I have been thinking about hitting up some Creeks for smallmouths and wanted to know what are your guy's go to bait for freak Panda smallmouths. I'm for sure tying the ned rig on.

Rebel Wee-crawfish 

wacky creek worm, small weightless fluke, inline spinner.

 

I agree with the wee crawfish and Ned seems like it should work.

3" kalin grub has to be one of mine.

07 and 08 original Rapala, size 1 and 2 Mepps aglia, small poppers, small Flukes, and 4” weightless worms. All great baits, stream smallies can be pretty aggressive.

3.5ft berkley dredger! It's a crazy little crank that anything will hit. 

4" kalins grub, manns baby 1 minus, #1 or #2 mepps 

Small, white, suspending jerk baits.

Sometimes in those small creeks smallie fishing can get real tough. No response to bass lures. They get a real lock jaw. Fly fishing them and live baiting (minnows or small shiners) will get it done. Use barbless hooks that helps. No shame in live bait in any situation really. Just my 2 cents. 

I've never fished a creek for smallies but I think my first choice would be a small tube, then a hair jig.

This is 90% of the fishing I do. 

Topwater- 1/8 buzzbait, Pop-R, Whopper Plopper

Mid Column- Paddletail swimbait, 3-4" grub, spinnerbaits, small cranks

Bottom- Ultravibe speedcraw on shakey head, bitsy bug w/ trailer

Rebel wee craw. Catches Creek fish pretty much year round besides the COLD.

1/8 oz jighead and pink/chartreuse twistertail

I second the 1/8 to 3/32 oz jig head, i favor a 3” green pumpkin curlly tail though

3/8oz jig with brown/orange skirt

3" Tackle HD HiDef Craw on their Stealth HD jighead. 

I'll toss in another mention for the Rebel Wee Craw and hair jigs.

 

I have caught more stream smallmouths on a crawler under a float than any other tactic, especially at dams and mouths of creeks.

Rage Tail Menace

 

Took my boys creek fishing last weekend. We hiked to a location that isn’t accessible by boat unless you put in 10 miles away. All of us caught our first smallmouth bass ever. We used SK bitsy tubes rigged weed-less on a size 1 non-offset ewg hook. But even that hook was too large for the tube. First time using tubes and first time catching smallmouth bass. Loads of fun.

My favorite is a SK Bitsy Bug jig with Baby Rage Craw trailer.

12 hours ago, Manly Studson said:

Took my boys creek fishing last weekend. We hiked to a location that isn’t accessible by boat unless you put in 10 miles away. All of us caught our first smallmouth bass ever. We used SK bitsy tubes rigged weed-less on a size 1 non-offset ewg hook. But even that hook was too large for the tube. First time using tubes and first time catching smallmouth bass. Loads of fun.

❤️

17 hours ago, Manly Studson said:

Took my boys creek fishing last weekend. We hiked to a location that isn’t accessible by boat unless you put in 10 miles away. All of us caught our first smallmouth bass ever. We used SK bitsy tubes rigged weed-less on a size 1 non-offset ewg hook. But even that hook was too large for the tube. First time using tubes and first time catching smallmouth bass. Loads of fun.

SHove an 1/8 round ball jig head in those bitsy tubes. Best rig going. Bring plenty of them because you will lose a lot 

42 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

SHove an 1/8 round ball jig head in those bitsy tubes. Best rig going. Bring plenty of them because you will lose a lot 

Will do. Thanks for the advice. Smallmouth and spotted bass were hammering the bitsy tubes.

I catch tons of smallmouth while steelhead fishing.  While this is a steelhead drift rig, I'm going to assume it's deadly for smallies too since I hook into them often.  I use a 3/16 oz to 3/8oz oz slinky weight (depending on current speed) on the main line and a #8 snelled octopus hook on the leader with a 3" pink trout worm.  I throw it out there and let the current carry it down stream until I get a hit.

Meeney Spin or Beetle Spin