1 hour ago, jermination2.0 said:

hard to beat a green pumpkin hula stick on a 3/16 berkley fusion shakey head, year round lol

No doubt.

Those two pounders love that.

A-Jay

10 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

No doubt.

Those two pounders love that.

A-Jay

as do the 6 1/2s

northern smallies are almost like a completely different species compared to the ones here in the south

1 hour ago, jermination2.0 said:

as do the 6 1/2s

northern smallies are almost like a completely different species compared to the ones here in the

south

6's are fun .

But 7's are really where it's at though.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

Put your zippers back up boys...

@jermination2.0 is playing with fire here. Any member that's been here longer than a month should know that @A-Jay and @Dwight Hottle are the last word when it comes to brown bass.

My suggestion is to embrace that and utilize the information posted by them. Its helped me greatly over the years in my quest to target and catch them. Dang near bested Dwight last year too in the state contest.

Sometimes I get Lucky.

@Dwight Hottle actually has some giant brown bass DNA pumping through his veins.

A-Jay

16 minutes ago, gim said:

@jermination2.0 is playing with fire here. Any member that's been here longer than a month should know that @A-Jay and @Dwight Hottle are the last word when it comes to brown bass.

My suggestion is to embrace that and utilize the information posted by them. Its helped me greatly over the years in my quest to target and catch them. Dang near bested Dwight last year too in the state contest.

ive been around since 2018, my old account was tied to an email that no longer exists hence the 2.0 lol

i certainly enjoy reading their posts--i was really picking on @TnRiver46 more than trying to get in a big brown fish contest with @A-Jay

Here is a couple oldies but goodies.

Sevens are sweet but big sixes are only a few ounces from sweetness.

4 hours ago, Jermination said:

ive been around since 2018, my old account was tied to an email that no longer exists hence the 2.0 lol

I merged the new account with the old account and kept the new email.

Yes. I can do that. I am...the Mighty Oz!!

12 hours ago, Glenn said:

I merged the new account with the old account and kept the new email.

Yes. I can do that. I am...the Mighty Oz!!

Absolute magician! Many thanks

On 2/3/2026 at 12:14 PM, OkobojiEagle said:

Put your zippers back up boys...

The Benefits of Long Casts for Big Brown Bass.

 

Been wanting to supplement the thread with this one for a while now.

Today’s that day. 

Back in Chapter II, I touched on this subject a bit. This info was a couple of decades in the making, and the post itself was put up over seven years ago. Since then, my time on the water and subsequent fish catches have only served to reinforce what I wrote then.

I believe in this approach and would strongly encourage any and all would-be big brown bass hunters to at least consider it. 

First off, there’s the obvious. I am a huge proponent of remaining undetected. #stealth Launching my bait out and away from my rig reinforces that. And I’m talking like in another time zone. IME, getting bites after plus size bass know I’m there is dramatically more challenging, if not impossible. Making this part of my approach every trip. 

Next is something that I have capitalized on over & over again in warm, cool & even cold water—SMBs love to chase stuff. I mean, they will often chase just to chase. And while I do not own one, the videos I’ve seen from others' FFS units seem to reinforce this. 

This is one reason I am such a big fan of LONG CASTS—they give them time to chase and then eat. Short casts—I get the chase to the boat, but then they turn away. Long casts seem to satisfy the ITCH!  With the clear waters I fish, I can often see them coming a long way off—sometimes whole packs of them—it's pretty intense. So when looking for fish or when looking for chilling fish, because the bite has died in the feeding areas, offering a presentation that they can 'chase a while' before they eat it can be an effective approach. I need to select a bait that works with the water temp—meaning slower in cooler or cold & faster in warmer or hot. So by presenting a 'chase bait' to a chilling SMB—or even better, a school of chilling bass—I can sometimes trigger that chase button - and get them to strike—good times.

 

This becomes even more significant in ‘skinny’ water. And that can be a relative term when it comes to big Brown Bass. I’d even go as far as to say when the conditions are right (or wrong, depending on my attitude at the time), 12 feet can be skinny. Other times, during low light or heavy cloud cover, for instance, 5 feet might be the mark. I hate ‘burning’ fish, meaning getting too close as to see them either spook or speed off in a mad dash. Or even worse, slowly meaner away, like I’m some kind of minor inconvenience. Either way, it makes me a little nuts. But if there’s not one already there, I’ll drop a pin. Come back another time, and maybe next time don't be such a knucklehead. 

