Most smallmouth fishing I do is on the Allegheny.  The fish are widely dispersed, as in you cannot sit on a good looking spot and pick it apart and find a few fish.  You have to cover a lot of water to find the fish as any place in good habitat looks as good as anywhere else.  Sometimes the fish show up but usually not. The big rocks are in water that is too slow and the runs are gravel and cobble without much or any mid-current cover.  Most all bass are caught within 30 ft of the bank, and usually closer.  It's really a better walleye river.  Jerkbait lures and the most common productive lures and you change the lure when you alter your technique, like fluttering-in a Senko in slower water boulders or a jig in the eddies and cuts along a run, approaches that aren't cruise-and-cast.  I want to have a good, alternate technique to cover water.  I was considering a craw-colored crankbait. I have some but I'm iffy on that. I've used Wee-Craws while wading in the past with 'eh' results.  But it's still an option.  My idea was a 3/8 oz bass fishing jig with a cut-down skirt or (what I just bought) a small, more finesse-style jig; something smaller that I can fish, I suppose as a swim jig, down along the rocks and heavy enough that I can stop-and-drop and the jig falls fast.  My idea is to through to the bank and reel in at a fast clip, but allow the jig to tick along the rocks.  I'm also thinking about using an over-weighted tube jig to do the same thing.  I could cover water with a technique that doesn't imitate a fish higher in the water column.  It seems to me, in my experience, that I could better control the small, heavy jig better than a crankbait.  It's going to be a while until I try this. The rivers up here look more like the local resident glacier than flowing water.  

A big grub sounds perfect for what you are trying to accomplish. Big bite baits 5” lunker grub is a good one! 

Hitting and hoping while covering a lot of water is a strategy I guess, but I can guarantee you that there are places where the fish are concentrated, and aggressive, that is just river life. Non tidal rivers will separate the men from the boys (can you say that anymore?) Where there is shallow running water, it will eventually meet with deeper slower water and vise versa. The water level, and current will play a big factor on how fish arrange themselves in, around, or near the current. There is no short cut, unless someone is willing to share info, going on the water and paying the dues is what will bring success, true in all waters, but even more so in rivers. As far as lures, cranks, swim jigs, lead heads with some plastic, a mini chatter (I like no skirt, and straight tail) T-rig craw, hair jig and inline spinner is a good start, adjust as neccessary.

A wobble head jig would be a good choice to imitate crawfish quickly covering water on the bottom.  3/8th oz tungsten with your favorite craw would be a good starting point.  I would throw a 3"-4" swimbait on a round jighead higher in the water column but you can use that to tick off rocks on the bottom as well.  A Dark Sleeper would be a good choice too since you can fish it fast like a swimbait or slow it down and scoot it on the bottom.  Good luck.

I actually want to try out new area this year, "think outside the box" as cliché goes. I have been heavily relying on the known spots in the past, so I want to cover more water this year, try out new technique and lures, don't underestimate some area just because it "doesn't look good."  Sometimes I feel like the more I fish, the less I know about what fish truly thinks.  

I believe a grub was mentioned. 3” are my go to size. But I would never hesitate to use a tube. You might be like “oh that’s old school” River Smallies like old school. 
 

Throw a Beaver, a lot of good choices in them. 

Hmm...

 

My #1 is the Rage Menace, T-rigged on a 3/16 oz bullet weight.

 

Buzzbait and DT6/Squarebill is probably the best searchbait you can use in a river as far as I'm concerned.

You could hit with any of the above suggestions but I tend to lean toward tubes, ned/tiny child and splitshot rigs depending on water level and clarity.

 

There are other baits that I like but in most cases I'm letting the bait bounce down river with the current. I adjust the amount of weight to what the fish like.

 

That's not to say that there aren't days when the dt6 or wee craw aren't just the ticket. LOL

On 2/13/2022 at 12:21 PM, Deleted account said:

Hitting and hoping while covering a lot of water is a strategy I guess, but I can guarantee you that there are places where the fish are concentrated, and aggressive, that is just river life. Non tidal rivers will separate the men from the boys (can you say that anymore?) Where there is shallow running water, it will eventually meet with deeper slower water and vise versa. The water level, and current will play a big factor on how fish arrange themselves in, around, or near the current. There is no short cut, unless someone is willing to share info, going on the water and paying the dues is what will bring success, true in all waters, but even more so in rivers. As far as lures, cranks, swim jigs, lead heads with some plastic, a mini chatter (I like no skirt, and straight tail) T-rig craw, hair jig and inline spinner is a good start, adjust as neccessary.

I would say the same. Especially in rivers, 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water. Find where the fish are and u will not have a need to cover water. This is why I only bring slow baits when wade fishing unless I want some extra pizazz.