My line twitched sideways the same way it had a half dozen times earlier. Instantly, I raised the rod tip sharply and felt the weight of another nice fish. I was walleye fishing around a deep-water hump and my gurgling livewell overflow indicated a few volunteers were at home.
A 1/4-ounce leadhead jig tipped with a fathead minnow was doing the trick, but I knew instantly this was no walleye scrapping at the end of my line. The moment I leaned into the fish the line rocketed for the surface. Seconds later a stocky smallmouth bass was tail walking across the surface. His attempts to shake the hook unsuccessful, the fire-eyed fish headed for bottom and then back to the surface for a couple more heart-stopping jumps.
One thing is sure, smallmouth provide the kind of outdoor excitement people buy fishing licenses for. Short of a raging steelhead, nothing with fins jumps more or tries harder to bust tackle than a smallmouth bass.
I've been a walleye tournament fisherman for eight years. Along the way I've learned a couple things about fishing that are as good as money in the bank. Walleye and smallmouth bass share more than a love for a jig-and-minnow combination.
These two species are found together more frequently than most anglers realize. Not surprisingly the techniques designed to catch walleye are just as deadly on smallmouth bass.
To some bass fishing enthusiasts, the thought of even trying for smallmouth with live bait is a sin. In today's catch-and-release society, I question whether it matters if artificial or live bait is used so long as the fish are released to fight again?
I frequently use live bait when fishing smallmouth because doing so increases the likelihood that I'll tie into a bonus walleye. Typically the walleye get dumped into the livewell and the smallmouth back into the lake. Some fish are for eating and others are for admiring in a photograph.
The smallmouth bass is widespread and a willing fighter, yet this species isn't nearly as popular as its cousin the largemouth bass. For my money, largemouth are easier to find and catch than smallmouth bass. Perhaps that's why so many anglers pound the shorelines, lily pads, and weed edges in search of largemouth and overlook the more difficult to locate open-water structure smallmouth prefer.
The Pre-Spawn Bite
In natural lakes and reservoirs, smallmouth seek out the shallows for only a brief time each spring. During the pre-spawn period smallmouth bass snuggle up to shorelines, especially those with submerged wood or rocks (or both) for cover. It's here smallies chase minnows and emerging crayfish to build energy for the upcoming spawning season.
In many waters this phenomenon occurs before the legal fishing season begins. Some states allow fishing on a limited number of lakes and/or Great Lakes waters. Check with the local Department of Natural Resources to see if your state has a special early season catch-and-release fishery for smallmouth bass or a fishery that's open year around.
When smallmouth go shallow to feed in the spring, they're very susceptible to fishing pressure. A pre-spawn smallie will hit almost anything that moves and the action can be absolutely explosive.
Warm sunny days are the best to be on the water. Afternoons, when the sun has had an opportunity to raise the water temperature a few precious degrees, can crank up hungry smallmouth.
Small lures that can be worked in and among timber and rocks work best. Tiny 1/8-ounce spinnerbaits, 1/16- and 1/8-ounce Beetle Spins, tube jigs, and leadhead jigs with twister tail or shad-style bodies are excellent choices. These lures can be fished clean or sweetened with a squirming leech or chunk of nightcrawler.
Back bays that attract sunken driftwood are especially good places to try. The more cover available, the more smallmouth bass likely to be in residence.
A slow presentation that puts your bait within inches of sunken logs or rocks is best. Smallmouth love to lay in the shadows and dart out to grab passing prey.
Unfortunately, this spring smallmouth bonanza is short lived. As soon as the spawning season begins, smallmouth start showing a preference for deeper waters.
The Post-Spawn Bite
Smallies typically spawn earlier and in deeper water than their largemouth cousins. After the spawn smallies are more apt to turn up on windswept reefs than the weedy shorelines preferred by largemouth bass.
Walleye and smallmouth bass share a common interest in these reefs and the crayfish, spottail shiners, darters, and young-of-the-year perch that call these areas home. Productive reefs for smallmouth can top off in four to 15 feet of water depending on water clarity. The clearer the water, the deeper smallies are likely to be found.
If the reef harbors a few emerging weeds so much the better. Weed growth concentrates minnows and small outcropping of cabbage or coontail can turn out to be great spots-on-the-spot.
Drifting or slow trolling with spinner rigs is an effective way to locate reef-running smallmouth quickly. A fairly light bottom-bouncer weight (1/4- to 3/8-ounce) is the ideal sinker for walking over and among broken rock. Combine this sinker with a 40- to 60-inch snelled spinner complete with a No. 1 or 2 Colorado spinner blade, two No. 4 beak-style hooks, and the fattest nightcrawler available.
Monofilament snells should be tied using 10- to 14-pound test. Hammered silver, brass, and chartreuse blades are good colors.
A second option is a bottom-bouncer with a 40-inch monofilament snell, a single No. 4 or 2 wire hook, and a medium-sized leech. When fishing leeches a light wire hook like the Mustad Finesse Split Shot Hook is critical. Heavy tempered hooks prevent the leech from swimming freely.
If the bottom is mostly sand/gravel and fairly free from snags, a Lindy Rig or split shot and hook baited with a leech or small minnow is also effective.
Once a concentration of smallmouth is located, mark the spot with a buoy and begin casting to the area using leadhead jigs tipped with minnows, leeches, or a chunk of nightcrawler. Scented tube jigs like Berkley's Power Bait are another excellent choice, as are weedless jigheads with scented crayfish bodies.
