What is your "If they are here they will take this" lure? 2025
MickD reply :
SMB usually can be taken if they are found, but now and then they can be VERY particular about what they will take. Do you have a lure that has your confidence enough that when you use it, and you don't get bit, you are confident they are not around?
I'm interested mostly in big water, not rivers. SMB, not LMB.
Dwight Hottle reply :
Absolutely jerkbaits.
TnRiver46 reply :
1) A small tube jig
2) a finesse worm
jbmaine reply :
Ned rig
roadwarrior reply :
Hmm...
The only lure I have ever used that out fished live bait is the Rage Tail Menace.
BoatSquirrel reply :
On 9/3/2019 at 3:22 AM, roadwarrior said:The only lure I have ever used that out fished live bait is the Rage Tail Menace.
This is quite a statement, and not the first time you have mentioned it. Your favorite setup with it, times of year to use it? Please educate us--Thanks!
A-Jay reply :
On 9/2/2019 at 11:26 PM, MickD said:SMB usually can be taken if they are found, but now and then they can be VERY particular about what they will take. Do you have a lure that has your confidence enough that when you use it, and you don't get bit, you are confident they are not around?
I'm interested mostly in big water, not rivers. SMB, not LMB.
For me, when & where big brown bass are 'found' plays big a role in technique & bait selection; current weather / water conditions too of course.
I have not had major success all season, in every situation with any one deal.
Early & late season, when smb are 'feeding down' - Blade bait, Vibrating Jig or Rage Bug on a Swing head.
Used to be a tube but for some reason I hardly throw them any more - probably a big mistake.
Especially with the Goby Infestation - Best thing ever btw.
Early & late season when smb are feeding in the 'middle' of the water column, Jerkbait all day, everyday.
Mid-season when smb are feeding up (not including Mayflies - that's fly rod time for me) it's a perch colored Pop Max.
Mid-season when smb are feeding down, used to be drop shot a ton, now it's a Ned Rig more often than not.
Also great during the big fly hatches on the bottom.
Mid to Late season when smb are feeding in the middle of the water column, A-Rig.
It's a big fish confidence bait for me - may not get a ton of bites, but the ones I do get, will be the Right Ones.
So that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
A-Jay
billmac reply :
Curly tail grub
roadwarrior reply :
On 9/3/2019 at 3:53 AM, BoatSquirrel said:This is quite a statement, and not the first time you have mentioned it. Your favorite setup with it, times of year to use it? Please educate us--Thanks!
Spinning tackle, #6 Tatsu, T-rigged with a 3/8 oz bullet weight. Fishing for smallmouth on
the Tennessee River. The exact spot was just outside a current break. Five on five casts!
J Francho reply :
On 9/2/2019 at 11:26 PM, MickD said:I'm interested mostly in big water, not rivers. SMB, not LMB.
Really good question, and I'll use Erie and Ontario as my example. If I find bait, and by bait, I mean the bottom is carpeted with bait on the graph, I'm confident something that I can get down there will get bit. It's usually either on a Hopkin's Shorty spoon (1 oz.) or some plastic on a DS. Occasionally, I'll throw a football and craw jig, or a tube on a 3/4-1 oz. tube head, but that's rare anymore.
MickD reply :
Thanks, guys , for your comments. Keep them coming if you have new ideas. J Francho, how deep would it be when using a 3/4 to 1 oz tube jig? Tubes are still quite good around St Clair and Sag Bay, usually with 3/16 or 1/4 oz in 15 feet or less.
The only thing mentioned that I've not tried some version of is the A rig. A Jay, that's what you were casting in your recent video before hitting the fish on Ned, right? Seems like a big price to pay (casting effort), but if it's the only thing going, worth it.
Spankey reply :
On 9/3/2019 at 4:56 AM, billmac said:Curly tail grub
^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^
* can’t say I’m a huge huge lake water guy *
J Francho reply :
On 9/3/2019 at 10:32 PM, MickD said:J Francho, how deep would it be when using a 3/4 to 1 oz tube jig? Tubes are still quite good around St Clair and Sag Bay, usually with 3/16 or 1/4 oz in 15 feet or less.
