VMC spinshot hooks

I've been hatched to fry

Tubes are popular for a reason!

Law permitting, use two rigs. One, floating a suspended, wacky-rigged Senko in the water column on a slip bobber. Second, fishing a more active presentation, such as the drop shot, tubes, jigs and/or swimbaits, on the other rig. With two guys in the boat, fishing this way, "quads" are not uncommon. Talk about a fire drill! LOL!

Dead sticking works for overly pressured fish. I have seen and heard of way too many nice smallies get caught doing this not to try it. It just takes patients.

dont be afraid of tossing bigger baits especially 2-4 weeks after spawn and during fall.

There are days when if you are moving it at all, then it is moving too fast...

Nose hooked stick baits flat out produce.

drag a crawfish colored tube any place you can.

When the water temps rise in the river systems find the rapids, fish relocate here because a: its an easy meal and b: theres more oxygen present in the water

In moving water there is also a pecking order. If youre catching small fish at the head of the riffle the big ones are likely further down stream but not completely out of the riffles.

if fishing soft plastics let out some line after casting i get 70 % of all my hits on the lures fall to the bottom..... also i tend to cast right were the sun meets a shadowy area on bright days

Don't be afraid to cast a topwater lure over deep water as smallmouth often suspend out there and will come up to hit a surface lure.

x2 - I had a hard time believing that they would come up from 30 feet + for a Spook until I saw it for myself.  I even went as far as to estimate how fast a SMB takes to get from 30 feet deep to the surface.  It's less than 2 seconds!  Yes I researched how fast a bass charges and estimated it out ... I know ... I'm a Geek.

Commit yourself to learning the dropshot technique because it will produce in water 3 feet deep and 43 feet deep.

This is my 2013 fishing goal!  It's all about the drop shot for me.

SMB Tend to be much more curious and aggressive than LMB.  With that being said don't be afriad to try erratic moving baits.  Fast twitching jerkbaits, swim a tube aggressively, burn a spinnerbait etc.

I appreciate the great tips guys - We have a couple good smallmouth articles coming up in the spring issue of Bass Angler

Smallies will often slam into a bait without actually trying to eat it the first time around. They do this to stun or disorient the bait so they can scoop it up the next time around.

Ive seen this a few times, especially with weightless flukes and things like that when we were retrieving at a faster pace. A smallie would come up and smack it but not eat it, we'd let it sit for a couple seconds, move it again, and theyd come back and drill it.

Not a constant eating strategy, but I look for it when I am not hooking up on the initial bite.

[quote name="ChunkNWind13" post="1233399" timestamp=

Ive seen this a few times, especially with weightless flukes and things like that when we were retrieving at a faster pace. A smallie would come up and smack it but not eat it, we'd let it sit for a couple seconds, move it again, and theyd come back and drill it.

Not a constant eating strategy, but I look for it when I am not hooking up on the initial bite.

Don't be afraid to cast a topwater lure over deep water as smallmouth often suspend out there and will come up to hit a surface lure.

Yes I agree, last summer I used a white/cht Buzzbait over deep water and got a couple. 

Get out after em as soon as the ice goes out,  Its some of the best fishing of the year.  Jerkbaits and lipless cranks work really well. 

Smallies also love to go on a feeding frenzy when the wind is blowing, dont be afraid to fish the windy shore or structure using spinnerbaits

A clear tiny torpedo is deadly

On hot Summer days fish the fast rapids. Sure you get hung up, but the smallies are there.

 

X2

 

Plus they like small black and blue jigs in the summer.

you cant have enough zoom fat alberts, jigs or jerkbaits.