smallmouth baits

[Facepunch]

I've had a couple of 5+ lb smallies come screaming out after a baby wake but they seem to put on the brakes 6 inches from it and disappear faster than they showed up lol.

[SWIMBO]

Ok I'll be serious... Smallie fishing is more about timing and location than bait selection,if you have baits that have worked for you stick to what you as far as what works for baits and refine your approach,IMO big smallies are the hardest of black bass to pattern,I'll go out on a limb and say most people don't pattern them they simply get lucky and are in the right place at the right time with the right bait with the right knowledge....and keeping eyes off of good spots on public forums..(COUGH..COUGH... Fish explorer reports) helps a ton

[JuggaloRon]

Thanks everyone. After I caught my first smallie on a swimbait, I was hooked.

 

Swimbo, I haven't posted on fish explorer in almost a year. Seen too many good fish go home for the frying pan. I can't wait to hit pueblo this spring. Wish I had a boat. I sent mine down to TX with my brother. Thought he'd get better use out of it.

[Wiscokid00]

I have caught some nice ones on toad thrashers, 10" nates baits, ms slammers, and s- wavers. If they follow I speed up retrieve to get them to commit.

[Riffmeister]

wasnt there a record smallie just nailed with a smaller s-waver? may have been out west not sure.... either way the s-waver and other close sized glides lesser than 200mm should be good ... i would think

[colbypearson]

Ive caught a 6.8# smallie on one of those small red/white tube jigs lol

the oregon record is 7.14

 

just saying

Or- record is 8lbz 1oz.

 

Hopefully that wont last a whole lot longer.

 

Swimbo is spot on with his timing/location comments. People don't catch a lot of big smallmouth because they don't know how to put themselves in a favorable position to do so, the more I try the more I learn and the more I find common or personal beliefs to be completely false.

[SPEEDBEAD]

I've caught them on the 8" Lit up and the 6" High Power Herring.

 

Went out in November for muskies and had a HUGE smallie blow up the 250 SS about two cranks in. They'll eat.

[smalliebigs]

Most of my best patterns for big smallies have been situations where they were locked onto a specific prey. Sometimes it was small sheephead (had them spit up a 6 to 7.5 inchers at the boat), other times big perch, other times young of year perch, occasionally gills, etc. During these times they were very selective about certain characteristics (mostly color, sometimes size), much more than largemouth. The patterns were, however, repeatable in type of structure/cover and time of year.

[derds126]

The smallmouth I target are in a river system where depths are around 3 to 5 feet. The main baits I throw are the 7 inch Slammer, small homemade punker style bait, DreamSmasher Shad, Homemade 7 inch glide, and a jig. What I've learned most about targeting these smallmouth is timing like Swimbo said. The best bite I ever had on these fish was the day of a huge summer storm when the river was just beginning to rise and flood. I had to weather through the downpours but I ended up catching multiple fish over three pounds. These fish are keyed on gizzard shad and craws. You can catch jig fish all day long but when you time feeding periods correctly the biggest fish come out to play and your best option is a shad imitating swimbait in my conditions. So it really just comes down to figuring out the feeding patterns for big fish on your body of water and being there when those times happen again.

[JuggaloRon]

Here is my pb smallie and first swimbait smallie. I just figured there was a better way to target them. My pb was taken on a shaky head in January, and my first swimbait smallie was taken in may on a weedless hudd 6 inch in perch color. I've had limited success on decoy hydra tails as well, but nothing over 2lbs.

[JuggaloRon]

here's a pic of the first sb smallie. it was only 2-12, but it got me thinking that I could do better. since then, I've caught some up to 3-8, but that's it. I do thank everyone for there replies, suggestions, and even sarcasm. as soon as it thaws out around here, i'll start chucking the big baits again.

[SPEEDBEAD]

^ Needs to be bigger to hold 'em like that.

[Mnbassbuster002]

^ Needs to be bigger to hold 'em like that.

 

Haha. ^^^

 

They will hit anything they think they can fit in their mouth. I have had the swing at a Hinkle or evej a muskie bait from time to time. Just a matter of if they are hungry enough

[jamesofthejungle]

^smallies are the new chihuahuas