My tackle is geared to support my mission. Mostly longer rods, lighter line, and quality aftermarket hooks & hardware if I can swing it. Interestingly, I have learned that it is possible to out-cast my hookset. Meaning I have so much line out, I am unable to sink the steel. Happens more with single-hook presentations and/or something that is or has a soft plastic involved in the rig.  Smallies will clamp down on it with their crushers, play tug-o-war with me for a minute, and then spit the bait back in my face. Quite unceremoniously, I might add.

Back in the day this happened to me with tubes and swimbaits baits; Perhaps half the time.

The equalizer in all this for me is braided line. Dramatically improves my strike-to-Frabil ratio. My spinning gear is all braid/leader, and my casting gear is all FC, most of which is 15 lb Tatsu. I’ve gone as high as 20 lb and as low as 12 lb. 15 lb seems to be a happy medium, allowing plenty of distance while retaining enough horsepower to hook a beast when needed. Regardless of the line type or test used, my drag needs to be in tune with this whole dance routine.

As I'm posting this, it's snowing rather heavily and will be for most of this weekend. I tell myself that all the shoveling over the long winter helps my casting distance next spring.

And someday I might actually believe it.

A-Jay

Been holding on to this one for a while.

Looks like this winter's going to linger into the middle of May.

Might as well launch it here & now.

Lake Menderchuck and the Rainbow Smelt 

The rainbow smelt is a small slender member of the Osmeridae family. Similar to trout and salmon, rainbow smelt have a dorsal fin and an adipose fin on the dorsum. Additional characteristics include teeth, as well as a long thin body with purple, pink and blue iridescent sides.

 

Smelt live out much of their life cycle in deep open water expanses. Similar to many migratory species, rainbow smelt ascend tributary streams to spawn over gravel. Their spawning period begins in the early spring when water hits 42-44°F (April), and extends for about a three-week period. Cool weather conditions may delay and/or extend the spawning period. Rainbow smelt spawn at night and usually return to the lake by morning. Rainbow smelt fry grow rapidly; landlocked in the Great Lakes most are mature by the end of two growing seasons, and nearly all will mature by the end of the third season. As with many other fish species, females grow faster and larger and live longer than males. Rainbow smelt grow to an average size of 3 to 6 inches in length in the Great Lakes.

 

Now for the good stuff and something that I haven’t discussed here before. Most ALL of the inland lakes I fish and the places that have the biggest fish are all either directly or indirectly connected to one of the Great Lakes through rivers & or streams that feed into a Lake Menderchuck.

Certainly not a secret, but a basshead needs to be on the water early enough each season to capitalize on it because most all predatory cold-water fish in the lake, including fat pre-spawn brown bass, certainly do.

Knowing/predicting where all this goes down is not too hard. But I will say the timing can often be a little tricky. Super early mornings, the very first morsels of daylight, become the norm for the best success.

Admittedly, making the correct bait selection is less arduous than just being there on time.

Open water Cannot get here soon enough !

Fish Hard

A-Jay

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Been holding on to this one for a while.

Looks like this winter's going to linger into the middle of May.

Might as well launch it here & now.

Lake Menderchuck and the Rainbow Smelt 

The rainbow smelt is a small slender member of the Osmeridae family. Similar to trout and salmon, rainbow smelt have a dorsal fin and an adipose fin on the dorsum. Additional characteristics include teeth, as well as a long thin body with purple, pink and blue iridescent sides.

 

Smelt live out much of their life cycle in deep open water expanses. Similar to many migratory species, rainbow smelt ascend tributary streams to spawn over gravel. Their spawning period begins in the early spring when water hits 42-44°F (April), and extends for about a three-week period. Cool weather conditions may delay and/or extend the spawning period. Rainbow smelt spawn at night and usually return to the lake by morning. Rainbow smelt fry grow rapidly; landlocked in the Great Lakes most are mature by the end of two growing seasons, and nearly all will mature by the end of the third season. As with many other fish species, females grow faster and larger and live longer than males. Rainbow smelt grow to an average size of 3 to 6 inches in length in the Great Lakes.

