Turtle Angler Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Which techniques are you using to catch smallmouth in shallow rivers? I’m a bank angler (at least for smallmouth) and the smaller rivers near me in Wisconsin are only a a foot or two deep. Would love to hear what others use for such a situation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted June 21, 2023 Global Moderator Share Posted June 21, 2023 Topwater, small tube, reel a grub, little black marabou jig 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Jar11591 Posted June 21, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 21, 2023 Little poppers, jerks, ned rig or tube. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulVE64 Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Weightless senko Swimjig Crankbait Jig with a craw trailer Topwater spook 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Catignani Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 A floating Rapala...like a size 3 would be good too. But try wading the river...up stream. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted June 21, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 21, 2023 I use two presentations in these small rivers. 1) topwater or shallow crank/wake bait and 2) small soft plastic like a ned, tube, or wacky. I cast with the first presentation to undercut banks, over hanging trees, eddies, etc and if they swipe and miss it, I cast right back there with the second one. 75% of the time I catch the very same fish that missed the first one. These were my 1-2 punch last season in the river. The primary forage is crayfish. There are tons and tons of them in this river. The key in summer is current. Stagnant or areas of slow current do not hold fish. Areas before and after current hold fish. If its a little deeper, even better. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User TOXIC Posted June 21, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 21, 2023 When I wade fished, 90% of the time I was throwing a 3 inch curl tail grub on a light jig head, hook exposed. Caught literally thousands of fish over the years. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ne_dan Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Tubes, smallish top water, 1/8 and 3/16 small Strike King spinnerbaits 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User roadwarrior Posted June 21, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 21, 2023 Give the Rage Menace a try. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Zurawski Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Local Rivers here are ultra low and crystal clear. Good bites are too hard to come by during midday hours so I've been hitting wade spots from around 7:30pm on into dark. Before the sun drops down past the trees, the NED rig is my first choice - it's a slightly shortened mudbug-colored Hulastickz on 1/24th - 1/16th oz jighead. I just drift that along bottom, polishing the rocks as they say, maybe shake it a bit sometimes. Closer to dusk I switch to the crawfish rig - that's a BigBiteBaits 4" craw worm shortened a little and rigged on 1/8th oz sled head. Or 1/8th oz finesse jig with 4" twin tail also trimmed down to 3 - 3.5". Those two baits I work pretty fast and try to make them look like fleeing crawfish. Dusk into dark I like the fluke worked real fast breaking the surface and the 1/8th oz buzzbait. 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Raider Bob Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 44 minutes ago, TOXIC said: When I wade fished, 90% of the time I was throwing a 3 inch curl tail grub on a light jig head, hook exposed. Caught literally thousands of fish over the years. What color worked best? I used to toss a curly tail but got away from it. Need to re-visit. Also need to get back to wade fishing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Tennessee Boy Posted June 21, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 21, 2023 All of the above. You definitely need to be wading. Concentrate on areas with good current. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User TOXIC Posted June 21, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 21, 2023 28 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said: What color worked best? I used to toss a curly tail but got away from it. Need to re-visit. Also need to get back to wade fishing. 2 colors were my mainstay, a Berkeley Powerbait in a brown color (pumpkinseed) and a Kalins in smoke salt pepper. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steveo-1969 Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 2 hours ago, roadwarrior said: Give the Rage Menace a try. A Baby Rage Menace on a light open hook jig head is money! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Ketchum Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Learn to read the current. Shallow, fast moving rifts won't hold much if any fish. Stagnant backwater won't either. Where the rift enters a slower moving and deeper area is a good spot. They will be waiting where the conveyor belt brings a meal. Behind larger rocks that break the current is another spot. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turtle Angler Posted June 21, 2023 Author Share Posted June 21, 2023 5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said: Topwater, small tube, reel a grub, little black marabou jig How do you fish the marabou jig in this situation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted June 21, 2023 Global Moderator Share Posted June 21, 2023 18 minutes ago, Turtle Angler said: How do you fish the marabou jig in this situation? They’ve been eating it like sharks, all kinds of different species. I reel it slow, jig it, pop it along, even fast erratic twitches on surface. That works great for skipjack herring 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulVE64 Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 I've been told and tested it out. In most cases the correct colour for craw trailers is to match the river bottom then try black/blue and then clear/white. It made sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowhunter63 Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Wacky worm, Zoom z craw jr t rigged. Rebel craw dad crankbaitbait or weightless fluke Bitsy bug jig Baby Rage craw trailer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLHSS Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 I’m a bank fisherman as well. Our local river is very shallow right now. No wading because I’m too d**n old. I also fish UL so nothing over 1/4 oz. I’m having my best luck throwing unweighted plastics. 3 inch slim senkos with thin wire hooks rigged as a wacky worm if there’s little weed. Texas rig if there is a good deal of weed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMac603 Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Zman Grubz on a ned head. Can swim it along in current or let it sit and the elaztech stands the jig head up and the tail flutters just sitting there in the current. I've done very well with this in rivers. I end up catching a lot of other species as well, though. Grubs are universally munched on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishingmickey Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Beetle spin used to work wonders for me. I preferred the white with red dot towards the head. FM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MassBass Posted June 22, 2023 Share Posted June 22, 2023 In-line spinner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dytmook Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 My go to baits are pretty simple: Neds, curly tail grubs, weightless flukes, and wacky worms. If I have two rods going from the bank I have one rigged for bottom contact and a more "suspending" bait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvsmallie Posted June 24, 2023 Share Posted June 24, 2023 Shallow rivers are mainly what I fish. My top five choices would be a Rebel wee craw (usually worked slowly on the bottom), a rapala original floater, Panther Martin inline spinner (which I love to fish in riffles and swifter current), a light jig lead (1/8 oz or less) with a 3" grub or ned style stick bait, and some sort of top water (usually a tiny torpedo). Naturally, these might vary with conditions. I don't know that these are the best baits, but I am confident they are good baits and that if I put them in the right places most of the time they will catch fish. (The wee craw and inline spinner are my primary search baits.) As a plus (for me at least) the first four are all great multi-species baits as well. For example, I've caught a lot of drum on wee craws, a lot of channel cats on inline spinners and a grub will catch anything in the river. One last observation, one reason a bait like the rapala works well because it can be fished in so many ways: cast and crank, slowly and with the rod tip high as a wake bait, worked agonizingly slowly with lots of pauses on the top, and as a jerk bait, either subtly or very aggressively. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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