Only 1 Artificial Lure 2024
8pt172 reply :
If you could only use 1 artificial lure for SMB all year, what would it be, what color, and what different techniques?
soflabasser reply :
Topwater
Mbirdsley reply :
Green pumpkin tube 3.5-4.0 inches .
ohboyitsrobby reply :
Rebel crawdad in Louisiana craw. Just cast and reel in the current. I only get to fish for smallies in the rivers around my house in Arkansas though.
Angry John reply :
Keitech 4.4 in any color you like. Fished at any depth.
MikeInWyandotte reply :
Green pumpkin tube 3.5 - 4 inches. Dragged along bottom and lightly twitched. Close second is a Z-Man TRD 3in worm on mushroom head jig, again in green pumpkin. 3rd choice is KVD dreamshot on dropshot rig, green pumpkin again.
Bluebasser86 reply :
Zman TRD green pumpkin/orange on a 1/16oz head.
J.Vincent reply :
I've caught more Smallmouth drifting with 1/4 oz Green Pumpkin Tubes, than any other lure in my repertoire.
Oregon Native reply :
Dannnnnnnnng.....tough question. Tube....grub....tube....grub....gimmie a 4 inch Dry Creek green pumpkin grub...or..or maybe a chocolate one. 1/8 ounce head....six lb line.
roadwarrior reply :
Rage Tail Menace
smalljaw67 reply :
A 3.5" tube in green pumpkin. You can fish it T-rigged with a 1/0 tube hook, you can fish it with an inside jig head from 1/16oz up to 3/8oz, Caroline Rig it or even rig it weightless and fish it like a soft jerkbait or a topwater. While there are other baits I prefer for certain situations and other colors for different conditions, if I could only have 1 then this would be it.
Dwight Hottle reply :
Jerkbait
A-Jay reply :
A-Jay
FryDog62 reply :
I just ordered what Ajay posted above, so maybe that becomes my new favorite...
...but over the past 5 years hands down has been a 5 inch wacky worm for smb. I use Kalin’s WAC-O-Worm in baby bass color, or Berkley Maxscent General in Copper/Orange or June bug. If I could have only one lure, any of those would be hard to beat...
A-Jay reply :
On 4/29/2018 at 1:27 AM, FryDog62 said:I just ordered what Ajay posted above, so maybe that becomes my new favorite...
...but over the past 5 years hands down has been a 5 inch wacky worm for smb. I use Kalin’s WAC-O-Worm in baby bass color, or Berkley Maxscent General in Copper/Orange or June bug. If I could have only one lure, any of those would be hard to beat...
Sweet !
Be careful . . . .
Might get your arm broke.
A-Jay
Darren. reply :
I don't get to fish for smallies often...but when I do...
On a drop shot.
Yeajray231 reply :
Every year this is asked. Even the threads since the beginning.
It's cool to see what everyone is using throughout all the years.
Some of the people have been posting for a long time and it's interesting to see them answer it year after year. Most often its different ????
Adam.love05 reply :
Last year I would've said Shakey head.. this year however, round ball jig with a small paddletail. Fish it fast, slow, shallow, deep, vertical, swimmig So versatile and it can catch some Biggins!
FryDog62 reply :
A very close second for me would be Caffeine Shad on Owner Twistlock light 3/32 oz hook. Had such good luck skipping this under docks last year, biggest fish of the year easily.
Columbia Craw reply :
Yamamoto Hula Grub in 176 all day long. Drag, hop, swim it on a football head. Fish it from three to forty feet.
8pt172 reply :
Love all the different options....
My go to has been the 3.8 swimbait in sungill. I can drag it across the bottom to mimic a gobie or slow roll it over sand grass, or count it down and fish the pelagic summer bass, suspended fish.
My back up is the obvious tube in various shades of green and browns, depending on the color of the water. In Green bay the darker shades, especially brown with some orange, worked best, but in the gin color water of TC area, the lighter shades of green were the hot colors, as A-Jay described above.
Dtrombly reply :
90% of the time I fish for smallmouth is in a creek and usually only even bring a pack of senkos, wacky rigged. Gonna go with that.
