iceintheveins

3" - 5" Curly Tail grubs Hula Grubs Tubes Shallow - Medium Cranks Lipless Cranks Couple Spinnerbaits Couple Buzzbaits Couple Prop Baits Couple Walking Baits

4" - 1/0 EWG Gammy 5" - 3/0 EWG Gammy

1. Blue black rattlin' jig with a matching rage chunk 2. Big colorado spinnerbaits or double colorado with blue black or chartreuse skirts 3. Black Buzzbait 4. Blue Black, Junebug full sized brush hog 5. 1/2 Ounce Red Eye Shad in Chartreuse, Chili Craw 6. Norman Fat Boy Crank In Chartreuse or other bright colors. 7. Any big, fat, loud crank in bright colors Fish tight to the cover!

Pepperjigs.com makes compact spinnerbaits for the weight, even the 3/4 ounce is about the size of a standard 1/2 ounce bait or smaller.

No they cause no such problems at all. I use the clips and weights on ALL my plastics.

A great lure and walks the dog even better than the regular spro. I fish it like a frog except with occasional pops. Another bonus is it doesn't take on as much water as the regular.

Cloudy conditions or low light are when I throw 90% of my topwaters except a frog. But in shallow water with lots of cover they can be a good alternative. If nothing is working, try them and it just might save the day.

Black blue rattling jig with matching rage chunk trailer.

Parasite clips, nuff said. parasiteweights.com

Another vote for TW

Crankbaits or swimjigs for no wind, spinnerbaits with wind.

Crankbaits or swimjigs for no wind, spinnerbaits with wind.

For the baby I use a 1/0 EWG gammy with a 1/4 parasite sinker, same setup with the full size except a 3/0 EWG. I'll go heavier in deeper water or when it's windy. I use them as a pitchin' bait, but they are a great carolina rig bait too.

Are you using heavier line (17 pound or greater) to keep the bait shallower? I will use 10 - 12 pound test for 1/4 ounce spinnerbaits in sparse cover, but heavier baits and heavier cover do call for heavier line. Casting a 1/4 ounce spinnerbait on 20 pound test isn't easy though, so I can see the need for reaching for a heavy bait in shallow, cover filled water.

When they are spawning they will be pretty shallow. A good area for spawning smallies are gravel flats near larger broken rock. Right now I would be fishing grubs on 1/4 or 3/8 ounce heads in green pumpkin, watermelon, and pearl colors. Lipless cranks in chrome or crawdad colors should tear them up too. I would concentrate on rip rap near deep water. Fish the rocks from 5 - 30 feet, the better areas have some water over 50 feet deep nearby for the fish to retreat during fronts. There are some decent smallies in the lake in the 4 - 6 pound range, but it's not as good as Dworshak or the Snake River and associated reservoirs.

Vanish is the most brittle, horrible garbage ever invented.

Bass rarely do harm. "Invasive species" are generally a boogeyman and overblown threat because fishery managers like to have as much control as they can.

1. 3 or 4 inch curly tail grub on 1/8 to 3/8 ounce heads 2. 1/4 - 1/2 Ounce Lipless Cranks 3. Bomber Model 5A and 6A And Similar Cranks 4. 3" Tube 5. Senko 6. Spinnerbait 7. Popper 8. Zara Spook 9. Suspending Jerkbait, especially X rap #8 and #10 and LC Pointer 78 and 100

P - Line 100% Fluoro

Best smallie fishing is on the Wyoming side but they are lake wide. Curly tail grubs, drop shotting, tubes, senkos, lipless cranks, and deep cranks banged off the rocks will get you bit. Water is probably still in the upper 50s. Silver bladed double willow spinnerbaits in choppy conditions are good too.

BPS Pro Qualifier or Lew's Speed Spool.

BPS Crankin' Sticks.

I bought some of that Carlson's tackle fishin' glue, and it's very liquid and runs all over the place. A little super glue pen is the best.

Most of mine are 3/8 ounce but I fish 1/4 ounce spinnerbaits a lot in weedy water shallower than 11 feet. Still do very well with 1/2 ounce spinnerbaits too when fishing deeper.

That one works, body size is 2.75". Not that a bigger crank won't catch bass around here, especially in off colored water and windy conditions, but our forage is smaller and bass over 6 pounds are uncommon.