In small to medium sized rivers I like to use a #7 rapala original floater silver/black back.

Fin I promise you will get bit on a 4" swim bait. I used them last year for the first time for smb and they were the bomb on Texoma Eufaula and Tenkiller. I caught a 5lber on Tenkiller with it last May. There aint a lot of smb in killer, but they do like that bait.

swim baits and DLNs???? WHat body of water do you throw them on for big brownies? im wise to the DLN thing, but I usually dont bust out the swim baits until im kicker huntin.

I agree. I caught my PB smallie on a 4" soft bodied swimbait here in michigan.

hey. in the late summer months, i like to use (not advertising) yamamoto senkos texas rigged without any added weight, and rapala x-raps (slashbait but really a jerkbait) for big smallies and largemouth bass too. i've found that probably my best lure over the years has been the rebel crayfish (once again, not advertising). largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and anything else that sees it cant resist. easy to use too. i live on the backwaters of a dam (the deep part) and the water is very low-visibility. this kind of water needs a powerful action because the fish have to use their lateral line to find their prey. i depend mostly on rapalas, daredevils, mepps spinners, and things like that. hope this is useful...

By looking at all these different replys one would think that any crankbait on the market would work for smallies. I have had good luck throwing the smaller wiggle warts. Firetiger.

Actually, I think that is exactly the case. The key is finding the fish. Whenever we have a thread on "color" I think you'll see that by the time it runs its course, nearly every color available has been recommended or at least mentioned. The same holds true for many lure categories. Right time, right place, right presentation...If the bass are there and they happen to be in the right mood, nearly everything works. The "secret" lures and colors are those that produce when nothing else is working.

The Bomber deep flat A , or a Storm wiggle wart catches alot of smallmouths, but I don't specifically crank for smallmouth.

Roadwarrior you are so right. We got into a mess of them up on Erie. It was one of those days they would hit anything. We just threw our cheapest stuff so if we got a break off it was no big deal. Retie and start over.

Actually, I think that is exactly the case. The key is finding the fish. Whenever we have a thread on "color" I think you'll see that by the time it runs its course, nearly every color available has been recommended or at least mentioned. The same holds true for many lure categories. Right time, right place, right presentation...If the bass are there and they happen to be in the right mood, nearly everything works. The "secret" lures and colors are those that produce when nothing else is working.

This is what I have been working on myself. Instead of spending time switching crankbait colors I concentrate on finding fish! Right now I only carry 4 or 5 colors of crankbaits but I make sure I can cover all depths from 6" to 20'.

Allen