Senko86

Winter Craw Pattern I like this one when they are feeding heavily on red colored craws but they won't look at a red/brown jig. For some reason this stands out from the crowd and they crush it!

ok so that transition is where I found beds before and I would think they would use the steeper banks that transition to the flatter area as a migration route to the flat however I cannot find any active fish in the transition. how deep will they be sitting during this transition phase 5'-10' or 10'-20' or deeper? The clarity varies from 3'-10' depending on where you are and if the water is rising or falling. I guess another importan bit of info is this is an irrigation lake goes in two week cycles of filling up then two weeks of draining. This fluctuation is about 5-7' in total. This has been a challenging lake to pattern in general just trying to unlock this place I have caught some nice fish in there just trying to figure out how they work with all the variables.

I have some questions about smallmouth spawning progression. I have a lake that is divided where one side has steep rock the other shallow grass flats.The water temps are in the low 50's but I cannot seem to find these fish anywhere its a fairly small lake but has some 60' spots in it. How would you guys go about targeting these fish? I always here about smallies spawing in 55 degree water and last year I found old beds in the spring with a few little males but these fish seem to be MIA shouldn't these fish be up and active? Also From my understanding smallies tend to like gravel bottoms for spawning but will they spawn in the grass like largemouth will? Thanks for any advice!

Anything that swims will work but I have found that I like zoom swimming flukes on the back of my J&J Tackle Grass Jigs I trim the first 1/4" off and glue them on they have a good kickout while swimming just a slightly different action than the traditional grubs or chunks.

I fish a lot of jigs and find that arky heads skip better than brush jigs 3/8 skips great but a 1/2 you tend to have a little more control over and can push back small sticks/grass if you are skipping into cover.