What would you guys consider your go to smallmouth baits?
More specifically, when fishing rivers for smallmouth, NOT DEEP WATER
Wacky senko or drop shot
Pink tube, t-rigged.
small Tube
LC 78 pointer Jerkbait
Shakey Head /w baby rage craw or roboworm
Depends on the river, but a 4 inch senko and a #4 Mepps are what was killing them for me the last 3 days on the shallow rivers I was fishing.
nose hooked 4" stick bait will always produce. Next would be your pic of craw plastic on a draggin' head and then of course there are the top waters of which i prefer buzz baits myself.
On the fly rod i am chucking poppers, gurglers, rabbit hair leeches, claw dads and some type of minnow imitation like a clouser or EP baitfish fly.
I like using a black / blue finesse jig in my local smallie rivers, which tend to have lots of rocks and faster current. Something with a round head, trailered with a plastic that has limbs.
Funny you should pose this question today - I just caught these three this morning on that exact jig (5/16 oz) with the back half of a GrandeBass mutant for a trailer:
On the rivers that I fish I like 3" Twister Tails on a 1/16 or 1/8 oz. jig as a go to bait. Mepps and Panther Martin spinners are an excellent choice too. Sizes 2 or 3 work well.
Heddon Spit' N Image, Shad Rap, Rapala J-11.
Green pumpkin Yum dinger, wacky rigged on a 1/2oz football head jig
3" green pumpkin or watermelon tube and a 1/2oz open jig or split shot (mojo rig).
Done.
Smallie beaver
Fluke
4" senko
Slider worm
Bandit 100 in a craw color
Allen
River for me is the upper Niagara. Has a bit of current. Go to is a white spinner, then a hot pink x-rap xr08. If that fails then I'll head out off of the 3-12ft. Water to about 15-20ft and try a silver or watermelon tubejig.
Gold spinners seem to produce very well for me. A split shot rigged wooly bugger fly is also a great technique.
Rapala flat Rap, Manns baby 1 minus, Cotton Cordell Big-O are the hard baits to use. For plastics, anything will work but 2.75" to 3.5" tubes, 3" Senkos fished on a small 1/16oz to 1/8oz jig head with a size #1 hook, 4" flukes and of course, 4"and 5" Senkos fished wacky or Texas rig weightless.
if there was only one lure. The Fat ika destroys, even the senko. But with smallies the little guys will destroy the bait easily too and baits are expensive at 8 bucks a pack. This pic actually a kinami palm tree just an idea of how it looks
On 7/25/2014 at 9:56 AM, Glenn said:Green pumpkin Yum dinger, wacky rigged on a 1/2oz football head jig
3" green pumpkin or watermelon tube and a 1/2oz open jig or split shot (mojo rig).
Done.
Wow, you sure do fish different rivers than I do. A 1/2 oz football head jig wouldn't last 3 casts in the shallow, fast, rocky rivers I'm used to. And by shallow, I mean it's hard to find water more than 4 feet deep. 90% of the river is less than waist deep. Even kayaks often have to be dragged through some areas. More often than not, anything with much weight just snags on the bottom.
I fish heavy current. Downsize as needed for slower current.
It's been brought up that rivers can vary...
As general use which covers clear and dirty rivers all remaining somewhat shallow...
Small red/orange crankbait (kvd 1.0 or 1/8 oz speedtrap)
78 or 100 size Lucky Craft Pointer usually something with chartruese on it
1/8-3/8 oz darthead with chartruese or off-white 4 or 5 inch yamamoto grub
1/4-1/2 oz spinnerbait in white and chartruese with silver gold blades
Fat Ika or small bright crankbaits (Big O, Yo Zuri, Strike King 1)
Punisher hair jig 1/8 or 3/16-
3.8" Fat keitech on a 1/2oz football head-
Tube(don't throw them as much as I should can't recommend one)-
Senko
buzzbait or prop bait on top - z-man finesse worm on 1/16 - 1/8 jighead for bottom fishing.
I'm a late arrival, but I fish shallow rivers too and stick to a handful of proven winners.
