Im entering a fishing tournament for small mouth bass, any good tips?
November 28, 2009
Im entering a local fishing tournament soon, for Small mouths, muskie, and walleye. For the tournament im going to target the small mouths, I dont fish for river small mouth bass, I generally fish the local lake for Large mouth, and fair pretty well. Ive tried useing some of my large mouth tactics for smallmouths with out much success. I fished one spot on the river the other day with a friend, we had no luck all day, until the evening came and the small mouths started smashing topwater lures then they just turned off again. The ones we did catch on top water luers were small but we did catch a few 2 to 3 pounders. Does any one have any tips or tactics on how to locate and catch these small mouths during mid day or any other time? Which lures you think work best and how to use them? How to catch even bigger smallmouths? The river we will fish for the tournament is very shallow, most of the river i see is only 3 to 5 ft deep and shallower. There are some pockets of 5 to 7 ft. But i dont think it gets any deeper then that. Any advice, tips, and tactics will be appreciated, thanks!!
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6 Responses to “Im entering a fishing tournament for small mouth bass, any good tips?”
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i would go with top water lures and artifials since not allowed to use LIVE bait . try using gulp leeches size 6 or the Original floating rapala try casting under trees and look for any sunken trees branches and weed and try looking for bait fish schools an try casting a rapala out their and use a fast retrieval because predators well go for injured bait fish which the rapala imitates a dying fish and try casting a blue shad crank bait they will strike it more beacuse it stand out better hope these tips help
I have had great luck fishing in similar conditions when i take it back to the basics. Fish a bober with a small minnow or a worm at one to two feet with a few small split shot. Cast a small spinner with another pole while you have your float rig out. I would tip it with a piece of worm for added scent.
Use frozen shrimps it works.
and try a mustad with 5 hooks.
and last but not least patience
Berkley gulp is good. Try it on a drop shot rig with 8lb teat line. The crazy thing about smallies is they like to travel in pack and can be there one minute and out the next. Topwater and spinner baits are good too. Small mouth are known to come from 20-25 feet of clear water to crush a topwater plug. Also try using some kind of craw fish lure, plastic or crank bait. Smallies will jump all over those. If you are in the great lakes area a goby imitation is also a great bait to use on a drop shot rig. Good luck!
if you have a fishfinder locate the deep pockets,locate the rocks,structure and then either fish a wacky rigged or texas rigged plastic worm. or youse different size crankbaits one that runs just beneath the surface and one that runs all the way to the bottem,try it in crawdad color.
When the top water bites slows try small finesse jigs in and around the cover. When small mouth are not actively feeding they will generally try to stay out of the river current by holding behind cover where the current is at a minimum.
The key it to present the lures close to cover as non-active small mouth in rivers will hold close to it while avoiding the current. Watch for eddies on the surface to locate cover.