I do all my fishing on the Upper Potomac river and on occasion the Susquehanna river. Both rivers usually run between 3-5 feet deep. I fish no lakes. Since starting fishing a few yrs ago I have used only soft plastic baits and had decent success. Is it worth trying hard baits in such shallow water or is this a waste of time and money? If it is worth trying, im open to suggestions on what to try as I have no idea where to start. Thanks for your time

I would definitely try shallow squarebill cranks as well as spinnerbaits and Chatterbiats.

yes on the cranks and spinner/chatterbaits and an original rapala or other small jerk bait and topwater all can work really well at times.

Small 2 inch cranks work well as beginner cranks while also working real well in ponds/small rivers. I'd use what I call "classic plastics" such as the Bomber 4A, BPS Laser Eye Medium crank, Cabelas Grave digger and Diawa Peanut.  They're going to run between 3 and 5 feet depending on the model and hive tight wobble with a soft rattle.  They're also cheap running between $3.00 - $500 on average.  The diminutive little 2'' body size really gets bit.

I fish a lot of the same conditions as you.

 

I fish a lot of hard jerkbaits, like Yo Zuri Pins, and small Xraps.  I always have a couple in my bag and use them often.  Seems black and orange is the best color in my area, with some sort of ghost color coming in a close second.

 

Jigs make up probably 75% of my fishing while on the river, probably would go back home if I forgot to grab some.  I normally use 1/8oz from a local guy, black/blue with a black trailer has been my go-to.

 

Occasionally the smallmouth will be hitting Bandit-style plugs like crazy, i try to keep a few of those in my bag as well.  I like the 200 series, the bigger lip bounces off snags better and I fish these pretty slow.

 

All my dad carries is jointed floating Rapalas and rebel craws, and he's hard to top when it comes to pure numbers.

Shallow squarebills, wakebaits, buzzbaits and chatterbaits would be on my list...

 

Mitch

Definitely spinnerbaits... fish them at any depth. More forgiving in vegatation that the patomic has in summer.

For me 3 baits work for me shallow. 1:Zoom Fluke 2:Zoom Mag Finesse worm 3: BPS 3" senko

Squarebills, Wake baits, anything that dives 3-5 ft, floating/suspending jerkbaits. Buy some, and try some.

Yes they are well worth it. The only hard baits I wouldn't suggest are deeper diving crankbaits. Anything else should work just fine.

Hard baits are what I grew up using. I always have a couple of spinnerbaits, two or three rapalas (black back w/silver side) two or three square bill cranks, and a popper or two as well as a prop bait like a devil's horse or a torpedo. I fish these baits two to one over plastics, because I don't have a lot of patience. Also... early and late, it's a lot of fun to fish a jitterbug. Classic bait that gets a lot of bites, and the bites are from fish that are serious. Lots of fun.

I fish the Susquehanna river a lot and hard baits make up most of my arsenal there. In the summer, the times you have clear water is one of the best time for a floating jerkbait, the reason is you can work it faster than a soft jerkbait and you'll get the reaction strikes plus I found you get larger fish on average with the hard jerkbaits. Shallow diving square bills are a must, one of the best on the Susquehanna is a chrome with black back Big-O, for some reason the sound and action of that bait really make the smallmouth react, we use others but there are a lot of times were you can run a bunch or different square bills and not get a sniff only to tie on a Big-O and then load the boat in short order. Spinnerbaits and buzzbaits do real damage as well but you do need some hard baits and I'll give you a list for the water you fish.

 

1. Flaoting jerkbaits - Rapala original floater in size 9 and 11, Smithwick Rattlin' Rogue ARB1200 series, Bagley Bang-O-Lure in both sizes.

 

2. Square bill cranks - Cotton Cordell Big-O, Rapala DT Fa3 and Flat 3, Bagley Honey B, Bomber Square A the 3/8oz model.

 

3. Wake Baits - Rapala DT Fat 1, Bandit Footloose, Mann Waker Elite (if you can find them). 

 

 

There are more hard baits for different times of the year but those will work from mid spring to mid fall and I've caught good fish consistently on every one of those.

Absolutely.  Many killer shallow-running hard baits.  One of my faves for smallies, among several Strike King and Rapala baits, is the Luhr Jensen Speed Trap if they still make it....

i like a small jointed silver Rapala in the small rivers i fish.

Try a Mann's baby 1 minus in Brown craw. Crankbait.

I would use some square cranks and a topwater rapala