We fish A LOT deeper, but remember, it's all relative. I'm not ever going to rule out 15-20', but I pretty much have ignored 30' or less the past decade or so. I'll consider that 30' line on my maps "shoreline" and look at structure from there. LSC isn't all that deep, so, I'd say you're good at that 15' level. I'm talking dead of summer and that point where they hit their wintering spots. Fall and spring, you just never know, but if you run into them, it's game on.
Krux5506 reply :
Ned rig or drop shot in Lake Ontario in anywhere from 6ft to 30ft. This time of year is when I see big smallies in both shallow and deep water out there. Usually I will choose to go shallow because I love sight fishing structure with long casts + finesse baits.
Scarborough817 reply :
for smallies? drop shot or a ned rig
A-Jay reply :
On 9/3/2019 at 10:32 PM, MickD said:Thanks, guys , for your comments. Keep them coming if you have new ideas. J Francho, how deep would it be when using a 3/4 to 1 oz tube jig? Tubes are still quite good around St Clair and Sag Bay, usually with 3/16 or 1/4 oz in 15 feet or less.
The only thing mentioned that I've not tried some version of is the A rig. A Jay, that's what you were casting in your recent video before hitting the fish on Ned, right? Seems like a big price to pay (casting effort), but if it's the only thing going, worth it.
A-Rig's are a commitment for sure.
For me they've become sort of an addiction /obsession.
It's interesting to note that I did fish an A-Rig for two full seasons WITHOUT a BITE !
Took me a while to understand how, when & where to fish it to get bites; and I'm still learning each trip out.
So Every fish I do get on an A-Rig is like redemption.
It's one of the few deals I throw where it seems every bite on is a 'good one'.
Admittedly there are probably other deals I could use that may get more bites but the big fish appeal is addicting, despite the intense upper body workout required.
Finally it's worth noting that an A-Rig as totally helped me get through the 'Summer / Fall Transition'.
During what has routinely been a 2-3 week period often leaving me asking "where are the bigger brown bass", fishing (committing to) this technique has lead directly to quite a bit of net & scale use.
And if things go according to plan, next couple of weeks could be good.
A-Jay
8pt172 reply :
Great Question!!!
Spring time below 45 degrees can't beat the black marabou jig, and for 45 plus, it is the Keitech Fat 3.3 and 3.8' Sun gill swim bait. I slow crawl it along the bottom, keeping in contact with the bottom the best I can. When the fish transition onto the beds, the TRD is a killer.
Suspended Summer Bass are the worst creatures to find and catch. Limited success with a Spy Bait and Deep Jerk on windy days. Deep crank has saved a day or 2 also.
Fall, they eat most everything when you find them. Spinnerbaits and Jerkbaits in the wind are killer, when it gets flat calm the TRD and the Tube are my go to. Just starting to experiment with different drop shot presentations, but haven't had better success than with the baits mentioned above yet.
If I had to only fish 1 bait all year, it would have to be the Keitech Fat.
MickD reply :
On 9/4/2019 at 2:07 AM, 8pt172 said:I slow crawl it alon the bottom, keeping in contact with the bottom the best I can. When the fish transition onto the beds, the TRD is a killer.
I have found the 3.8 Keitech very good, but most of my fish come on snapping it off the bottom, or twitching it as I retrieve it. In very clear water the KVD in pearl white is excellent , too. Same snapping retrieve works well for LMB at times, too. thanks again for all the comments.
M0xxie reply :
In rivers/creeks, I've had a lot of luck with Johnson's Crappie Buster SpinR Grub, which is an under-spin jig with a curly tail grub, but I also use Berkley's Gulp minnows. Sometimes I put it on a jig spinner for some extra flash/vibration. They're made for crappie, but the bronzies don't care.