 

Now for the good stuff and something that I haven’t discussed here before. Most ALL of the inland lakes I fish and the places that have the biggest fish are all either directly or indirectly connected to one of the Great Lakes through rivers & or streams that feed into a Lake Menderchuck.

Certainly not a secret, but a basshead needs to be on the water early enough each season to capitalize on it because most all predatory cold-water fish in the lake, including fat pre-spawn brown bass, certainly do.

Knowing/predicting where all this goes down is not too hard. But I will say the timing can often be a little tricky. Super early mornings, the very first morsels of daylight, become the norm for the best success.

Admittedly, making the correct bait selection is less arduous than just being there on time.

Open water Cannot get here soon enough !

Fish Hard

A-Jay

That’s pretty cool. I had no idea these were in Lake Erie. I bet that smallmouth (and steelhead) crush them on the way in and out of the streams.

This has me pretty amped up to get out on Erie early in the season.

Unfortunately the smelt population in Lake Erie is greatly diminished compared to previous years. Heavy concentrations of smelt cause the smallies to feed up as opposed to feeding down. And as @A-Jay mentioned the lure of choice is a smelt colored suspending jerk bait.

On 2/24/2026 at 9:14 AM, Dwight Hottle said:

Unfortunately the smelt population in Lake Erie is greatly diminished compared to previous years. Heavy concentrations of smelt cause the smallies to feed up as opposed to feeding down. And as @A-Jay mentioned the lure of choice is a smelt colored suspending jerk bait.

Eerie should have a healthy gizzard and alewife population though, right?

scott

On 2/24/2026 at 9:14 AM, Dwight Hottle said:

Unfortunately the smelt population in Lake Erie is greatly diminished compared to previous years. Heavy concentrations of smelt cause the smallies to feed up as opposed to feeding down. And as @A-Jay mentioned the lure of choice is a smelt colored suspending jerk bait.

Eerie should have a healthy population of gizzard and alewife though, right?

scott

Alewife populations have been getting stronger because of warmer winters but this year could cause a dent in the population. They do better in the other great lakes than Erie because they are all deeper. Gizzard shad are always abundant in Erie but they too are killed off from cold water winter kill which should be prevalent this spring.

My guess this year will see the perch, goby & emeralds get a lot more pressure from the bass as a consequence.

As my Megabass jerk bait collection continued to swell the Lucky Craft assortment has sort of dwindled. And it's not because these Lucky Craft baits don't get bites for me, it's more like I have been a prisoner of the moment and continually innfatuated with how effective the vision one tens are.

So while going through my jerk baits this morning, specifically the LC Pointer collection. I decided to resurrect some of the more popular deals and once again make them a routine part of my rotation. I did recently rehome my Pointer 128s, so I’m left with the 127 & 112 size offerings. We're looking at mostly natural patterns as well as some that have a bit of a smelty appearance.

As always , new hooks and hardware are part of the renovation.

Looking forward to feeding them to a few Big Brown Bass. Let's see how it goes.

A-Jay

When we have that 'one bait' that we just believe in so much.

The more I threw this one so far this season, the more I was reaching for the net.

I will say the angler input when presenting these baits can make quite a bit of a difference.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

I love how dialed in you have this bite. Location, timing, conditions, prey, etc. It’s a super cool thing that once you start to understand it (truly understand it), it’s a beautiful thing. You still have to put in the time, but you know when it’s right even before it happens. My dad has that on two of his lakes (one brown fish, one green fish) and I’m figuring a couple things of it out here that are similar, but man that’s a beautiful thing.

8 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

I love how dialed in you have this bite. Location, timing, conditions, prey, etc. It’s a super cool thing that once you start to understand it (truly understand it), it’s a beautiful thing. You still have to put in the time, but you know when it’s right even before it happens. My dad has that on two of his lakes (one brown fish, one green fish) and I’m figuring a couple things of it out here that are similar, but man that’s a beautiful thing.

No Question—

However for me, the challenging aspect of gaining sufficient experience with any presentation

To where I have a little extra confidence leaning toward success is learning, knowing, and being able to embrace the process that always takes considerably longer than I would expect going into it.

