Bronzeback Bomber Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Yeah I understand all that but now let's talk trophy fish! Your three piece bait theory is not gonna hold water because I know of a 9 pound smallie and a couple of 7pound or so caught on two piece baits . Do you have any other smallie pics? I like two peice baits too...in general they have a wider action yet, and if you wanted to talk about a 1 piece glide bait like a manta you would have a wider action still. I do like using 2 peice gliders that I can get to walk wide under the surface and I love how the Freestyles move with the slightest movement and I love the sound they make when you rip them. 3 peice baits swim better on a strait retrieve than a 2 peice bait but glide better (move to the side) better than a bait with more joints. Depends on the day but I would say 3 peice are my favorite subsurface for smallies because I it is a bit of a compromise between the swimming of a bait with more joints and the gliding (side to side) of a bait with less. What is your standard of a "trophy" because if it is bigger than anything that has ever been caught in this state I don't stand much of a chance do I haha? In the area I fish 6 pounders are huge. Lake Superior isn't that great of a smallmouth fishery on the MN side, as you move east you start getting into some phenomenal 7 lbs smallmouth water. I simply don't have those many fish here. haha... I don't have 15lbs largemouth to catch here either. I can catch alot of 5-6 pounders with some over 6 and I have got 3 over 7 but none of those 3 came on swimbaits. Another tourney with 27.8 for 6. All on swimbaits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronzeback Bomber Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 I am talking lipless baits to be specific when I talk about the difference. Lipped baits are a different conversation... haha... love my baby wakes too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbaittoon Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Yeah I understand all that but now let's talk trophy fish! Your three piece bait theory is not gonna hold water because I know of a 9 pound smallie and a couple of 7pound or so caught on two piece baits . Do you have any other smallie pics? Two piece in 6-8" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronzeback Bomber Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 This year I started playing around more and more with 2 peice baits like gan crafts claw. And I will continue to increase the amount I use 2 piece lipless. Just haven't used them enough so my confidence is still with the 3 piece. We throw mantas and other 1 piece glide baits all the time for muskies and the smallies chase those all over the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmith12 Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Not huge but ripping an 8" top raider, fish was released we jumped into the boat house for a quick pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiswimbait Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Love the top raider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke V. Posted January 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 That's an awesome looking fish, very pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishnmike Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Man those are some great smallies guys. We may have some huge largemouth out here in Calif. but with the exception of a few lakes, not that many smallies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronzeback Bomber Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 X Cool, this isn't about me or my baits. It's about the fish! I don't care what brand you are catching them on!!!! I was curious about the smallmouth trophy aspect of any swimbait.Some huge smallies have been caught on my baits but It wasn't because I set out to build a smallmouth swimbait. So your catching most of your big smallies on a mixed bag of tricks?! That's what I gather from what you've said. Little here little there?!During tournaments?! Not the best conditions for trophy hunting! Yeah I would definitely say a mixed bag of tricks. I am far from finding a bait style that has been a lot better than another (the two piece gliders have really peaked my interest but didn't start using them till the end of the season).. One observation I do have is smallies like exaggerated movements whether it is a erratic jerkbait or a wide gliding 2 peice or a FS ripped on the surface. I really like side to side movements when smallies fishing. Still looking for a magical swimbait for smallies. Maybe you can figure something out Mickey and build that magical smallies bait.... I would be happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronzeback Bomber Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Not huge but ripping an 8" top raider, fish was released we jumped into the boat house for a quick pic. Top raider at night!!! That had to be a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deltaman Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 The northern part of the CA Delta has some smallies that never get fished for... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colbypearson Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 My pb smallie is on a 7'' osprey ghost rainbow. It was in the "got-em" section last fall also stuck a nice largemouth that day too.. I can post a pic here if you would like, smallies definitely eat swimbaits & I hope to break 6#'s for a smallie this year on a swim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalliebigs Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I wouldn't be surprised to see the smallie record fall out there in cali from some of what I've heard. I'm not sure I understand or agree with how trophy is being defined. Is it a once in a year kind of fish? Once in a lifetime? For any water? For a specific water? Really, there's probably fewer than a half dozen documented smallies ever caught over 10 lbs. That's about like the number of documented 20+ largies. Might there be schools of 10+ smallies out there just waiting for some savant to expose the world to a new standard? Possible, but not much more likely than schools of 20 lb largies. A 9 lb smallie is kinda like a 15-20 lb largie. If we say that 6-7 lb fish aren't trophies, does that mean that 10-14 lb largies aren't trophy fish? Maybe to guys like don and butch they are ho-hum, but to us mere mortals those are trophy fish. To me, 5.5 lb - 7 lb smallies you are comparing to 7-12 lb largies. You probably know lots of people who have caught lots of each in those ranges. After that its like a 2:1 ratio for relative size/occurance. I kinda like the way the magazines do it, larges over 10, smallies over 6. Maybe my standards are too low, but its my opinion. When I lived in smallie country I was just beginning to explore using big baits after only catching big smallies any time I'd try to go musky fishing. I didn't know about, let alone have any 3:16, TT, or other "high-end" hard swimbaits yet. Never heard of a slalom style bait back then. Caught some big ones on hard wag-tails, 6" hollow style baits, and 8" soft jerkbaits. Two styles w/ subtle action, one with a slashing/gliding. I've had big smallies spit up perch, walleyes, and sheepshead, all in the 6-7" range. It seemed like a good size to me. I didn't find smallies to be any more aggressive than largies sometimes get. If anything, smallies are more fickle and less predictable, maybe having some stupid little trigger that was only good for that day. They are kind of like a woman. Oh how I miss smallies. Craig 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colbypearson Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I didn't find smallies to be any more aggressive than largies sometimes get. If anything, smallies are more fickle and less predictable, maybe having some stupid little trigger that was only good for that day. They are kind of like a woman. Oh how I miss smallies. Isn't that the truth! I have more trouble fishing for big smallmouth here than any other species and its humbling because its not because they arent there its flat because I dont know how to catch them big with any sort of consistency. Next year we will see with time, and how you were talking about trophies I think it all depends on location for most things. The Or. state record is 8lbs and some small change, but in Northern Oregon with the Columbia river and fisheries like that 4,5,6lbrs really arent overly spectacular, opposed to Southern Oregon where most people I know havent caught more than a smallie or two over 4lbs, I would be absolutely ecstatic if/when I break the 6lb mark for them especially on a swimbait! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oprcsr Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Really, there's probably fewer than a half dozen documented smallies ever caught over 10 lbs. That's about like the number of documented 20+ largies. Might there be schools of 10+ smallies out there just waiting for some savant to expose the world to a new standard? Possible, but not much more likely than schools of 20 lb largies. A 9 lb smallie is kinda like a 15-20 lb largie. If we say that 6-7 lb fish aren't trophies, does that mean that 10-14 lb largies aren't trophy fish? Maybe to guys like don and butch they are ho-hum, but to us mere mortals those are trophy fish. To me, 5.5 lb - 7 lb smallies you are comparing to 7-12 lb largies. You probably know lots of people who have caught lots of each in those ranges. After that its like a 2:1 ratio for relative size/occurance. I kinda like the way the magazines do it, larges over 10, smallies over 6. Maybe my standards are too low, but its my opinion. Great points. To me a 5 pound smallie is a heck of a fish, and 7 plus is a monster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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