Hey guys I just wanted to see how you all deal with this situation. Today I rented a canoe up at Emerald Lake State Park and caught a 2.53lb smallmouth bass. Can't complain there because everybody had a rough day fishing wise and it was.the most fun I had all year.

 

The situation I found myself in was that the drop shot seemed to be the perfect bait for the spawning smallies in the lake I was fishing, but with the way the canoe drifts, it drags me out if my target area rather quickly, where in the past I've had luck in the same lake working the shoreline with a spinnerbait as those casts are generally much quicker.

 

Would I be better off using a Texas rigged worm/senko or jigs than trying finesse? What do you guys who are far more experienced with fishing from a canoe recommend I do in this situation?

Probably be better off changing baits due to the speed of things

Pick up some rope and an anchor. Pretty cheap and solves your issues with current

7 minutes ago, Rahlow said:

Probably be better off changing baits due to the speed of things

Yeah that's what I'm thinking too. There probably isn't much I can do about drifting.

2 minutes ago, BassB8Caster said:

Pick up some rope and an anchor. Pretty cheap and solves your issues with current

I will definitely give this a shot. This particular lake screams drop shot.

They do make a drift bag,,,,,

I have had great success with square bills and topwater for smallies. A sprobbz rat works great as well. 

12 hours ago, BassB8Caster said:

I have had great success with square bills and topwater for smallies. A sprobbz rat works great as well. 

I was debating trying a medium or deep diving crank in the deeper areas. One of these days I will give that a shot, I bet I'd do good there.

I used this basket on a 16' boston whaler to hold the anchor and rope. It doubled nicely as a drift bag when we only needed to slow up a bit.  On my canoe, i use the same principle but replace the basket with a 5 gallon pail with some holes drilled into it.

An anchor for the front and one for the back, otherwise you may get blown in a circle.

I kinda like drifting a DS in my kayak.  If I'm too deep to anchor it's the only presentation that works sometimes. 

Anchor

39 minutes ago, fishwizzard said:

I kinda like drifting a DS in my kayak.  If I'm too deep to anchor it's the only presentation that works sometimes. 

Yeah that's the problem that the lake is fairly small and it gets over 60 feet deep in parts, but around those parts seems to be where I expect to find the smallies at. Much of the rest of the lake is shallow with slimy weedy bottoms where that's the sandy bottom area, other than the southeastern shoreline, which is where I caught what was by far the largest smallie I have ever caught, and still the largest black bass I have caught to date and I can drift along that shore decently.

On 5/28/2018 at 9:39 PM, Boomstick said:

Today I rented a canoe up at Emerald Lake State Park and caught a 2.53lb smallmouth bass. Can't complain there because everybody had a rough day fishing wise and it was.the most fun I had all year.

 

The situation I found myself in was that the drop shot seemed to be the perfect bait for the spawning smallies in the lake I was fishing, but with the way the canoe drifts, it drags me out if my target area rather quickly,

Problem to solve is the drifting canoe (same with a yak) - need an anchor, not a different lure. 

One thing that makes things easier is to bring some water buckets to help ballast the front of the canoe if your fishing alone or with someone a little smaller. It's the worst having a light front end and trying to face the wind.  

I have a friend that rents canoes at a nearby lake. He installs a crossbrace and a small trolling motor. He adds one battery up front and has good control.