rebel crawdads, panther martins, and floating rapala's are very high on my list.

As you can tell from all the posts, there are a lot of lures that will catch smallies. But, if you don't put the lure where they are, you come up empty. When I'm river or creek fishing, I'm looking for breaklines. Anyplace you have faster water moving past slower water. A point of an island or the shore, a big rock, a log, or a bridge piling will disrupt the flow of water. Right behind the obstruction the water will be still and there will be a line where the faster water is moving up against this still water. If you just fished those areas on a river or creek with any of the lures mentioned, you WILL catch smallmouth.

Smallies in creeks feed mostly on the crawfish. They provide the most caloric energy for the amount smallies expend to feed on them, not to say they won't eat if you throw a minnow or insect pattern at them. A River2Sea crawfish (yabbie? I think...) has always worked for me. A small tube rigged up will mimic minnows and craws depending on how you fish them.

I always throw a tiny brush hog Texas rigged. Have had to many 100-150 fish days on that to count... Granted most are 8-12 inches. I always use an ultralight rig too.

X2. Its one of only 5 baits I even take with me stream smallie fishing anymore. I use a 1/16 spider slider head with it, and have also had many triple digit days using it. I also like a sammy 65, a bitsy tube, a 3" senko, and a 3" slider grub, but truthfully, I could just take a bag of tiny brush hogs and be pretty confident that I'm going to have a strong day.

X2. Its one of only 5 baits I even take with me stream smallie fishing anymore. I use a 1/16 spider slider head with it, and have also had many triple digit days using it. I also like a sammy 65, a bitsy tube, a 3" senko, and a 3" slider grub, but truthfully, I could just take a bag of tiny brush hogs and be pretty confident that I'm going to have a strong day.

Haha it's about the ony thing I will use there. It's just too easy with those. Sometimes iI will get bored and throw a bitsy tube or a small popper or rapala, but those don't even come close for me producing as much as the bitsy brush hog.

Ps. Try those on a drop shot!

Ps. Try those on a drop shot!

Way ahead of you boss. My 2nd favorite drop shot bait, except in late fall-early spring.