webertime

smallish creek/river... unpainted jighead with a smoke grub w/silver flake = perfection... (or tiny BRIGHT colored shallow crankbaits) This is what I kill VT smallies with.

Where in VT are you? Couple weeks until the rivers are full of those!

Who makes the bass magic swimbaits? Lucky Strike, you can sometime score them real cheap at Wally World or Dick's.

Tiny Torpedos, Zara Puppies, Road Runners with Marabou or 2" & 3" curly tails. 3" Yo-Zuri Pin's Minnows (my all time favorite) I've been using a 5' and 5.5" UL rod with a Shimano 500 sized reel for more than a decade to catch Smallmouths up to 5.25lbs and Largemouths to 6lbs. I prefer to use my UL gear when the Smallmouths run out of Lake Champlain up the smaller rivers to spawn. (Lewis Creek, LaPlatte river)

I was about 13 years old and was fishing a Jig with a curly tail. Snagged... Well I started to pull it and snap it released from the weeds out of the water and comes sailing straight at me. I had long enough to think "huh, would you look at that." before the it smacked me right between the eyes and dropped me on my butt.