PaulVE64

First one and proud. I'd say the hook has been set. Welcome to the club.

I've been told and tested it out. In most cases the correct colour for craw trailers is to match the river bottom then try black/blue and then clear/white. It made sense to me.

More than 3 smallies is a good day.

Weightless senko Swimjig Crankbait Jig with a craw trailer Topwater spook

Time on the water (or youtube videos) will teach you when to throw what. But that probably doesnt help. My best advice would be to pick a technique and fish it anywhere you think has fish. Stick with it until your sick of it and then do more. Or go fishing with someone who does know and ask them.

Today I dropped the crankbait and jerkbait to search with a rattletrap. Hadn't thrown it yet this year but they liked my yooyoo presentation.

I've been tying hair, feathers and fur on jigs for smallmouth for a few years. Soft plastic trailers work great on jigs. I'm river fishing so anything from 1/16 to 3/8 is normal for me.

Hmmmmmm, I feel like my river is either rebounding or the pendulum of universal equality is swinging my way. Over the past 5 or 6 years I've fished the same stretches of river for 400 to 600 hrs annually. In that time I've gone from an average of 1 fish per 4 hrs to about 1.5 fish per hour. And the average size seems to have increased as well. But I havent improved that much. I can remember grinding for days just to catch 1 or 2 dinks after skunking day after day. Dragging a senko for hours, seeing 12 topwater blowups in one day and never getting a single hook into flesh.

In my river any bottom presentation has a high risk of snagging. Most of my plastics are texas rigged.

If you believe you're doing your best to tie it and but you dont have confidence in the knot, dont use it. Applies to any and all knots.

I use the fj for all my leaders, and I never make them so long that they get spooled. I have had a few slip out but only when I have suntan lotion on my hands when I tie them. When part of my mono leader breaks off I check it for knicks but I'm not worried about "overstretching"

Use magical water faries or a leader.

In my waters it takes a smallie 12-15 years to reach 20"

Oh, What kind of conditions are you facing? Depths, water clarity, bottom structure, vegatation? Smallies prefer clearer water than LMB with lots of oxygen.

Those smallies are mean and packed with fight. I had a 12" smallie hit a 5" magnum rage bug.

I lose the lures I fish with, especially if they work. And I'm cheap. My experience on the river is that location and presentation are just about all that matter. Profile and colour are occasionally important, at most. When I fish I normally get bit on 6 different baits. From hair jigs, senkos, jerkbaits, articulated jigs, swimbaits, etc. So I'm not fussy about a particular model or manufacturer, save for a rare one that I favour. And I'm cheap.

Chartruese smoke with black, silver and white flakes

The smoke will travel thru the air over parts of the united states of america. But the fish probably won't notice.

Fastest I've seen would've been last year while fishing a river system near a set of rapids. The river is connected to a resort area some 20 miles north but since the river gets very shallow there isnt alot of boat traffic. Anyway, I'm in a kayak when I hear a bass boat at full throttle. Turns out its 5 bass boat racing from the resort area down to the rapids and then back north to the resorts. I easily got out of there path but of course I was nearly swamped. No amount of hull scrapes deters them, apparently they do this race every year on the same holiday weekend.

StC 7'-0" MF Avid w/ a Daiwa BG 3000

Probably dont need to downsize.

Mine are copper/amber

I've been trying 10# fluoro leaders lately. I normally throw 12# mono but my river is very low and clear right now. Ive lost more lures/fish in the last two weeks than normal. All due to rubbing on rock edges. Going back to mono.

It's a d**n paradox. My largest smallie was on a 110 whopper plopper that barely touched water. But this year all my biggest bass (over 3#) have been on a hair jig or a baitfish fly I make. Both are less than 2" long and deadsticked in current. Edit - I should mention that I fish rivers 95% of my time and we are still in prespawn, but I did start throwing a DT4 crankbait recently that is getting reaction bites.

I've never used a baitcaster. I fish for river smallies and prefer a long fight on a windy day.