I'm heading up to Grand Traverse Bay this coming week!... Just in time for the full moon in the middle of the week. I'm thinking the smallies will be filling their bellies over night. Its a family trip, I'll only be able to take limited tackle and will be fishing from a canoe.

While I may try to stay up and fish in the moonlight one night, I will be doing most of my fishing on 3-4 outings during daylight. I figure I need to focus on reaction baits / presentations more than finesse to trigger strikes from fish with bellies that are already full. What do people find works best for reaction baits in clear water?

So far I'm thinking I'll pack some jerk baits, jigs, tubes and chatterbaits fished with erratic pops, smaller crankbaits, maybe some spinners/spinnerbaits fished fast and erratically? I will also plan on some whopper ploppers and Zara spook Jr (or similar) for low-light fishing.

Anyone else got any good ideas?

Northern Michigan smallmouth during the last week of July can be tricky.

Here's my advice.

Fish first and last light. Not sunrise & sunset—before and after that.

If you do night ops on a full moon, either fish before the moon comes up or after it sets—a brilliant full moon and a calm night have always been tough sledding for me.

The boat casts a huge shadow that sticks out like a sore thumb.

The leading edges (shallow water) where deep drops come up to 5 feet or so can produce.

Topwater, tubes, and crankbaits might be worth a shot.

Boating traffic will be your arch enemy during late summer.

It always scatters the bait and the fish.

Light line & long casts can be key.

I went two days ago—water levels were very high, the shallows were totally tannic,

And the wind blew me off the lake.

Stay Safe and good luck.

A-Jay

@A-Jay - do you night fish smallies? I’ve never considered it an option since they are so sight based in how they feed. Low light for sure (I’m usually on the water at nautical twilight) but I’ve never done true night fishing for smallies.

Don't want to highjack the OP's thread, but yes.

A-Jay

Not to send you down the wrong path but I have caught three smallies over 7lbs all between 10 am to 2 pm so that is something to consider if it fits your your family schedule better. During that time of day I would target deeper water with deep diving jerk baits, blade baits or tubes.

A crank bait that bumped a rock every once in a while over deeper water would be my first "reaction" lure choice.

If you are willing to try a slower, more finesse-style approach, a ned rig or a tube would be my selection.

Thanks for the responses so far guys.

IN the past I've tried fishing pre-dawn and post-sundown. It works, but this time of year, that far north, I'm going to have a hard time pulling that off and getting a decent nights sleep. Twilight starts at 5am and 10:30pm. May try fishing in the evening one night, but I need my beauty sleep these days.

I am generally a finesse guy, I usually fish dropshots and tubes up there with some success, quality if not quantity, I'm just thinking if it's bright all night, I may need something that triggers a reaction and covers more water. I'm taking the full spread of tackle, just looking for ideas outside my normal quiver of small baits presented slowly.

Depending on how you work it, any bait could be considered a reaction bait. I think the list of baits you have is fine.

My limited night fishing success for smallies was with a black buzzbait on a small river.

Back in the day my friends uncle's theory on full bellied walleye's was to go finesse with a leech. His analogy was something along the lines of someone eating a huge dinner but still having room for a Hershey's kiss. We caught an awful lot of big walleye Lindy rigging leeches. Not saying you should go live bait, just sharing my full belly experience.