iceintheveins

They are great grubs for river smallies on a jighead, and they make great jig trailers too. I prefer hula grubs for largemouth or deep water though.

They are good shallow cranks for bulldozing through cover.

When pike fishing I use P - Line CFX fluorocarbon leaders in at least 15 pound test. I catch some BIG pike and seldom get cut off. Wire interfers too much with lure action and just repels strikes. However if the water is heavily stained, tieable wire is a good option.

The Umpqua River is a couple hours drive from Salem but it has a fantastic smallie fishery.

Sluggos rock, period. Anyone tried the sluggo El Salto?

The creme 6" worm makes a great floating, slow sinking worm fished weightless with just the hook. Fantastic action. Makes a good finesse worm when split shotted too.

I ordered a couple and can't wait to try them.

Booyah moon talker, and pepper hawg night series.

If the river is high fishing will be difficult. You might have to wait for it to go down and to clear. Normally, I look for any sorts of rocks, logs, or anything that breaks the current and gives bass some cover. Deep holes are also good locations but they need to have some form of cover. The very best areas have deep water and a current break, and of course cover. For river smallies I like big inline spinners, spinnerbaits, countdown rapalas, and of course grubs and tubes fished on jigheads. Buzzbaits and prop baits are also great at times.

Braid negatively affects the action of topwaters IMO. The only topwater I use braid with are frogs, and even then I use a mono leader.

Sluggos have excellent action. They don't cast as far and they are more buoyant than flukes, so I use them when targeting shallow bass. They also make a sluggo loaded with salt (the el salto sluggo) that sinks more and casts further. They are a must have in your tackle box. When bass are deeper I prefer a fluke or senko though.

St. Clair is probably the second best smallie fishery in North America besides Erie. One of the best muskie fisheries too. It's a dream destination.

Johnson's silver minnow with a pork frog is a great weedless lure. I do quite well on jitterbugs, especially at night. Daredevles are really good bass lures too, and they catch just about everything that swims.

When fishing barbless it's easier to un hook fish or yourself should you get stuck. However I don't use barbless and I oppose madatory barbless regs because just about all studies show that barbless hooks don't decrease hooking mortality. Barbed hooks don't have a higher mortality.

Cool thanks man.

Over grass beds is a great place, but they are a good option anywhere you need to cover a lot of water at any depth.

Do you have to use barbless up there just when fishing for bass or period? Is that in all waters statewide?

IDbasser when does the Snake start getting good for smallies? Around Pocatello? I have only fished down to around Rigby where the South Fork and the Henry's Fork go together, just for trout. How far upstream does the good smallie fishing go

Cordell Super Spot and BPS XPS Rattle Shad! Regular ol' Rat L Traps are good too.

I'd go with a good high quality medium fast graphite spinning rod in medium action. Usually enough backbone for plastics and enough flex for cranks and buzzers. The St. Croixs mentioned are good choices, but some of the Berkley Lightning's are good lower cost choices.

Braid seems to kill the action of poppers, walkers, and prop baits. I only use braid with frogs.

Does the stanley ribbit float?

I like scum frogs and scum frog poppers, and I was thinking of trying the bigfoot. Now I think I will pass.

Cool thanks. I will probably come up there in the next couple of years, probably in late summer when the water is low.

I lip my bass. If they throw the hook before I can get them, that's all right. Close enough for me. When in a bigger boat though I do like having a net so I can get pics of my catch. Since I fish toothy fish like pike, walleye, and trout a lot, a net is indispensible for them.