river conditions should be muddy, up 1-2 ft. with a surface temp of 49-54 degrees. what would you throw for smallies?

Being the water is that warm I would try spinnerbaits. I would also try a 4 1/2 inch tube and a crankbait. If it is sunny out you could try gold blades on the spinnerbait but more often I use painted blades, either white, chartreuse, or black. As for the color of the skirt, I try to match the blades, and colorado blades should perform better as they put off more vibration than other kinds of blades. Put a grub on before you put your trailer hook on, and rig it so that the tail curls downward, this way it will not interfere with your trailer hook, and a trailer hook is a must. I never throw a spinnerbait without a trailer hook. The grub will add bulk, and vibration. Put some scent on the skirt and grub also, it cant hurt.

For fishing shallow water I like the Bandit 100 series, Manns baby 1 minus, and Bass Pro Shops Nitro Extreme Shallow cranks. I prefer either really dark or really bright colors, and a rattle is a must for me. Lipless cranks may also do the trick in those conditions. Try a white or black, with a rattle.

As for the tube, black with blue tail, black neon, and green pumkin are my favorites for muddy water. Experiment with pegging the weight and pitchin into brush and working the shoreline, thats what I did a few weeks ago when the water was rising and I kicked butt. If you are fishing where there is a lot of current, use a heavier weight, 1/2 or 5/8 ounce. I usually use a 1/2 and it works ok for me.

If the water is rising then you want to be fishing the bank, the fish will rise with the water and will most likely be on the bank side of structure hanging out, and will move up as the rising water moves up. If the water is falling I would fish the outside, or towards the middle of the river, side of the structure.

Good luck and tight lines!

Ian

I like to throw a 3/8 to 1/2 ounce spinnerbait for smallies when the water is muddy. I like using a Colorado blade with a black or dark blue skirt.

A Rat-L-Trap (lipless crank) produces for me in these conditions as well.

Spinnerbait with a black skirt, and a loud, black or bright colored shallow running crank.  If legal I would use live minnows before anything else though.

Like the other guys have said, my first choice would be a thumping Colorado-bladed spinnerbait, and my second choice would be a rattling crankbait with a wide wobble, both in either very bright or very dark colors.

I will be on the river Sunday for a tournament out of Belpre, OH. I know I will have a Spinnerbait, jig and crawl, and a Bandit 100 series tied on. Just hope there isn't too much trash floating in the river. That always scares me when running to spots.

Are you tourney fishing or fun fishing?

With the weather we are supposed to have the next four or five days I'm guessing the water will push 60 by Sunday.

tourney fishin, its our first club tourney of the year.  unfortnatley missed the signups for this year on the college flw. were launching out of powhatan pt. ohio.

Launching out of Powhatan screams Pike Island!!