First of all, thanks to all for a great site.  I've learned a lot just reading, but I have a question that I have not been able to answer using a search.  I will be fishing a slow moving, rather shallow (usually no more than waist deep, a few deeper pockets)  tomorrow night.  Having fished the river before with people who know it well I have an idea of where the fish are, but I wont have a lot of time to thoroughly cover different areas before moving on to the next.

I've read plenty on what lures to use, so my question is, whether there is any particular order that I should be throwing them in order to be efficient.  Should I start with top water and work my way down to the bottom?  Start at the bottom and work to a top water?  Obviously the area will play a role in determining this, but what strategy do you use to find which lure is working?

Welcome aboard!

I would start with topwater, then try a jerkbait before moving to soft plastics.

8-)

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello and welcome i to iam new and have learned alot from here reading post in just a short time try a jerkbait then throw some plastics here in PA dark colors like green, black,brown with some red in them work great at night.

Just about 80% percent of my sm fishing is done on small shallow rivers. The one thing that I have learned over the years is that smallies in this type of water are primarily ambush predators. they hang on the edge of currents breaks. Snags, sandbars and bridge pilings are key spots. This makes casting accuracy a significant factor. A skirted swimming jig is pretty much a universal weapon at any depth. I agree with RW, use the stick baits. If you have a couple of rods that you can switch to then your in business. Good luck!

I like to start with a small crankbait and move to a jig and then to a soft plastic worms.

I personally have two trains of thought on how i start.  Here in AZ it gets really hot and the bass come up shallow to eat in the morning so I will start with top water or jerkbaits.  I will end up throwing worms during the heat of the day as the bass move deeper.  then come back up shallow around sunset when they feed again.

Now that seems to work in the summer.  Other times of year, or if bass are not in that patttern, I usually like to cover water and try to find active fish.  I will start with a crankbait, buzzbait, spinnerbait or something along those lines and cover some water.  If that does not produce, I will switch it to something else like a jerkbait or maybe a worm.

Welcome,

I always start with topwater then crankbaits then move on to worms

How did the trip go?  Catch any toads?

The trip went well. Had a lot of fun (obviously).  Since it was late in the afternoon when we started, I went with a topwater to start out. They were hitting them, but not actually taking them (did have a pike take the Rebel Pop-R). I moved to the jerkbaits with no luck and then to the simple grub and jig which started netting the fish. 7 in the boat, the biggest was almost 15". Nothing spectacular, but definitely worth it.

Thank you for all the help!