I fish for smallmouth quite a bit on a bigger creek. Sometime I flyfish and sometimes I use a regular rod/reel. I LOVE (dont we all) catching smallies on the top with my flyrod using poppers and floating flies.

My question is: give me some good ideas for my spinning rod/reel  for topwater baits. I have a frog but that seems a little big sometimes. Usually I catch smallies between 1.5 - 3 lbs on that creek.

Thanks!

Poppers ar always a good bet, along with small walking baits such as a rapala skitter walk or a super spook jr.  smallies also love a heddon tiny torpedo, or a rapala skitter prop.my favorite smallie topwater bait of all time is a is chug bug, but that is just what has worked best for me. i catch some nice smallies on a buzzbait also

Frogs aren't too big for smallmouth, they just seem big compared to the flies you are using.  We use jitterbugs quite a bit in the Northeast, and I have found that pretty much any popper with a bucktail works great for smallmouth.

Love the Zara puppy...chromes my best producer. Fun bait to fish.

Mark

Rebel pop-r, tiny torpedo, small crazy crawler, buzz baits, jitterbugs, etc.  Using spinning gear I would stay with the popper type baits, and small zara spooks, they will work fine with spinning gear.

I have a lot of success with Heddon Magnum Torpedos.  I like both gold and silver for colors.  Both a twitching retrieve and a steady retrieve will produce strikes.

I also like buzzbaits.  A smallmouth exploding on a buzzbait is simply awesome!

Everything I've seen here are good choices.  But toss in a small floating Rapala that matches the normal baitfish in that stream.  It can double as a surface lure when twitched as it washes downstream, or can be used as a crankbait, even a miniature jerkbait.  If your stream has enough current, you can also stay above the cover and allow the lure to work in a drop-back method like they do for salmon or steelhead.

Black Cripple-Killers are great top water lures.