You might have observed that I focus on green bass, but I catch brown bass too. My focus has me casting big lures like a 13 Fishing Dual Pitch 108 Pencil in Golden Retriever.

 

 

It's a 4.5" bait for a bucket-mouthed bass, but lawdy, lawdy, the smallies like it too. Like these two:

 

 

 

Yeah, I know they're not @A-Jay-sized bass, but they're still smallies, i.e. fearless fish willing to bite above their weight class. Do any of you throw bigger baits like the Dual Pitch 108 Pencil intending to catch brown bass or do you also catch smallies while throwing big baits for lmb?

Yes 

 

In case you don't click on @Dwight Hottle's link, here's the bass he caught with that 8" jig:

 

 

Now I'm thinking I'm casting too small a walking bait for Maine's small mouth and that's why my smallies are small!

My PB smallie (which is small compared to most people here (16"), so take this with a grain of salt) came on a little 2" crankbait I got from Academy. And my previous PB (less than an inch shorter) came on a 190 whopper plopper, which is a musky bait approximately 7". So, what I learned is that smallies will eat anything. 

17 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

I learned is that smallies will eat anything.

 

Marvel's Daredevil is the "man without fear" and small mouth are the "fish without fear."

I have on some oversized buzz baits. Gumbo 

Willies hawg squealer.  It was kind of like a small boat prop . 

A 4.5” sexy dawg is my dad’s #1 producer on smallies year in and year out.  He’s got a hurt thumb this year, but he’ll catch 200 or so on dawgs over a 2 month period in the spring every year.  best fish to date was mid 6’s.  

 

Little ones like it too.

 

 

@casts_by_fly: Your photo reminds me of @AlabamaSpothunter's assertion that if bass grew bigger, they'd try to eat us.

Jonah was swallowed by a bass for three days and three nights.

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

@casts_by_fly: Your photo reminds me of @AlabamaSpothunter's assertion that if bass grew bigger, they'd try to eat us.

 

I mean, they kinda do…

 

8 hours ago, IcatchDinks said:

came on a 190 whopper plopper, which is a musky bait approximately 7"

 

You tossing that thing for bass?  That's a huge lure.  I've used it on my muskie setup but that's like using it with a broom stick.  No way I'd throw it on a bass setup.

49 minutes ago, gim said:

 

You tossing that thing for bass?  That's a huge lure.  I've used it on my muskie setup but that's like using it with a broom stick.  No way I'd throw it on a bass setup.

I saw it on your Christmas tree back in December……

2 hours ago, gim said:

 

You tossing that thing for bass?  That's a huge lure.  I've used it on my muskie setup but that's like using it with a broom stick.  No way I'd throw it on a bass setup.

i throw them and s-waver 200s for bass fairly often. it is nothing an entry level swimbait rod can't handle. 

<5"

I'm 258 lbs, so.......... wait never mind.

 

Gonna catch me a Smallmouth one day.

I’ll throw some 3.75-4” jerkbaits, crank baits, top water. Usually I do not go over that. I ground my teeth musky fishing. I saw many smb come in on the smaller”big bass style” musky lures and not commit.

 

At least where I am at the big bait big fish doesn’t hold true most of the time. 

Does an A-Rig Count ?

I am able to go with a 5 bait unit here.

Swimmers are usually between 3.8 and 4.3 inch models.

Late summer it does some damage.

A-Jay

@Swamp Girl in general, no.  2.5-4.5" are my best sized smallie baits.  But I have caught them on an s-waver 200 and a 6" deps death adder on a scrounger.  The days I caught them on big baits, they barely hit smaller things.  Knowing they were there and taking a guess on upsizing my presentation is what made it click.  Now if I think they're on bait, I'll make sure to try some larger profiles before I move on.  

 

scott

About an 8" fly this Bass decided to eat, you would be surprised how big of a bait Smallies will take, catch a lot of them while Muskie fishing. 

Yeah when I am fly fishing I use big 6-7 inch long flies on saltwater hooks even.

I catch smallies on 5-7 inch swimbaits regularly, often they’re not even very big.

47 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I catch smallies on 5-7 inch swimbaits regularly, often they’re not even very big.

 

Have to respect that little guy's appetite/aggression. 

I have used 130 mm jerkbaits for smallmouth.  I think it sometimes help reduce the number of dinks. I catch a lot of babies on normal size lures.  

We routinely catch bigger bass (for Wisconsin) on big musky flies- 8" -12" flies.