PaulVE64

My brothers are in town this coming week as I am hosting our river fishing trip. 2019 we did trout on the epic Bow, Crow's Nest & Old Man Rivers near Calgary, Canada. This year its Ontario, Canada. We' ll canoe or kayak the Thames & Saugeen Rivers with a few days with a guide on Lake Huron and Erie. Wish me luck. Were limiting our lure/bait selection each day. As an example on the river trips we will each bring - 1 bag of 3.5" Kietech on a split shot rig - whopper Plopper - 1 bag of senko or trick worm - unlimited jigs with or without trailers or one bag of tubes. On the lakes we will bring - again the kietechs but on swimjigs - one bag of tubes rigged weedless - one deep crankbait - ned or dropshot Daily bets for 1st fish, largest fish and most fish. Ps - i have two brothers ages 58 and 56. I'm the middle son.

Mann"s HardNose Toad Red Ghost Green pumpkin

In a river with rock bottom you will get most snags casting upstream I get my best results quartering from just upriver to downstream . I think the smallies get a bit more time to see my bait that way.

Makes scense to me. The odd time I've skipped a lure (total fluke) was with a med-fast 6 ft ML

for creeks and river smallies I feel that its not as important to break down a specific area as it is to start with a search bait (crankbait, swimjig, topwater) and just locate the fish. Those smallies move with their prey, so you have to find them and then breakdown the pattern (lure type, colour, speed) on new water i contrast the conditions with what I think looks "fishy". Experience will eventually lead to success

Pardon me but i never use the palomar anymore with a fluorocarbon leader. I used to lose lures to knot explosion whenever there was a hard shock on the line.

Spoiled Privileged Self centered I dont blame Glenn

Many people say the StC spinning rods are tip heavy. But the new victory rods dont have this design flaw.

Thats the ONE

X2

Indeed, anything caught on a pocket fisherman earns you double bonus points

5' 6" Ready to Fish 2 pc medium light moderate action rod with a 2500 Sienna reel. Caught a 3# river smallie on it yestrday with a Choppo 90

When it gets muddier it tends to push them closer to the bank or structure. They hold pretty tight.

In this past week ive used only 2 lure types in 2 sizes Whopper plopper 90 and 110 Watermelon / green pumpkin tube on 3/16 and 5/16 oz rattlin jig I bring almost no tackle and slay for hours. Its the best

In my home river My largest smallies are just off the bank usually near a dropoff to 4 or 5 feet. All of those are reaction bites with topwater. Jigs/tubes in boulder fields produce the next largest. Current gets me numbers

River smallies definately travel downstream in late fall to the deepest pockets they can find. Wen the water hits bout 50°F they'll run up river and at 55°F they'll head to spawning flats quite often they go up into creeks and bays where the water heats up faster, is freshest, and has some current. Then the spawn is on. After spawn some go back deep and some stay shallow. I catch most of my river smallies shallow.

I would be using the tube as a search bait from mid column to bottom but the ned for me is only a bottom presentation.

I'm primarily a river fisherman so it depends on what stretch of river I'm on. I'm always looking to match the crayfish sandy bottom crayfish - tan brown with a bit of rust rocky bottom crawfish - watermelon and black with a bit of red

Thanks Guys

it took me 4 months to be able to consistently tie a bullet proof fj knot. so worth it

clean clear water bright sun- natural colours (white, baby bass) clean clear water overcast - natural colours (green pumpkin, watermelon) dirty water - black, blue, junebug

smallmouth bass watermelon red flake/brown gold flake/white pepper flake tubes use with with ewg hooks in weeds or 3/16 oz round head jigs with a stout hook. 3" spook jr in bone or pro blue black bitsy bug jig with a pit boss jr trailer in junebug white super fluke with an 1/0 octopus hook neko rigged swamp crawler (nail wt.) and a 1/0 octopus hook trout #3 inline spinners like a blue fox or a mepps power bait trout worms or powerbait mouse tails musky (so frustrating I wouldnt bother and #15 braid won't cut it) double bladed inline spinners with bucktail

For topwater in pike waters i throw a 50# mono leader. I like a stiff leader for cranks and topwater anyway. The only hard part for me is making a tight fj knot on thick mono. Just have to be a little more careful.

you will probably have to invest some time learning to fish the main river current to get the larger fish. Make a jig your friend, experiment with different weights to maintain bottom contact without too many snags. but expect to lose alot of jigs in the first season or two.

ML Fast and a 2500 reel