PaulVE64

TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH OP

Walking frogs are great. I use a white popping frog that i can walk as well. Quite deadly but smallies tend to pop them a couple feet out of the water.

First off this may be species dependent as I fish for river smallies 90% of my time. I have found the buzzbait to be a waste of my time if i have the Plopper. I will admit to having no confidence in my BuzzB, whereas when i started throwing the plopper i was getting hit. Ive fished and lost a half dozen BuzzBover the years and now i just have one left. When is the best season, time and westher to throw one? Id like to catch at least one smallie with a Buzzbait. Maybe i need to spend time throwing at LMB?

St Croix Avid 7 ft Medium w/ fast tip is the bench mark spinning rod. Your rod is either better or not. The better ones are more money though. In my opinion anyway

Since its your first time hunting smallies you probably dont want to buy alot of useless lures. Get a rattling crankbait in a shad pattern, some green pumpkin tubes with jig heads 3/16 to 3/8 oz depending on current. The only other lure you need is a bag of 4" senkos or yum dingers in watermelon red flake. You'e going to love it.

Well... The Aird X is an ungodly great rod for even twice the money so the comparison on Value is skewed. I think you will notice a difference when you get into the $250 + range. Counting pebbles on a 1/4 oz jig is a game changer. BUT if you typically use cranbaits, spinners and topwater there is less need for a sensitive tip. In fact i prefer a medium tip and they typically run under $60 for me.

Spinning - St croix Avid 7ft medium w/ fast tip

Been tying the FG for 3 years on all setups. For me thats 20# to 40# braid to 6# to 16# mono leaders. My best knots are tied under alot of tension. I keep my leaders straight and cinch each turn. By the time ive tied the first 1/2 hitch ive got all tight wraps. Tight wraps appear "glossy" I have the most trouble with mono over 40#

Last week we went from crystal waters, highs of 80, nightime low of 65 and low water with plenty of cabbage to torrential downpours, highs of 70, nightime low of 50 and fast, high muddy conditions with high winds. It might take a week or two to find those smallies again. Regardless, i will be fishing Agreed. I think it demonstrates why my bigger fall bass are usually (i believe) on reaction baits.

For me the best part of the fall bite is when the river monsters get aggressive again. I want to see a 4# smallie charging my jig again in 2 ft of clear water in the middle of a sunny day. Its even better than a topwater bite.

The advice i hear most often about dying grass is to find the (only) green patch and throw at it. Smallies that like grass will stick to grass until its all gone.

i have thrown the ned with some sucsess but 30 percent of my catches on a ned are not a bass. Suckers, buffalo, drum, catfish

Smallmouth aerials! They're the best!

Wading thru my local rivers in about 2 to 5 ft depth. Smallmouth were crazy for a TR 3" yum dinger (wtrmeln/red flake) and a pearl fluke on an octopus hook

I dont get it but the ned works. Im a believer but when i junk fish i reach for a jig first. It seems like the jig should draw bigger bass. Maybe i just need more confidence in the ned or spend more time at it.

The spot on the spot

You're probably right about the power. I throw mine on a 50 yr old Ugly Stick. Its rated a medium but its more of a medium tip. It will launch the 130.

7ft medium power rod med-fast tip. Whopper plopper 130 in bone 20# braid to a short 17# mono leader

I like a rabbit zonker tail on my hair jigs. But i keep my colours very boring.

We start from the top and work to the bottom.

End of day 6 Last day and today everyone was able to take any lure or soft plastic they wanted. Brother "trout snob" went with the soft plastic craw that worked so well on day 1. Brother "older not wiser" picked out a 1 oz whopper plopper to cover water. (he really just enjoys casting to open water.) Given a chance to pick their own tools was a brilliant move on my part as they struggled early and often to locate the bass. By the time I was up by 3 fish the younger brother wanted to try a senko and the other bro wanted to add some split shot to his 1 oz behemouth. Some days are glorious and others are satisfying. I love my brothers butva little humiliation keeps them in line for the rest of the year.

End of day 5 The weather has finally stabalized but the lake has 4 ft swells so was back to river for fishing. Most of the damage today was on a 3" pitboss in black w/ blue flake and on a 4" Archelon. Tomorrow we have our first full day of nice weather and "the bet" is all tied up. Wish us luck.

End of day 3 Most of the day has been lost to thunderstorms. We managed to stretch a 2 hr window into 3 hr and everybody caught a smallie on a jig. Tough go today. End of day 4 More thunderstorms today. Since the river is blown out we tried a local largemouth pond but the boat was skunked for the first time. Hoping for better weather and if the wind calms down we could get out onto the lake this weekend

End of day 2 Most of the day was lost to thunderstorms. It poured until about 3 pm so we went from about 6pm til dark. We threw only topwater but only managed a few smallies. The big drama of the night was little brother taking trebles hooks in the hand from a thrashing smallie. He got one hook right past the barb and mr smallie just kept thrashing. We had a good laugh before we unhooked him and like good brothers we got some video first. The rains clears out but its supposed to remain cloudy for a few more days.

End of day 1. We fished a 400 yd long boulder feild in about 3 ft of clear water in the sunshine with a bit of breeze. 1st fish of the day was a 15" walleye, took about an hour to get my brother dialed in on as good pattern. Little brother took home honors with a #3.3 and a #3.7 smallie on a lime/watermelon craw and a 1/8th oz split shot. Tomorrow we move downriver to a bit more depth. Should be alot of rock again, clear water, clear sky, max 7 ft depths and 1.5 to 2 ft/sec flows. Im thinking of white flukes, small shallow cranks and topwater