Question for smallmouth guys

[Dutch01]

6 hours ago, KraTToR said:

Drop shot is my personal fav cuz you can use it in a variety of depths and conditions.  TR craw is a good idea but you can also use creature baits. Again, deeper water you'll want more action from the plastic - the reason  wacky works so well is the action it produces when rigged that way..  My order would be:

1. Drop shot or Bubba shot. Lost of fun on ML tackle
2. Topwater in less than 12 fOW
3. Shakey Head or Ned for smooth bottom conditions
4. Wackey senko
5. Paddle tail swimbait (IE Keitech) Can be fished weedless.
6. Squarebills and other cranks (based on water depth)
7. TR plastics. I prefer plastics with a ton of action.

 

Great post, thanks for taking the time to put it  together for me!

I love paddletails actually, but I'm forcing myself to change up. Partly to break old habits and lately I been getting the tails bit off and it's costing me more money than I'd like!

[Dutch01]

6 hours ago, KraTToR said:

Drop shot is my personal fav cuz you can use it in a variety of depths and conditions.  TR craw is a good idea but you can also use creature baits. Again, deeper water you'll want more action from the plastic - the reason  wacky works so well is the action it produces when rigged that way..  My order would be:

1. Drop shot or Bubba shot. Lost of fun on ML tackle
2. Topwater in less than 12 fOW
3. Shakey Head or Ned for smooth bottom conditions
4. Wackey senko
5. Paddle tail swimbait (IE Keitech) Can be fished weedless.
6. Squarebills and other cranks (based on water depth)
7. TR plastics. I prefer plastics with a ton of action.

 

Great post, thanks for taking the time to put it  together for me!

I love paddletails actually, but I'm forcing myself to change up. Partly to break old habits and lately I been getting the tails bit off and it's costing me more money than I'd like!

[Dutch01]

6 hours ago, KraTToR said:

Drop shot is my personal fav cuz you can use it in a variety of depths and conditions.  TR craw is a good idea but you can also use creature baits. Again, deeper water you'll want more action from the plastic - the reason  wacky works so well is the action it produces when rigged that way..  My order would be:

1. Drop shot or Bubba shot. Lost of fun on ML tackle
2. Topwater in less than 12 fOW
3. Shakey Head or Ned for smooth bottom conditions
4. Wackey senko
5. Paddle tail swimbait (IE Keitech) Can be fished weedless.
6. Squarebills and other cranks (based on water depth)
7. TR plastics. I prefer plastics with a ton of action.

 

Great post, thanks for taking the time to put it  together for me!

I love paddletails actually, but I'm forcing myself to change up. Partly to break old habits and lately I been getting the tails bit off and it's costing me more money than I'd like!

[Dutch01]

6 hours ago, KraTToR said:

Drop shot is my personal fav cuz you can use it in a variety of depths and conditions.  TR craw is a good idea but you can also use creature baits. Again, deeper water you'll want more action from the plastic - the reason  wacky works so well is the action it produces when rigged that way..  My order would be:

1. Drop shot or Bubba shot. Lost of fun on ML tackle
2. Topwater in less than 12 fOW
3. Shakey Head or Ned for smooth bottom conditions
4. Wackey senko
5. Paddle tail swimbait (IE Keitech) Can be fished weedless.
6. Squarebills and other cranks (based on water depth)
7. TR plastics. I prefer plastics with a ton of action.

 

Great post, thanks for taking the time to put it  together for me!

I love paddletails actually, but I'm forcing myself to change up. Partly to break old habits and lately I been getting the tails bit off and it's costing me more money than I'd like!

[Acountdeleted]

We just came back from a 4 day camping trip on a back country lake with smallmouth. 

All were caught in 3 to 20 FOW (lake is up to 70 feet deep but when we found the hot spot we didn’t bother moving. 

White wacky worms worked best. White spinners did well and my fiancée got the biggest of the trip with a night crawler. I kid you not, this smallie was over 5lbs. 

Talking to other people  on the lake they were having no success with spoons, jerk baits, jointed rapalas. 

[OhioFisherman]

2 hours ago, jerpears1 said:

We just came back from a 4 day camping trip on a back country lake with smallmouth. 

All were caught in 3 to 20 FOW (lake is up to 70 feet deep but when we found the hot spot we didn’t bother moving. 

White wacky worms worked best. White spinners did well and my fiancée got the biggest of the trip with a night crawler. I kid you not, this smallie was over 5lbs. 

Talking to other people  on the lake they were having no success with spoons, jerk baits, jointed rapalas. 

Sounds like a fun time, and I believe it, I think you have a lot of lakes up there capable of having a 5+ pound smallie or largemouth.

[fish_fishburn]

If the lake is rocky find nice rock drop offs. Fish as light as possible a jig and make contact with bottom. I prefer to use a spinning rig light action 8-10 lb test. Drag on bottom, hop it or a slow swim back to the boat. They will tell you what they prefer. Watermelon or pumpkin seed my go to colours.. And scent them up.

[riddickulous]

I haven't tried it, but your structure sounds perfect for a neko rig - wacky rigged senko with screwed-in weight.

[lureme]

On 7/15/2018 at 10:50 AM, Dutch01 said:

I'm fishing for smallies from my kayak on one of the deeper Kawartha Lakes next Saturday. I've got three tactics I want to use but I don't want to limit myself. I know there's a lot better bass  fisherman than me on here, so my question is If this was your list, what would you put in slot 4?

1. Topwater

2. Texas rigged craw

3. Drop shot

4.tube jigs

Do not forget the simple tube jigs as you can drag them along the bottom to imitate craws, bounce the bottom like gobies, or swim them like a bait fish. I would stick to darker colors like pumkin-seed, green, blk-brown. Use a 1/4 ounce sinker to allow a slower drop. For smallies fish the drop offs, rock piles and a little deeper water then you would for largies.

[Dutch01]

So just an update, I blew up my shoulder so I missed Lovesick Lake. I took the kayak to the cottage thinking it night get better in time but couldn't use it, so I fished off the dock. There's real clear shallow water at the dock so I had pretty low expectations. 

I managed to hook this guy on the Ned rig so I was pretty happy about that. Got lots of others but of course they were little.

I'm resting up the shoulder in the hope it'll get better in time to use all these great tips on the August long weekend at Restoule PP.

Edited July 25, 2018 by Dutch01