For lakes my go-to would be a weedless wacky-rigged 4" or 5" stick worm with shrink tubing (I hate o-rings) -- I like the Trokar weedless wacky hook in a 1/0, or if you like the safety-pin-style weed-guard, the Gamakatsu's aren't too bad (except for the price) -- tend not to fish wacky as much in the river because the plastic is so soft, and they rip in the current, even with the tubing.
Krux5506 reply :
Pretty sure last time I spent a couple hours chucking an A-rig I woke up the next day feeling like my back was tweaked out. It's definitely a work out.
bowhunter63 reply :
Bitsy bug jig and a baby Rage craw trailer
J Francho reply :
On 9/4/2019 at 7:15 PM, Krux5506 said:Pretty sure last time I spent a couple hours chucking an A-rig I woke up the next day feeling like my back was tweaked out. It's definitely a work out.
I threw one for 8 hours in TX on Oneida. I was in the river, near Rt. 81 bridge, right next to Jaime Hartman, who was fishing a Fed tx, IIRC. He came in first for that one, I came in second for mine. Man, was I sore the next day.
Krux5506 reply :
Yeah it's brutal. I throw mine on a Mojo Bass 7'9 heavy swimbait rod. I don't know if I hate the A-rig or just that rod, but either way I have nothing to show for the times I did spend time (or mostly energy) throwing one.
DubyaDee reply :
It's all season dependent for me.
Early spring/late fall- Blade bait
Spring- Jerkbait
Summer- Drop shot
Fall- Swinghead
Those are my #1's, my #2 is always a tube regardless of season.
GANGGREEN reply :
When smallmouth are active, they bite. They'll take any of the lures mentioned and tons of other stuff that nobody's mentioned. When they're tough though...…..If I presume fish are there, they won't hit anything else and I really need or want to catch them, just to prove something, you downsize.....a lot. Tiny bugs, hair jigs, curltails, tubes....tiny.
HookInMouth reply :
So far this year that has been the Berkley Choppo. All day every day. It just gets bit. Fishing shallow river FYI.
Ratherbfishing reply :
Probably a Keitech Swing Impact or, in the early spring, a jerk bait. But I try not to pigeonhole myself or my baits this much.
CHIP-MAINE reply :
always start with a #4 or5 mepps. silver or gold blade- yellow or white hair. use this for small or large bass-rivers or ponds. most of the time if they wont grab these they just wont bite anything
Ogandrews reply :
In rivers for me it is either a regular sized rage menace grub on a ball head jig with an exposed hook, 1/8 in slower shallower water 1/4 in deeper water, a 3.3 keitech In whatever color is similar to their forage on a ball head or small swimbait head like a DJ guppy head, or a smaller jerkbait. What makes a jerkbait so good in especially small rivers is that if a fish is sitting in a small current seam, like being a boulder or lay down, you can fish a jerkbait right around that current seam for longer than you could any other moving bait and still give the bait a lot of action.
For lakes my go to baits are a 2.5 inch power tube in green pumpkin, usually on a 1/16th oz ball head or 1/8th if it’s windy. Next is going to be a 3.8 keitech in whatever color imitates the forage on a Matt Allen swimbait head or his new finesse head that I haven’t tried yet but I know it will be good looking at the design of it. The last one is going to be a shadow rap, seems I can call fish from so far to come hit that thing. A little bonus one I’ll add in there is I have caught an unbelievable amount of smallies in musky baits, including some of the biggest of my life. There have been times when I have been on a great smallie bite and grab either a musky glider like a 6” phantom softail or a bucktail like a smaller bite back baits trilogy or an Essox assault single 8. Might seem like a weird answer but I have had it happen waaaaay to many times for it to be a coincidence. If the fish are being obviously aggressive, it can pay off to throw a lot bigger meal at them.
RyneB reply :
3.5 inch tube. Green pumpkin with a little orange flake.
Spankey reply :
I’m sticking to my first reply about use of a curly tail grub. But a 4 1/2” Power Worm or RoboWorm is right there also.
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