Dwight Hottle

Yes I have heard them called Grinnell along with mud fish, bowfin, dogfish & swamp trout.

it’s like COVID we all get it sir. No fisher person is immune to the dreaded bait monkey. And your successful catch rate supports your thesis.

I counted about $1750! Back to the original question. It's a jerk bait with 2nd place going to a chatterbait.

He posted back in late January.

If you have good visibility (water clarity) & they aren't too deep a jerk bait could work well. If they are deeper then try a blade bait or jigging spoon or lipless crank like a Duo Realis G-Fix. If the smallies act lethargic you might try a float-n-fly presentation.

Biggest smallmouth will be on a jerk bait in May. Biggest largemouth will be on a wild florida shiner as soon as she bites.

I took some Sufix performance braid down to IGFA facility in Dania Beach for testing. The 10lb braid broke consistently at 17lbs for 7 out of 10 tries.

Surface temp are what 99% of bass fisherman go by as that is what temp their transducer reports on their graph display. We all know that surface temp differ from bottom temps but most guys correlate their catching success to surface temp data.

Katie your catching success will greatly improve once the water temps get into the 40's and speed up from 45-50 degrees.

I use to wear one but quit when the hooded sun shirts came on the market. Now I only have to put sunscreen on my nose & cheeks and I'm done.

Welcome to BR. Your great lake Erie has some serious smallies as well as walleye & perch even in the western basin.

For comparison who has the bigger gut?

Had to post this one up as it was ridiculously fat but only weighed in as a low 5lber. She still had the remnants of something in her throat when I unhooked her.

Nice video Alex your enthusiasm really shines when you hook up.

Good to see the river is recovering.

I guess I have been lucky with more recent PB's for both largemouth & smallmouth. My smallie PB was May 2022 & my largemouth PB was Oct 2020.

Best one so far for this year.

Welcome to BR. At least we know your old enough to be dangerous. Coming from another older guy.

My most productive deep diving jerk baits are 1 smithwick deep rattlin' rogue 2 rapala husky jerk DD HJ 14 series 3 lucky craft pointer 100 DD & XD 4 deps balisong long bill minnow 5 lucky craft staysee 90 SP 6 megabass vision 110 +1 7 duo realis 100 DR

As well it should. Phenomenal single day catch.

You answered your own question.

Welcome Tom from SE Florida.

Cold front biggie.

It only takes one. I met Shane down at Lake Baccarac & talked with him extensively about fishing for smallies in Washington state & BC.

Another vote for Al Lindner. I always liked his versatility with multi-species.