Thinking of fishing a river with high (but not flooded) water this week. Usually in these conditions the smallmouth are on the outside banks.  Anyone ever try a Whopper Plopper in a situation like this with luck?  Or, anything else you’ve used that has worked well? 

During high, fast, probably muddy, water, smallmouth will be hanging out away from the fast current. A Whopper Plopper would get their attention. You'd need to find a decent sized eddy. Away from eddies, the fish will be holding tight to cover along the shorelines and don't necessarily chase baits out into the fast water.  Accurate casting the bait inches from the bank will get bites while baits that miss the tiny strike zone will come up empty.

I don't know how you plan on getting to the fish. Wading in fast, high water is tough and so is positioning and holding a canoe or kayak in water like that. Anchoring a kayak or canoe in fast water can be dangerous. Please be careful.

44 minutes ago, Scott F said:

During high, fast, probably muddy, water, smallmouth will be hanging out away from the fast current. A Whopper Plopper would get their attention. You'd need to find a decent sized eddy. Away from eddies, the fish will be holding tight to cover along the shorelines and don't necessarily chase baits out into the fast water.  Accurate casting the bait inches from the bank will get bites while baits that miss the tiny strike zone will come up empty.

I don't know how you plan on getting to the fish. Wading in fast, high water is tough and so is positioning and holding a canoe or kayak in water like that. Anchoring a kayak or canoe in fast water can be dangerous. Please be careful.

Thx Scott, I’ll be using my Spot-lock thankfully!  

Water is high where I am. I fished a whopper plopper and crank bait all day, with the whopper plopper catching the most fish from 5am-1pm. Most fish were caught in eddies and tucked right up to the bank or cover.