Once I learned it was not a race—the shear amount of R & D (often several seasons)

I need to get over the Mendoza line with any rig,

is what makes any & all success so rewarding. In this day & age of "right here, right now," the speed at which the newest electronics packages make fish catches appear to occur, is the blink of an eye.

That's just really not my experience.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

@A-Jay

I like your use of the Mendoza line as an analogy.

It took me a while to read through all of the early posts in this thread because I rarely get to fish smallmouth waters. I travel to Southwest Missouri a couple of times a year and catch a few then. I read through the posts earlier this year and was very impressed with the amount of information you provided. I thought it would make a good e-book for smallmouth. Since this thread first began in 2018, I was curious if there is anything in that information that has changed for you or some aspect of it that you would add to.

52 minutes ago, senile1 said:

@A-Jay

I like your use of the Mendoza line as an analogy.

Since this thread first began in 2018, I was curious if there is anything in that information that has changed for you or some aspect of it that you would add to.

Thanks—and that is a very good question and one that I feel like I'd like to give some thought to.

The short answer is yes.

It would be a good time to make a "Brown Bass Tools Update" post within this thread.

Give me a bit to get my thoughts in order.

Keep an eye out for it, as I'm looking forward to sharing some of this stuff.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Thanks—and that is a very good question and one that I feel like I'd like to give some thought to.

The short answer is yes.

It would be a good time to make a "Brown Bass Tools Update" post within this thread.

Give me a bit to get my thoughts in order.

Keep an eye out for it, as I'm looking forward to sharing some of this stuff.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

Listen up all you brown bass enthusiasts. The man shares & communicates his thought process & experiences as a trophy smallie fisherman very well.

@senile1

Brown Bass Tools - updated

The Song Remains the Same ~

Things that haven’t changed when it comes to my brown bass fishing approach.

"Bass is bass" has some validity, but when we’re talking trophy-size brown bass (5 lbs and over), I believe that viewing them as a completely different species is mandatory. The "Smallie mindset" has helped me cast away general, common approaches and focus on what makes fishing for them wildly different.

I still believe smallies love to chase their food. When given a chance to trigger that switch, I do well. Along with that, speed can be a real game-changer—we’ll get into that in just a bit.

I still prefer to fish for feeding fish. Mostly because that’s when I’ve had the most success slipping the net under a plus-sized mutant. Wherever that feeding is taking place is where my focus is concentrated. In the waters I fish, that usually means depths less than 15 feet, regardless of the season. It doesn't mean brown bass don’t feed deeper; it’s just where my confidence lies.

When it comes to smallmouth, big baits are not necessarily better. I still do best with baits that match the size and profile of whatever they are targeting. Clearly, tiny Ned rigs and giant glide baits catch plenty of great fish, but I’m sticking with baits they can actually swallow. Because isn’t that the point?

I'm still a big believer in stealth, long casts, and the absolute importance of boat position—perhaps more now than ever. I have changed how I manage that boat position, but I’ll add to that later. As usual, aftermarket hooks and heavy hardware go on everything they can fit on.

What Has Evolved

Where experience has rewritten my own rules.

I started out believing that sunshine was just about mandatory. Somewhere along this journey, I realized that was just not the case. The problem was me. With more experience and time on the water—lots of time—I’ve learned that sun, clouds, wind (and any combination of them), or even a flat calm can produce trophy-class fish. The days of me sitting on the beach because the sun hid behind a cloud are long gone.

I prefer clean water over colored, and I don’t get spun up over water temps like I used to. I still note it in my videos, but it’s a reference now, not a rule. If my casts aren’t bouncing off ice, I’ve got a shot.

I haven’t mentioned boating traffic because honestly, where and when I fish, there just isn't much. A lot of that is by design. Either way, I prefer to be alone—just me and the loons.

I am still a complete weather hawk. During open-water season, Weather Underground is my homepage, and I check it several times a day, especially early and late in the year. Why? Because pre-frontal big bass fishing can be that good.

Finally, the best big-fish bites for me are always very early pre-spawn, late summer, and into the fall. I no longer fish at night. After several years of trying it, I’ve found I catch bigger fish at first and last light than I ever did in the pitch black.

