rejesterd

You mean to kill fish? I think it's kind of silly to leave them there, but at the end of the day, 6 fish in the water isn't going to create a big problem for the ecosystem. I'd rather have a guy do that than 50 other guys throw back every dink they catch. An overpopulation of small fish is a lot worse over time imo.

But he's leaving them in the water. In NH the law is that you can't leave fish on land or on a frozen lake. I would encourage people to bag them up, but it's not wanton in NH to leave them in the water. I'm sure an officer would tell the guy to remove them anyway, but it's not officially considered wanton.

From late morning until dusk, they're mostly out deeper and not feeding. You can still catch them, you just need to use reactive baits in brighter colors. Fish them fast and erratic. Some will stay shallow, but you usually need to finesse them a little more with wacky rigs and jigs.

Animals will come and eat those fish very quickly.. they're not just going to sit on the bank rotting for weeks. That means they've been harvested. He's not hurting the ecosystem by leaving them there.

For things like spinnerbaits, swimbaits, and crankbaits, it's really easy to tell, because you're just reeling those in off the bottom and your line is always tight. For things where you let the line go slack from time to time, it's more difficult. For those things you really just have to watch your line and the rod tip. Many times, you'll see the rod tip move but you won't feel it. I just set the hook whenever I feel it get heavy. If I rip through weeds or get caught on a rock, oh well.. at least I know I didn't miss a fish. And many times if you rip it through weeds or jump it sharply off a rock, that's what will trigger them to bite it.

He meant they're not large fish that are good for catch-and-release. Except for during the spawning period, there is a daily limit of 5 bass and 25 perch. No length or weight limits. So he was well under the limit. And what he's doing will likely help you catch larger fish there in the future. It's called harvesting, and it helps spread the food around in the lake to fewer fish (so they can be healthier and grow larger, and will be less likely to cannibalize themselves).

They're roaming, but usually will stick fairly close to the places they used for spawning. Ledges that are close to big points. That's what I would focus on with crankbaits, dropshots, and jigs. If I pick up on some schools of smallmouth in my lake, I dropshot down to them and usually get a few. But the bigger ones seem to be all over the place, and I get them with search baits (spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, swimbaits). The biggest smallmouth I've caught this year are in sandy areas on the border between deep and shallow water.

Gotta love NH haha. You've convinced me to dust off the ol' wp.

That's not all it is.. it's my conclusion based on experience. That's it. I agree, if I threw topwaters every day for a significant amount of time, I'd be catching them on topwaters more often. I just also think I'd be losing more too.

You must be fishing these topwaters extremely fast if you're covering more water than a spinnerbait. And I don't know of a situation, other than in heavy cover, where you couldn't use a spinnerbait or a jerkbait in shallow water. My experience tells me that they can't get as good a look at topwaters as they can spinnerbaits/jerkbaits/crankbaits.. so they miss them more often. I certainly use my spook and chug bug from time to time and see them come back a second time to get it.. but many times, they don't come back. Just seems like largemouths are more fitting for topwater.

Finessing them does catch a lot of small ones. The larger ones tend to respond better to crankbaits, snapping a tube, or slow-rolling with a swimbait/jig combo. But if you get the right color, big ones will also nail the dropshots/neds.

I think bass are always active in the sense that you can always find something that triggers them to bite. Overcast days tend to be better for the sheer number of fish that I catch, but if we're talking big fish, it really doesn't matter. I catch big ones at all times of the day, at different depths, and during different conditions.

I wouldn't be that concerned. You'll kill plenty of fish by gut/gill hooking them, and it's also good for the overall population to harvest some of the fish out of there anyway. Smallmouth are very hardy fish.

Nothing sad about catching more bass on other lures. I've just found that topwaters are lower-percentage as far as hookups go. I rarely miss a hookup with a jerkbait or a spinnerbait.

Topwaters for smallmouth aren't all that good imo. They miss them a lot. I much prefer a floating jerkbait.

A Rebel Big Craw has worked really well trolling for me. Even if you don't reach the bottom when trolling.. they come up for it. I've seen so many crawfish down smallies' throats in my lake that look exactly like this lure.. just get one in every color, and try them.

This actually happens a lot in my lake, which is in NH and it's clear water. First, you just have to try more baits. Typically, these fish will respond better to a jerkbait than a spinnerbait, especially if you can see them clearly from where you're sitting. Also a wacky rigged senko/yum dinger will usually do it. Also, this is when color can make a big difference. Sometimes that's all that's needed to trigger them. Finally, it's also when patience plays a big role. Sometimes, it literally takes 15-20 casts to get them to bite. Put the idea of "maybe they're just not biting right now" out of your mind. Fish are hard-wired to bite things that move past them in the water. If you throw enough things at them in enough colors enough times, they will eventually bite.

Me: I gotta head up to camp before you to check on the camper.. you don't want that A/C to quit working this weekend RIGHT??? Her: Gee, I haven't heard that excuse before.. brilliant.

1. Big spinnerbait (3/4 oz), especially at dawn/dusk or when it's completely overcast during the day. 2. Rebel Big Craw crankbait. 3. Dropshot with a 4" Roboworm, Fluke or Senko. I probably catch 60-70% of my smallmouth in the summer using these. Jerkbaits and shallow-running squarbills would be a close 4th and 5th though.

Big points near open/deep water and other transitions like ledges, where rock meets sand, rock pile in the middle of nowhere.. etc. Smallmouth roam all the time, so just play the odds.. the odds of finding a group of good-sized smallmouth with your electronics is a lot lower than the odds of simply running into a good group when using search baits. I troll a lot with a crankbait in the summer, then dropshot if I get a good one. I can definitely find groups of them with the sonar, but 9 times out of 10, it's a group of small fish that are getting pushed out of a better feeding area by 3-4 larger ones.

"let the fish tell you what they want" is a bad way to think about the process imo, especially if you're looking for bigger fish. They don't act the same way. It sounds like you're mainly focusing on soft plastics rather than larger power baits like jerkbaits, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits. If you go out for a couple days and only throw those types of baits, you'll start to see why the game isn't about "giving the fish what they want".. it's about triggering their natural instincts to bite, even when they aren't currently feeding.