My absolute go-to is a 1/8 or 1/4 oz confidence baits draggin head with tubes and sometimes craws. I also use "birds" from the same company.
Others I use a lot are Mepps Aglia #3 in gold brown or white silver, 4" Husky jerks in various colors, 4" kalins grubs on 1/8 jig heads.
I've had success with wacky rigged 4" stick baits (Yamamoto and yum) but haven't used them a lot. Getting vetter with that setup is goal of mine for next season.
I know I'm way late with this but it's never too early to get excited for spring!
Tubes, grubs, jerks, and spinners.
Locally, senkos, flukes, and hellgrammites.
Rage Craws,Wacky rig worm or Power Team Lure tubes.Swim jig with swimbait trailer.
Soft plastics - 3-5" tubes (VMC's tube jig heads are great anywhere from 1/8-1/4 oz), 2.5-4" grubs ( 1/16-1/4 oz ball jig heads is pretty standard), flukes/soft jerkbaits, soft plastic swimbaits (think 2.8-4.8" Keitech). Drop shouted roboworms and craws can also be really effective.
Crankbaits - I like the DT and Fat Free series run deep enough to rip up gravel through the entire retrieve. Lipless - it changes all the time.
Top water - Skitter pops, spooks, X-pop, Pop-R
Buzzbaits, jig-n-pig, pearl flukes, spinnerbaits, and tubes.
Erie Darter Jr's and hair jigs in cold water.
I had to come back and add a green pumpkin zoom finesse worm to my list.
Here's my basic starting lineup:
Fishing on top: Heddon Spittn' Image
Fishing main water column: Rapala X-Rap
Fishing the bottom: Fat Ika
That's a questions that has a different answer almost every time I go fishing LOL.
This girl was caught on a Yamamoto Hula Grub texas rigged. Several others the next day pushing 3 pounds were caught on wacky rigged assorted worms. Just letting them float down in the current, then watch for your line to stop and drag to indicate a bit.
With a shallow river I'd be tossing jigs endlessly depending on the composition of the bottom and the time of year. What conditions are you going to be fishing?
On 1/6/2016 at 8:15 PM, Crestliner2008 said:Here's my basic starting lineup:
Fishing on top: Heddon Spittn' Image
Fishing main water column: Rapala X-Rap
Fishing the bottom: Fat Ika
How do you rig your fat ika? Regular or backwards? I've been experiment with them for river smallies, different weights, rigging, etc..
On 1/7/2016 at 7:07 AM, BigSkyBasser said:That's a questions that has a different answer almost every time I go fishing LOL.
This girl was caught on a Yamamoto Hula Grub texas rigged. Several others the next day pushing 3 pounds were caught on wacky rigged assorted worms. Just letting them float down in the current, then watch for your line to stop and drag to indicate a bit.
With a shallow river I'd be tossing jigs endlessly depending on the composition of the bottom and the time of year. What conditions are you going to be fishing?
Nice fish bud! Beautiful river too!
Shallow current - Jackall flick shake, ima flit 100, weightless 3 inch Senko, curly tail grub, 4 inch Keitech easy shiner, Lucky craft skt mini, split shot.
I fish a small-medium sized river that ranges 3 to 12 feet deep. Have always done ok there in years past and switched lures this year and had my best year by far. Mostly casting to shore wherever there were rocks or rip-rap. Stained water - and smallies like white. Went to a 5 inch Yamasenko in Blue Pearl (which is white with flecks). VMC wacky hook with with single weed guard wire, 1/16 or 1/8 ounce depending on current. What a difference the color made!
Next I plan to add a second lure - Fat Ika in the same Blue Pearl color and see what happens...
Yum craw in PB&J Texas rigged or if I'm fishing snags or a lot of rocks I'll go with a weedless jig head with a plastic craw attached. My second choice is a 1/8 or 3/16 oz. white spinnerbait.
ned rig and old phillips crippled killer (other prop baits would work I'm sure)
rig for numbers - ck for the big ones over 20"