Crestliner2008 reply :
If I could only have one, it would be a 3" curly tail on 1/8 th. oz. ball head jig. Chartreuse in the pattern is a necessity. Have caught tons of smallies on this simple, but highly effective presentation, over the last 4 decades.
I must prefer variety in my presentations. Makes it more fun and interesting. 
flyfisher reply :
Nose hooked 3-4" stickbait of your choice in some green hue. A close second are confidence baits finesse jogs or their dragging heads with a craw bait of some sort in green or blue.
haggard reply :
Texas rigged 4" green pumpkin soft plastic worm with 1/4 oz bullet weight. Fish it anywhere from mid to bottom.
NHBull reply :
On 4/29/2018 at 1:31 AM, A-Jay said:Sweet !
Be careful . . . .
Might get your arm broke.
A-Jay
I bought some after the first post!
flyfisher reply :
On 4/29/2018 at 8:04 AM, Adam.love05 said:Last year I would've said Shakey head.. this year however, round ball jig with a small paddletail. Fish it fast, slow, shallow, deep, vertical, swimmig So versatile and it can catch some Biggins!
one of my first memories of smallmouth fishing my dad took me on a guided trip on the susquehanna with none other than bob clouser. all he used, when not fly fishing, was a round jig head and a small sassy shad. he said you don't need anything else and he was right....
Adam.love05 reply :
On 4/30/2018 at 8:10 AM, flyfisher said:one of my first memories of smallmouth fishing my dad took me on a guided trip on the susquehanna with none other than bob clouser. all he used, when not fly fishing, was a round jig head and a small sassy shad. he said you don't need anything else and he was right....
I agree 100%.. I use to just cast it and swim it back but man oh man there are SO many more options on how to fish that bait. It's unbelievable..
Turkey sandwich reply :
On 4/30/2018 at 8:10 AM, flyfisher said:one of my first memories of smallmouth fishing my dad took me on a guided trip on the susquehanna with none other than bob clouser. all he used, when not fly fishing, was a round jig head and a small sassy shad. he said you don't need anything else and he was right....
That said a size 2 Clouser can put smallmouth in the boat almost as readily as a grub or tube. I would love to book a trip with him while he's still around. He's the streamer OG and such an encyclopedia of smallmouth knowledge.
That said, if I only get one lure and we're talking numbers under most conditions, it's going to be a 4" grub. Tubes are a very close second. If it's one fly for smallmouth, it's going to be a Clouser Minnow.
TOXIC reply :
For me.....Hands down a 5 inch Senko. There's just too many ways to rig it and have it produce. Neko, Ned, Wacky, Weightless Texas Rigged, 1/4 oz football head (hook exposed). At times it may not be the best but if I only had 1 bait, that would be it.
J Francho reply :
Any old small plastic worm and a drop shot rig.
Leftymuk reply :
Interesting that no one mentioned the new Megabass "Dark Sleeper"...... my new favorite
crushes largemouth also
S Hovanec reply :
Dropshot
Shad Shape worm (natural shad color)
BassThumb reply :
1/8 oz tube-jig with a 3.5" watermelon tube.
Skip it under docks, hop it off the bottom, swim it around grass, drag it along gravel and rock.
It can be a good representation of baitfish or crawfish depending on how it's retrieved.
WI_Angler1989 reply :
If I HAD to pick just one.... 5 Inch Kalin's Lunker Grub in Green Pumpkin. I can rig that up on a Smallie Crawlin' Jig and work it on the bottom like a tube, hop it, swim it, weightless as a topwater.... almost everything. Fortunately I don't have to pick just one, I'd miss my tubes, jigs, Aglias, jerks, and spooks!
burrows reply :
Zoom super fluke, green pumpkin gold flake
Steveo-1969 reply :
I love fishing a jig so if I can only have one lure for SMB then that's what I'm picking!
Yudo1 reply :
4" black senko wacky rigged or weightless t rig.
PatrickKnight reply :
4 inch green pumpkin curly tail
jbmaine reply :
At one time I would have said tubes, but my new favorite has to be the swimmn caffeine shad. You can't fish it wrong. Caught the last LM on one last fall, stayed on my rod all winter, cast it out this spring and it still works.
