Hey guy's, I'm going to go small mouth fishing in october for a regional tounament at James River. I wanted to know what would be good lure to use? BTW the dates are on the 8-12.  

Tubes, bucktail jigs, small cranks and jerkbaits would be my suggestion. I'm pretty sure we have a few James river anglers that could give you more specific options. Good luck with the tourney!

last time i fished for smallies in october we killed them on white terminator spinnerbaits thrown in 2ft of water near sea walls and docks... also when we came across a point with seawalls or docks we would get most of our fish.

For specific recommendations, review the first twenty pages or so in the "Smallmouth" section of the Forum. I don't recall responses dealing specifically with the James River, but there are probably some there. Otherwise, every lure anyone uses for smallmouth fishing is mentioned on several threads in the other section.

8-)

In October I would be sticking with tubes, hair jigs, and jerkbaits. Try fishing the jerkbaits (lc pointers) in front of bridge pillings if their are plenty of brides in that area. The pilings with some wood or grass in front of them seem to hold better fish IMO. You can catch smallmouth on tubes any time of the year so that always a good bet as well. If the water temperature is pretty cold don't be afraid to really slow down those jerkbaits. Good luck.

We will leave this up tonight to see responses, but tomorrow morning I will move this to "Smallmouth" where it belongs.

-Kent  a.k.a. roadwarrior

8-)

Hey guy's, I'm going to go small mouth fishing in october for a regional tounament at James River. I wanted to know what would be good lure to use? BTW the dates are on the 8-12.

James River in Virginia?  I've had luck on all sorts of lures.  I've nailed them on Bomber Flat As, Rapala Originals, chartreuse/red spinnerbaits, marabou jigs, twisty tails grubs on plain jig heads.  I've never caught them on plastic worms, but I've seen some nice one caught on the James on plastic worms.  

Fat ika and inline spinners are hot in my area...

I've heard of some big catches on the rapala skitter prop too...

Good luck!

I go to school in WV, and the Potomac is is here in Shepherdstown so my roommates and I fish it alot.

Lately, chrome jerkbaits have been working really well, along with orange colored craws and some bitsy flip jigs. Get some Netbait Paca Chunks for a good trailer.

Gotta go topwater in October - spooks or poppers.

3.5" SK coffee tubes

4-5" grubs

live pointer jerbait

are the 3 baits i've caught smb on... i haven't used a spinnerbait, crankbait or top water for smallmouth yet.

hula grubs and football jigs

............. ......... ...... Just a few choices

Here are 6 of my favorite baits for big smallmouth.

Add a spider grub and an old wiggle wart and thats all I need.  

is that how you are supposed to rig the bug grizz?

When the water temps go down to <60 degrees - and they will in Oct. - I switch to 3 main presentations; hard jerks, tubes and drop shot.