The Tactical Toolbox: Right Now

The consistency list for Northern Michigan.

Right off the bat: any bait or technique listed from this point on is here because it is a consistent trophy smallmouth producer for me. Some are staples I've used for a decade; others are recent adaptations from the last season or two. I don't leave home without them. There are no secret baits here—just conventional tools used on public waters.

For simplicity, I’ll break them down by where they operate in the water column.

Topwater

I like walking baits and poppers. The Strike King Sexy Dawg and the Megabass Pop Max are best-in-class.

The Rig: 7’ Medium spinning gear, 15–20 lb Sufix 832 braid, and a long 10–12 lb Big Game Green mono leader. I’m usually fishing skinny water in low light, and I need to be able to cast this stuff into the next time zone.

Just Under the Surface

Burning a spinnerbait. This has remained a staple, and it's where that "speed trigger" shines. It's a mid-summer to early-fall presentation where wind is incredibly helpful.

The Bait: SK Burner Spinnerbait or a Freedom Freak (½ or ¾ oz) paired with an SK Blade Minnow trailer.

The Rig: 7’4” Heavy composite rod, 15 lb Seaguar Tatsu, and a Shimano Calcutta 200D cranking reel. Yes, a low-gear cranking reel. It makes it easy to burn a heavy blade all day without wearing out your wrist. Long casts give them room to track and commit before they reach the boat. Short cast = follow and turn away. Long cast = the net.

Mid-Depth

I am never pulling a bait mid-depth through cover-free water. It is always near cover, soft or hard—skimming over the top of it or ticking the edges.

The Bait: ⅜ or ½ oz bladed jig bladed jig with a Yamamoto Zako trailer.

The Tactics: I fish this two different ways depending on the calendar. Early and late season, I fish it like a jig: low, slow, with lots of stop-and-go. For this, I use a 7’ Medium-Heavy Fast graphite rod, working the bait with the rod tip and picking up slack with the reel. Mid-season through early fall, I fish it as a pure moving bait, switching back to the 7’4” Heavy composite setup used for spinnerbaits. Both are spooled with 15 lb Tatsu.

The Jerkbait

I have so much confidence in a Megabass Vision 110 that I expect a bite on every single cast. The 110+1 Jr. and the Silent 110 are deadly.

The Rig: 7’ Medium Fast spinning rig for regular 110s; 7’ Medium-Light for the +1 Jrs. Spooled with 10 lb braid and an 8–10 lb mono or fluorocarbon leader.

The Tactic: Angler input is everything here. There is such a thing as too much or too little cadence. The magic happens in the middle ground. Make it look like it's trying to get away, but easy to catch at the same time.

On the Bottom

Aside from working the bladed jig low and slow, my main dirt-dawg presentation is a Strike King Rage Bug on a ½ oz swing head (or a paddle tail) with a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG.

The Rig: 7’ MH Fast graphite rod, 6.6:1 casting reel, and 15 lb Tatsu.

The Tactic: I use a stop-and-go retrieve and fish the bait entirely with the reel, leaving the rod in the optimal hook-setting position. Be ready to reel fast on the strike—big smallies will often feel the steel and rocket straight at the boat. If you aren't picking up slack instantly, they'll win the race.

The Final Piece: The Waypoint Purge

I deliberately saved boat position for last because so many bassheads completely miss the bus on it. For me, it’s where success begins and ends. My casting distance, my casting angles, my orientation to the sun, and whether my bait even enters the strike zone are all determined before I ever press the trolling motor pedal.

Clearly, this screams "I don’t use FFS," so if you use live sonar, keep doing whatever gets you bit. For how I fish, I recently erased all my old waypoints and started from scratch. It was the best move I could have made. It cleaned the clutter off my screens, and now every single pin means one of three things:

A boat ramp.

A hazard to navigation.

The exact spot where my boat needs to sit to fish a piece of structure.

No more marks "on the fish." Marking the fish just leads to drifting directly over a school of dream smallies, only for them to give you the finger and swim off into the deep. Put the boat where it belongs, stay back, and make the long cast.

Fish Hard

A-Jay