Do not forget the Silver Buddy or a Rapala Shap Rap in crawdad color.

All great recomendations by all for sure. Tube, C-Rig, and dropshot are a few more to consider.

Kvd dream shot

Coffee tube

Yamamoto senkos.

Man it seems like you guys down south have it rough with fishin. Or I just have it amazingly good up here in Canada lol

remeber smallmouth basically live around rocks, whats around rocks? crawfish. there basically a no.1 food source for SMB, so look for hula grubs, or a drop shot with a 4" roboworm.

 

how are you gonna be fishing for them? off shore? pitching to docks?

 

a lot of that has a huge factor into what i will be throwing

For me my small mouth baits are as follows. A white spook, A chrome spro aruko shad, a jerk bait, and white or chartreuse spinner baits.

What color tubes would you recommend for deeper water?

I like brown and green pumpkin colored tubes with bright flake (silver, purple) for deeper water.

If I want a quick limit in a tourny ill throw a ds with a twitch tail minnow

4" senko

If my life depended on catchng a smallmouth. I would have the following rigged up and ready to go:

 

4" Senko  on a wacky jig

 

4" finesse worm on shaky head

 

3.5" Tube

 

3" gulp leech on a drop shot

I've never messed with the Gulp but wanted to try some. Had the leech in my hand and put it down in favor of some 2" minnows I though might make a good finesse drop shot bait. Also, a woolly booger fly makes a good hellgie imitation.  

Depends on time of year or if you are shore or boat fishing. late winter to early spring : a trap slow ticked off rocks. spring to early summer: single swimmer over cover. Summer to late fall: night fishing a jig off main lake points and humps. Late fall to early winter: v-wake a bone color long-A along points and shady bluffs. early to late winter: tightlining, float-n-fly, silver buddy and a hair jig

So many of you suggest 4" Senkos that I'm sorry I own hundreds of 5" and 6" Senkos, but the bass I catch sure like those bigger ones.

This year I have been having luck with a Strike King KVD BlueGill Crankbait square bill and Rapalla xrap countdown Clown color.

GARY YAMANMOTO KREATURE BAIT. SERIOUSLY

Spro mcstick 110 to cover water

Chomper twin tail grub

Water melon bitsy tube

Senko wacky on a jighead...idiot rig

Try a Mepps Agila spinner. I know it's kinda of a trout bait but if you get the variety pack Mepps sells there are some good colors.

 

Saw this a few posts back.  Great advice.  The larger Mepps kit (the Basser? or something) works great, especially in rivers.  And you may get a nice trout for the same price.

 

Funny story.  I was fishing with my dad in Maine at a fishing camp after graduating college.  We were on a gigantic lake that was no more than 6 feet deep anywhere, and after about an hour of fishing (with a guide), the only bait that caught any fish was an orange Rapala floating minnow.  Not blue, not silver, only orange.  About an hour before leaving the first day, I got hung up and lost mine (my dad and I each had one).  I caught nothing that hour (tried just about everything I had) while my dad kept reeling in one 3-pounder after another.  I grabbed a new Rapala before dinner that night and the next day we caught about 30 fish each with just that one lure.

 

So here I am 20 years later, and every time I fish for SM, I tie on an orange Rapala.  Sometimes it even catches fish! lol

 

Seriously, my personal favorite would be spinners, tubes, and of course Senkos.

 

VG

If I could only name 2 I would say tubes and grubs. They never let me down.

Mr Twister Yellow Twister tails.....game over! 

For rivers, I like natural colored 4-5" senkos, texas rigged craws, and small jigs with craw trailers. I don't have anywhere to fish for them in still water around here. Just drifting a senko in the current, weightless or texas rigged with a 1/16 or 1/8oz if need be, knocks 'em dead.

1. 3 or 4 inch curly tail grub on 1/8 to 3/8 ounce heads

2. 1/4 - 1/2 Ounce Lipless Cranks

3. Bomber Model 5A and 6A And Similar Cranks

4. 3" Tube

5. Senko

6. Spinnerbait

7. Popper

8. Zara Spook

9. Suspending Jerkbait, especially X rap #8 and #10 and LC Pointer 78 and 100

It's crazy. I've thrown my cranks and lipless cranks, spinners and topwater but haven't gotten a BITE yet. Yellow twister tail though, I'll catch with it. 

My best baits for smallest are White Mister Twister grubs and green pumpkin Strike King tubes, both fished on 1/8oz jigheads. If you wanna give top water a try, go buy an Arbogast Jitterbug. Smallies love em.

Caught my first Smallie today on a Spro Little John in Old Glory. The water was a little murky, and overcast.

10 Years later . . . . 

The Jack Hammer gets on this 'list'.

3/8 & 1/2 oz - and don't forget that Zako trailer !

A-Jay

Lots of good advice.  Do I see the rage tail menace on the list?  If not, it deserves to be.  Not the baby, the original.  The tails on the baby don't always "rage" consistently.

 

Anyone with 5 and 6 inch lure who wants to try 4 inch lures, there is an easy way to do it.  Going the other way is more difficult.