First one on a swimmn, caffeine shad this spring. 3.7
rejesterd reply :
A white/silver suspending jerkbait. It's the most versatile thing I can think of, because you can fish it very fast (which I do all the time in the summer) or very slow (for colder weather). You can also control how erratically it moves from side-to-side. And that color will work in almost any type water (clear or dirty).
Pickle_Power reply :
The only smallmouth fishing I can do here is in a fast little river. Being forced to choose one, I'm going with a Bomber Square A (1-5/8") in Firetiger. It is hands down the best producing bait for me, and always the first I will try.
HookRz reply :
Tube, but smaller than most have recommended. 2.5 to 3 inch. I don't think many smallies think to themselves "I'd eat that if it were an inch longer", and more importantly less drag from the bait makes grad level finesse jigging easier.
a1712 reply :
Backroom Baits 3.75" Swimbait in Green Pumpkin purple/copper. Fast, slow, high, low, hot, cold, you can find a presentation that will slay river Smallies. Brian.
Spankey reply :
Drop shot/Split shot rig with 4" worm.
RoboWorm, Power Worm? I would spin myself into the ground having to make that choice.
Further North reply :
Smokin' Rooster.
T-Rigged with a weight.
T-Rigged without a weight.
Any depth, about any retrieve you want....
haggard reply :
Can I change my answer? On the last few outings the black with blue metal flake 5" paddle tail worm, TX rigged with 1/4 bullet, as landed more fish, especially smallies, than any other lure this season. Today landed a whopper of a smallmouth, guessing about 16 inches long and nicely chunky. It jumped out of the water a ways out, and as soon as I lifted the net I wished I had a scale. Deep hooked, and it took a while to get it out but managed to get it. Fish took a while to recover but finally did and swam down. Apologies for no photo (only an out of focus one in the net); I thought getting her back in the water ASAP was more important as she was out for a while.
813basstard reply :
On 4/29/2018 at 8:04 AM, Adam.love05 said:Last year I would've said Shakey head.. this year however, round ball jig with a small paddletail. Fish it fast, slow, shallow, deep, vertical, swimmig So versatile and it can catch some Biggins!
You don’t know what this does for me! I’ve never caught a smallmouth (Florida) but I’ve caught more fish on a 1/4 strike king itsy with a GY paddle tail than ANYTHING. And I mean ANYTHING. Dudes around here look at me crazy because there’s not a craw on my jig. I thought I was alone with this....
BigTerp reply :
For my local rocky river it's easily a Mizmo Teaser Tube (2.75") in Penrod Purple with a 1/8 oz internal tube jig head. But becoming an ever closer 2nd choice would be a Zman finesse TRD in green pumpkin/orange on a 1/16 oz mushroom head.
Hurricane reply :
Green Pumpkin Goby TRD on a 1/6 shroomz
Glaucus reply :
Finesse TRD in Coppertruese with a Green Pumpkin 1/15oz ShroomZ Jighead.
I've been using the 1/10oz ShroomZ Weedless Jighead at river dams due to the fast moving water and the plethora of rocks, timber, and other trash to get snagged on. I've been doing well. The 1/15oz head would allow me to better fish the rest of the rivers and creeks, and probably still get away with fishing the dams, albeit with more snags.
If I'm not at the dams making long casts, I'm kayaking or wading. Right now I'm using a 6'6" M/F rod with 15lb braid with an 8lb fluoro leader. I'd scale down to a 6' ML/F rod with 10lb braid with a 6lb fluoro leader. Better for kayaking and when wading the inability to cast to a spot is minimized; and I could still do well enough at the dams.
Ned Rig catches big ones, little ones...all the ones, all the time.
Steveo-1969 reply :
I am completely addicted to fishing a finesse skirted jig for smallmouth in my shallow rocky river. Generally it's a 3/16 ounce Strike King Bitsy Bug with a Baby Rage Craw on the back. Both in blue craw color with the tips of the craw colored orange.
Matter of fact, I'm so addicted to fishing this size jig that I had Mike @Delaware Valley Tackle make me a custom rod this spring just for fishing this jig!!
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