smallies

help me rig up for live minnow smallie fishing with my son.the smallies are on fire rite now with live bait and i want to take my son and let him have a ball catching em.


what hooks,sinkers,i need to know it all.

[Mac2]

rip the tails off of zoom speedworms in watermelon/red and texpose weightless on 2/0 worm hooks....slow falling and deadsticking presentations. Caught a slew of nice smallies in Canada doing this.

thanks,but im talking bout live minnows.they are catching 5 lbers daily on live minnows.i guess beens nobody knows i will try drop-shot the live minnows.

[cassidyta]

When I use live minnows, I prefer to go to #8 mosquito hook. I hook the minnow just behind the dorsal fin. If they are not suspended too deep then I just put em on a bobber. If I need to get them deeper, then I attach a three-way swivel. I add the weight via leader on the bottom and a 6" leader with the hook to the middle.
Weight would depend on how much movement there is to your water.

[pig n jig]

Primarily live minnow fishing is reserved for those who eat their catch.There is nothing wrong with that providing you buy a fishing license and stay within the limit regulations.

Since your most likely having to go buy your bait , its just plain easier to ask the bait & tackle shop. This will give you better insight on what depths and type of rigging is being used to catch them on your lake. You say you might try a drop shot type rig . If they are catching them on a float and fly or slip bobber rig, you might very well be fishing underneath the fish using the drop shot rig which may not be very productive fishing.

Get the details from the fish reports, local bait shop for the lake you are wanting to fish and then we could add suggestions to further help your quest in being successful. P N J

[BigBassin144]

I'd try it under a bobber with a Mustad Central Draught Hook [SP?]. They are hard to find, but they are excellent live bait hooks. We use small ones ice fishing with minnows for perch.

BB