A friend and I went smallie fishing for the first time last Saturday.  We ended up at some canoe rental place on the New River by accident because he mistakened the place we ended up at for some other place.  Anyway, we were there so we had to choice but to fish it.  

The lady there drops us off at New River State Park, here in NC, and the first thing I noticed was how shallow the water was.  It was no more than a foot deep and some parts were only inches deep.  We even had to get out and push our canoe through the rocks from time to time.  We only found maybe 2-3 good holes to fish out of.  

We finally come across a deep pocket and fish it for a few minutes only because the river was carrying us.  My buddy caught a sunfish with a green rooster tail and missed one smallie on a small, cheap spinnerbait.  I miss one on a small scented worm.

That was it.  We did see the fish and they were maybe a little bigger than a small stream trout.

I was disappointed.  I hear the New River is one of the few places in NC to fish for smallies and we didn't get any action.

Where are some of you NC guys doing your smallie fishing?  What section of the New River are you guys on?  Thanks to those who are willing to share.

Well smallmouth aren't nearly as cover orientated as largemouth. When smallmouth fishing on rivers with current which I assume the New River has, look for boulders, stumps, or any other object that creates a current break. The fish love to use these as ambush points for food that is being washed down by the current. Just cast your baits upstream from the break and let it wash down in front of it just like real bait would. This technique works really good for me and my dad when we float the Buffalo River here in Tennessee. Even in the shallower water like you were talking about fishing current breaks is probably a good choice. Good Luck