
Crankbaits certainly have a reputation for hooking active small-mouth bass. But they also have a bad name among tournament anglers because fish become unhooked from crankbaits more than they do from other styles of lures. You can minimize the number of lost fish if you use one of the new crankbait rods that are about seven feet long and that feature whippy fiberglass tips rather than the stiff graphite and other space-age materials in other bass-style poles. The flex in the tip allows a surging fish to move about while the rod absorbs energy, and The first and most important is the venerable bass-style jig that, when rigged with an Uncle Josh No. 11 pork frog is known as the jig 'n pig. As it hops slowly along the lake bottom, it looks like a crawfish, which is beyond a doubt one of the smallmouth bass' favorite foods.
Your tackle box should carry rubber-legged styles, along with bear hair or other animal fur jigs and combinations of hair and rubber. Use the all-rubber jigs when the water is at its optimum temperature, 60 degrees and up, for smallmouth activity. As the water chills in the fall, use jigs that have a little hair tied on with the rubber. And when the water temperature is below 50 degrees, stick with the all-hair bodied lures.
Bass jigs used to come in two basic colors, brown and black, and they caught lots of fish. Then manufacturers began experimenting with other colors such as blue and chartreuse and orange. Now jigs come in just about as many colors as crankbaits, and some makers have added sparkle skirts to their
lines. Many anglers have found brown and orange jigs with a black pork frog are a good choice during most of the smallmouth season. In mid-summer, a black jig with a blue or purple pork chunk is a good choice. And the sparkle-skirted jigs work well in shallow or clear water on sunny days. Another necessary smallmouth jig is the old round-head style. Plain jigs of 1/8 ounce with a smoke or avocado twister tail of about three inches are among the deadliest shallow or clear water smallmouth lures. Other anglers like the same style jig head with a white or black bucktail skirt tied on and with a two to three inch thin pork strip in matching colors. Such a set up is known in many regions as the fly and rind.
And the other style jig that is gaining popularity for smallmouth is the Fat Gitzit or similar tube worm. They are essentially clear-water drop baits. The jig head is imbedded in the lure's body with the hook point protruding about halfway back from the head. Fish such lures around weed lines, shale cliffs, rip-rap, pilings, timber and other vertical structure. Watch for strikes on the lure's descent.
When the bass are hanging tight to deeper cover and preying on shad or other flashy baitfish, the heavy metal jigging lures, such as Heddon Sonar, Silver Lucky, Silver Buddy, Hopkins Spoons and Jack's Jigging Spoon are hard to beat. There are no other lures that can be fished in deep water as effectively.
The Sonar-type baits can be fished either by casting, letting the lure drop to the bottom and then retrieving in a hopping motion, or it can be jigged vertically under the boat. The spoon-type lures are more often than not fished vertically, but they also can be cast and hopped with positive results.
Another favorite are the sonar-type baits when fishing long sandy points, grass beds in deep water or the deep line where rip-rap meets sand or mud. You can also use them around bridge pilings and other vertical structure, along with the jigging spoons.
Colors? You cannot go wrong with gold or chrome. Chartreuse sometimes is the answer and a few anglers prefer red and white.
When the smallmouth are prowling the weedbeds, they often will respond to topwater lures. Some anglers swear by the long Rapala or Bang-O-Lure in such situations, while others prefer Tiny Torpedos, Pop-Rs and other plugs. But few will argue that the Zara Spook is one of the all-time best topwater tempters.
Don't overlook buzzbaits as good smallmouth lures, either. Spinners, of course, are a staple in any smallmouth bass fisherman's bag of tricks.
Many bass fishermen rely on the safety-pin spinnerbaits and have forgotten about the traditional in-line spinners we grew up with. I always keep a Mepps or Roostertail handy,
Smallmouth do indeed attack the larger spinnerbaits that large-mouth bassers prefer. I have had plenty of exciting moments wrestling big bronzebacks to the boat after they belted large spinnerbaits. One of the preferred summer-time smallmouth spinnerbaits is a 3/8 ounce lure with a black skirt and a No. 5 hammered nickel or copper willow leaf blade. Other anglers do well with white spinnerbaits, too. It is also possible to catch nice smallmouth on spinners featuring the huge No. 7 gold blades and others who prefer the little No. 3 Colorado style blades.
Spinnerbaits are especially effective when you are after bass that are hiding in weeds or under the roots of stumps. And they are a good tool to use to boat a couple of quick fish when you encounter a pack corralling baitfish along rip-rap or a road bed. |