Favourite Way to Catch Smallmouth

[IR4Jflyfishing]

I am a creature of habit, its gotten me into trouble and has definitely gotten me out of some sticky situations. If I could only fish bass one way for the rest of my life Id be standing on the front of my boat, out deep, looking at my graph with a drop shot in hand. I have covered this tactic on a previous thread but I made this one to hear what you guys (and gals!) prefer or always fallback to technique wise when it comes to fishing those lil brown bass.






My new Pb, FROM SHORE (Because why spend all this money on a boat anyways, they never seem to work right!)
Caught on a 3/8 ounce drop shot, 30ish inch gap to a powerteam lures finicky tickler in smoke BPG.

 

[alwayscatching]

Honestly for smallies there is nothing better than either topwater or on a jerkbait. But I find its all seasonal of course. When the fall comes they bust up my jerkbaits hard. All year round a topwater is awesome. Buzzbait to Spooks.

 

[Newfoundbound]

I just caught my 4.5Lb P. B. Smallie, Flipping a Texas rigged green pumpkin craw dad into the salad.
Made purchasing a kayak worth it. 1st year kayak fishing. But I always have a weightless worm rigged "Texposed" to go as a fall back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[instapump416]

Fatty!

That motivated me to try some drop shoting

 

[thebigchombowombocombo]

That's my dream catch right there. Nice job =D

Did the fish jump at all? I've always wonder if fat fish jump lol.

 

[BERRRG]

Drop shotting is awesome. Nice fish dude. Sweet focus on that pic.

 

[IR4Jflyfishing]

Honestly for smallies there is nothing better than either topwater or on a jerkbait. But I find its all seasonal of course. When the fall comes they bust up my jerkbaits hard. All year round a topwater is awesome. Buzzbait to Spooks.

Yeah who doesnt love a good topwater bite!

That's my dream catch right there. Nice job =D

Did the fish jump at all? I've always wonder if fat fish jump lol.

I dont know if anyone else has noticed this but the big fish tend to jump more willingly, and then make a big bulldog for the bottom. I always thought the bigger they get the smarter they are, couldnt tell you how many fish ive lost when the jumped.

 

[ChromeAddict]

Nice fish! I like catching them on the fly. I started last year and haven't fished much conventional tackle since.

 

[alwayscatching]

Actually I have always noticed that the bigger fish are really the jumpers. They get some great air too if they are from bigger bodies of water with those big powerful tails

 

[Giuga10]

My go to is a weightless 4" senko wacky rigged. Or a strike king finesse jig with a craw deuvre (PTL). I'm big on dock fishing so I pitch or skip them to pillars or far back into the dock. Senkos will glide a good distance if skipped right.

 

[Knuguy]

I am a creature of habit, its gotten me into trouble and has definitely gotten me out of some sticky situations. If I could only fish bass one way for the rest of my life Id be standing on the front of my boat, out deep, looking at my graph with a drop shot in hand. I have covered this tactic on a previous thread but I made this one to hear what you guys (and gals!) prefer or always fallback to technique wise when it comes to fishing those lil brown bass.






My new Pb, FROM SHORE (Because why spend all this money on a boat anyways, they never seem to work right!)
Caught on a 3/8 ounce drop shot, 30ish inch gap to a powerteam lures finicky tickler in smoke BPG.

that's a real hawg!! (I find that calling 'here fishy fishy never hurts!)

 

[fisherman2280]

Top water poppers, when you learn to work them right they almost always produce.

3 weeks back I had a monster SM jump 4 times and do a tail walk. Awesome to see them smoke a top water lure.

 

[IR4Jflyfishing]

Was back in the same spot this past weekend, but decided to tow the boat up... Completely forgot that the costa flw ran the thurs-sat.. Caught a few out of this spot but decided to let scott dobson the eventual winner have the fish... We threw a bunch of top waters around some of the shallower flats adjacent to this little current deal. I ended up sticking a 4lb largie on a yo zuri 3db pencil, other wise the bulk of the fish were 1-2lb tourny leftovers

 

[staffman]

Working a live craw fish slowly back to the boat or catching them on top water are my favourites.

 

[ScugogBassFisher2011]

Beautiful fish!!!! Congrats!!!

 

[bharkasaig]

Recently fell in love with a slowly retrieved Mepps off a dock - wicked to see them hunt then just crush it! Other than that my go to is a Texas rig.

Top water poppers, when you learn to work them right they almost always produce.

Where is the 'best' place/resource to learn this? I've tried and tried and tried. The best I've gotten was first cast reactions on Rapala floats where the fish hits as soon as the lure touches water.

IR4J - sweet fish. I gotta learn me some drop shotting.

 

[Isabella Ploszaj]

Nice fish! For me its a drop shot hands down, along with a popper and a texas rigged craw (usually weightless)!

 

[N8orDie]

Two words: Wacky Rig (does it count if I put a Senko wacky style on a drop shot rig?)

Topwater popper is a close second.

Beauty fish btw!

 

[grayer]

Must have missed this post from the summer....but, 100% on the fly. Nothing better than a smallie on a 5wt.

 

[fisherman2280]

"Where is the 'best' place/resource to learn this? I've tried and tried and tried. The best I've gotten was first cast reactions on Rapala floats where the fish hits as soon as the lure touches water."

My advice is to give it two or three big pops when it first hits the water, I think it makes it sound like another fish is ambushing bait.

After that I only stop for a second or two and I change the speed and force of the pop a lot on each cast. I figure this keeps it looking more realistic than pop pop pop, I',m more like pop - pop pop - pop -pop pop pop.

Watch for little bait fish breaking the surface obviously something is scarring them up so cast into the commotion and BOOM!

I find you want to use the smaller size poppers IMO nothing over 3".