I strongly recommend using a natural scent when throwing plastic lures. Real Craw produced by Riverside Lures is made from crayfish oil and continues to be one of my favorites for smallmouth fishing.
Cast out to productive spots until the action slows then return to drifting or trolling to locate more fish. It's not a bad idea to leave your marker buoy in place for awhile. After a spot has cooled off for an hour or more, it's usually good for a couple more bites.
Deep-Water Structure
During mid-summer smallmouth make a move to deeper water where they remain throughout the fall. Sunken islands and other bottom structure that lies in water from 15 to 40 feet are prime places to find smallies.
These same sites are often shared with walleye who also favor the dark and cool depths. Finding this type of deep-water structure requires the help of a lake map and dependable sonar unit. In deep water a sonar transducer scans a significant chunk of bottom real estate. Slowly cruising over these humps and watching the graph is the best way to see if fish are home.
Not every reef holds smallies or walleye for that matter. An angler may have to explore several sites before finding the one or ones smallmouth favor.
Once fish are spotted on the sonar, mark the spot with a buoy and use an electric motor to position the boat. Vertical jigging or slowly dragging slip-sinker rigs baited with minnows is the most efficient way to tempt these fish.
During the summer walleye-sized minnows (two or three inches) or leeches are productive. In the fall larger minnows are the best possible bait. A four- to six-inch redtail chub is tough to beat for fall smallmouth. Both walleye and smallies prefer a larger meal during the fall.
Those who prefer to use artificial lures will find deep-water fishing the ideal place to use a Carolina Rig or jigging spoon like the Luhr Jensen Crippled Herring or Hopkins spoon.
Rivers
Rivers are the most overlooked smallmouth waters. Like walleye, smallmouth love current and finding them isn't difficult. Walleye and smallmouth instinctively seek out spots were the current is slower. In slow current areas the fish don't have to work so hard to maintain position while they wait patiently for food to drift by.
Deep holes, outside riverbends and oxbows, eddies that form downstream of fallen logs or submerged rocks, and wide spots in the river where the current flattens out are prime spots to look for smallmouth action.
Unless I've pinpointed the exact location of a group of fish, I prefer to drift downstream with the current and quarter-cast jigs or crankbaits slightly upstream. If anchoring, position the boat slightly downstream of the spot to be fished and cast lures quartering upstream.
When casting jigs in current, the size of the leadhead becomes very important. If too heavy a jig is used, the lure will sink quickly and end up lodged between rocks and debris on the bottom. If too light a jig is selected, it will be washed quickly downstream by the current.
The ideal situation is a jig that sinks to bottom, but is light enough for the current to wash it downstream a few feet at a time when you pull tight on the line and raises the jig off bottom. This technique keeps the bait near bottom, but moving downstream with the current in a natural manner.
For most smallmouth rivers a 1/16- or 1/8-ounce jig is ideal. In high-water conditions a 3/16- or 1/4-ounce jig may be needed to maintain contact with bottom. This type of fishing calls for light line in the six- to eight-pound-test range.
Fluorescent line like Stren's Golden is a big advantage in seeing subtle line twitches that indicate strikes. When drifting a jig downstream, most of the bites will be seen before they are felt if you use visible line and pays close attention.
Jigs can be tipped with live bait or dressed with a plastic grub like a twister tail or shad body. Live bait is less important in river fishing because the fish typically make reactionary strikes as the lures pass quickly by.
Smallmouth and other river fish have a strike window or area of vision they monitor while resting near the bottom. When something that looks good to eat enters this window, a strike occurs. River smallmouth will seldom chase lures like those living in natural lakes.
In natural lakes where the water is clear, smallies may have the opportunity to scrutinize a bait before hitting it. Often these fish will follow the lure and strike at the last possible moment. In these situations live bait can significantly improve the odds.
Compact diving and lipless crankbaits are also ideal river smallmouth lures. Because cranks can be cast and retrieved rapidly, they cover more water than jigs. Crankbaits clunking along bottom also closely represent a smallmouth's favorite food, the crayfish.
Excellent smallmouth cranks for river fishing include the Luhr Jensen Speed Trap, Bush Baby and Sugar Shad, Bomber 6A, Fred Arbogast Mud Bug, Storm Wiggle Wart, and Rebel Crawfish.
Blade baits like the Luhr Jensen Ripple Tail, Reef Runner Cicada, and Heddon Sonar are also excellent river smallmouth lures.
Regardless of the crankbait or blade bait selected, these lures are best when fished tight to bottom. Ideally the lure should contact bottom and bounce off rocks, logs, and other debris to trigger explosive strikes.
Rods/Reels/Line
When jigging a 5-foot, 6-inch or 6-foot medium-action spinning rod-and-reel combination loaded with six- or eight-pound-test is best. Throwing crankbaits or pulling live bait rigs is a job for a baitcasting reel matched to a 6-foot or 6-foot, 6-inch triggerstick in a medium or medium/light action. Premium monofilament in eight- or 10-pound test is ideal for fishing with baitcasting equipment.
If you're a walleye angler, the garage is probably already stocked with all the rods, reels, lures, and live bait rigs needed to catch smallmouth bass. If you're a bass angler and you're not catching enough smallmouth, perhaps it's time to stop thinking like a bass and start thinking more like a walleye!
Copyright (c) 1996 Mark Romanack. All Rights Reserved.
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