NewRiver

A tube, senko, "soft plastic hellgrammite," and a fluke are all I need to catch smallies year around in the waters I fish. I fish these baits in no particular order and stick with earth tone colors.

Theres alot of good ones but I prefer the bandits.

Thanks for the info warrior1

Seems you are describing the tail of a pool. I catch some of my biggest fish in the summer on overcast days at the tail of a pool. Bait fish will often stack up there and the smallies will follow. Any soft jerk bait should do the trick. Fish upstream as mentioned above.

Nice fish!!!!

Your not hijacking the thread, no worries. I figure the problem with the casting rod is not using braid. When I made the switch to braid with my spinning rod I lost significantly less fish. I think your right with the line stretch issue. I fish the yellow power pro on streams with a 6-8lb flouro leader and it works well. The bright yellow braid helps me really see the line and really be able to follow my bait. I just adjust the length of the leader depending on water conditions. Roadwarriors suggestion seems pretty solid as well, might just be getting a touch of slack in your line.

Those avids are a nice rod. The 7' M action rod I have is the avid x. The 7'6" ML I'm fishing with is a fenwick HMG and it's a lot of rod for the money, but not quite as sweet as the avid.

Nice fish!

The why is the important part of this thread. I've been on a quest to find that perfect soft plastics rod because that is what I primarily fish and I have it narrowed to two different rods. Rod number one is a 7'6" ML spinning rod. Rod number two is a 7' M spinning rod. The 7'6" ML is a good all around river Rod. When I can only carry one this is the Rod I carry. It really excels at casting small lightly weighted plastics a long ways. The Rod has a fast tip and can detect real light takes, but has enough backbone to set a hook effectively. The 7' M is also a good river rod. I've never really liked M action rods for River smallmouth. I felt they were just too stiff feeling and not as sensitive as a ML action. On my search for that perfect Rod I've changed my mind. I've noticed I lose significantly more fish with the 6'9" ML I previously fished with due to poor hook sets. I feel the M power really helps drive the hook home and as a result less fish throwing the hook. I feel I lose a little sensitivity with the M power but it more than makes up for this tiny flaw due to more landed fish. All rods are not created equal. The 6'9" ML doesn't have the same backbone as the 7'6" ML even though it's the same model/brand of Rod. I lose less fish with the longer Rod as opposed to the shorter Rod. I fish primarily tubes, senkos, flukes, and hellgramites. I've fished for River smallmouth since I was a kid and to me it's the perfect gamefish. Sorry this is long winded but it's my passion. I'd like to hear other opinions and suggestions on the subject. I'm always eager to learn from others.