Today we'll take a look at pound-for-pound, one of the hardest fighting freshwater species, the smallmouth bass. While they may be smaller than their green colored cousin, the largemouth bass, smallmouth can still weigh upwards of 12 pounds in some parts of the country, making them one of the most sought after freshwater species. But what makes them even more desirable is their fighting ability, with even the small ones making your drag scream! To have a better shot at coming tight on a smallmouth of your own, keep reading to find out more!
Where to Target Smallmouth
If you know there are smallmouth in the body of water you're fishing, there's a good chance that if you find an area with a rocky bottom, you'll find the desired species. Smallmouth love all sorts of rock bottom lakes. From small pea gravel to big boulders, smallmouth aren't picky on what rocks they call home. While they will be near rocks, that doesn't always mean they be right on the bottom. Smallmouth can be in all parts of the water column, from a few inches of water near the shore, to 50ft+ on off-shore rock piles. This diversity allows us anglers to target them in a number of ways, which we'll get to in the next section. Another spot to fish when targeting smallmouth is steep drop-offs off primary and secondary points, especially if there's rock all along the cliff. Those points right off the main lake are usually hot spots for smallmouth, and if those don't work, hit the points further down the "arms" of the lakes, otherwise known as "secondary points". The last spot I would recommend for smallmouth would be any wind-blown rocky area. Whether that's points, wake-breaks, dams, or just the shoreline, wind-blown rocky areas are a great place to start searching for smallmouth.
So... you've found a spot you think there might me smallmouth, now what do you throw in their face? Let's find out!
Best Baits and Techniques for Smallmouth
As I mentioned before, smallmouth can be found in all parts of the water column, which means there's a ton of ways to catch them. If you have smallmouth glued to the bottom, my favorite way to catch them is to bounce a 1/4oz-1/2oz tube on the bottom. Something about the tube just pisses them off, which is perfect for us! If the tube yields no results, shoot for a ned or shaky head. When all else is failing and the fish are super finicky, you absolutely cannot go wrong with a drop-shot. A more subtle approach which allows that bait to be 1-2ft off the bottom, works every time. Now when the fish are mid column, or suspended, hands down best method is the jerk bait. Jerk baits can reach anywhere from 5ft to 15ft and beyond, which for most of the lakes I've fished, they do just fine. For deeper suspended smallmouth, a deep crank or even a spoon can work wonders. And lastly, we'll combine shallow water fishing and top-water together. If you have aggressive shallow smallmouth, a squrebill crank will likely do the trick. If they're more finicky, you can still throw something like a ned or a tube in shallow water, even a shallow-diving suspended jerk bait can work when they just don't seem to want to eat. Lastly, we'll go over most people's favorite way to catch just about anything, top-water! Aggressive fish like smallmouth are no stranger to top-water fishing, and when the bite is on, it can feel like almost every cast! Poppers and "walk-the-dog" style lures are my go-to when targeting top-water smallmouth. The disturbance on the water is a huge trigger for smallmouth, they can't resist it! Plus seeing a top-water blow up is one of the best sights and feelings in fishing, so I guess we can't resist it either!
So what're you still reading for? Go catch 'em!!
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