Hey guys, there's a creek near my house with a hole I would guess is anywhere between 15-25 ft deep. Wondering what would be some tips to help me zone in on the winter smallies.

Finesse worm or tube. Maybe a blade if you don't mind losing some. 

 

If you need to figure out whether or not there are even fish there, a live shiner will find them

41 minutes ago, everythingthatswims said:

Finesse worm or tube. Maybe a blade if you don't mind losing some. 

 

If you need to figure out whether or not there are even fish there, a live shiner will find them

Thanks man. I've heard tale of gar being caught there too, so..

I'd definitely think about using blade baits. However, change out the treble hooks with single Siwash salmon hooks. A size 1/0 or 2/0 will work just fine. Will still get your fish with less bottom hang ups.

ned rig or 1/16-1/8th hair jig - will do the job

10 hours ago, frogflogger said:

ned rig or 1/16-1/8th hair jig - will do the job

Yep,if you give that pair a decent try  and don`t catch anything===they ain`t there.

If the water is 15'=25' deep you should give the blades a good work out too.

Its been my experience that smaliies don`t always  use the deepest water available in the winter.

C22

Got 27 nice ones in mid december in 42 degree water in 15-30 ft. Tubes, grubs, dropshot, blade baits, jerkbaits.

On 1/14/2016 at 7:17 AM, Crestliner2008 said:

I'd definitely think about using blade baits. However, change out the treble hooks with single Siwash salmon hooks. A size 1/0 or 2/0 will work just fine. Will still get your fish with less bottom hang ups.

Wow, this is a great tip! I've always wanted to give blade baits a good shot when the weather starts to cool or when it starts a very slow warming trend in the early spring, but being a shallow water bank fisherman for the most part I was worried with hangups. I will definitely be trying this now, so I can add another bait to the arsenal without inducing a bunch of stress or frustration.

I live in the Boise area of Idaho and I do a lot of both smallmouth and largemouth fishing. You can never go wrong with a 3 inch curly tail grub on a 1/4 oz jighead. Green pumpkin is always a good color to start with. In cold water, I just drag it on the bottom and hop it over rocks when I feel one.

On 1/14/2016 at 8:28 PM, UKFanatic97 said:

Hey guys, there's a creek near my house with a hole I would guess is anywhere between 15-25 ft deep. Wondering what would be some tips to help me zone in on the winter smallies.

Sometimes creeks won't always hold smallmouth in the winter, if there's a larger river nearby they may move and stay in the larger flow until spring. 

 

If the bass are there it's hard to beat an Erie Darter jr fished SLOW. Also you need to be confident when fishing in cold water. I fish for river smallies around here in winter and a lot of the time the water temps are 34-38 degrees. In those conditions you may only get one or two bites a day. The second or third day of a warming trend is also a really good time to chase winter smallmouth, sunny days help too.