Bass Fishing HomeBass Fishing Forums

Go Back   BassFishin.Com Forums > Serious Conversation Only > Techniques, Strategy & Presentations

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 03-31-08, 05:13 PM   #1
WallStreetAmigo
BassFishin.Com Active Member
 
WallStreetAmigo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: BC Canada
Posts: 325
Default Early Spring Smallmouth Techniques

Hey Guys, Long time no see!!!!!

I have my first tournament coming up on Sat April 5th fishing exclusively for smallies. Since I have limited smallmouth opportunities in my area, I have not had a chance to really fish for them.

I'll give you some details and maybe you can give me some ideas of what might work.

We will be fishing in the west arm of the lake as we have the slowest boat in the tournament and want to stay relatively close to the weigh boat and the boat launch to maximize our fishing time. There are some docks there and I have included the map for you guys to look at.

It typically takes a five fish limit of 21 pounds or better to win (last year was 27.5 lbs)

The weather is supposed to be realtively clear with water temps in the low to mid 40's. We will only have an Eagle portable depthfinder.

Most of the guys will be fishing tubes and drop shots, and we will too. Since we will likely have last choice on good spots in this area, any advice on things to look for and advice on other techniques that might work based on the conditions would be appreciated.

I'm looking forward to my first tournament!
WallStreetAmigo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 05:22 PM   #2
WallStreetAmigo
BassFishin.Com Active Member
 
WallStreetAmigo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: BC Canada
Posts: 325
Default

just trying to get the map on here for you
WallStreetAmigo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 05:39 PM   #3
WallStreetAmigo
BassFishin.Com Active Member
 
WallStreetAmigo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: BC Canada
Posts: 325
Default

hope this map works
Attached Images
 
WallStreetAmigo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 05:43 PM   #4
BigBassin144
BassFishin.Com Premier Elite
 
BigBassin144's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Toledo, Ohio
Posts: 9,463
Send a message via AIM to BigBassin144
Default

I'm not the one to be giving advice to you about where to fish during a tourny, but I just wanted to say good luck. :0

BB
__________________
As of June 14, 2014 the members of the BF.com forum have moved to basschat.yuku.com!
BigBassin144 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 05:46 PM   #5
Buzz Wing
BassFishin.Com Super Veteran
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hudson, MI
Posts: 1,219
Send a message via MSN to Buzz Wing
Default

You have soft water up there!?!?!? I'm still waitin for a chance to launch the boat!

-Buzz
Buzz Wing is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 05:55 PM   #6
WallStreetAmigo
BassFishin.Com Active Member
 
WallStreetAmigo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: BC Canada
Posts: 325
Default

thanks BB!

Where I live its still solid too, but Vancouver Island has been liquified for a month or so......
WallStreetAmigo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 06:02 PM   #7
zooker
BassFishin.Com Premier Elite
 
zooker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: denton nc
Posts: 13,441
Default

well lookie at what just crawled outa the snow drift would ya.

zooker
__________________
the godfather..
aml in remission since 7-20-09
zooker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 06:04 PM   #8
WallStreetAmigo
BassFishin.Com Active Member
 
WallStreetAmigo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: BC Canada
Posts: 325
Default

I missed you too zook............
WallStreetAmigo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 09:22 PM   #9
Bob Smith
BassFishin.Com Super Veteran
 
Bob Smith's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Cartersville, Georgia
Posts: 1,472
Default

WSA! It's been about a week since I checked your site! Hope all is going well.
You need to show the smallies something they may not have seen in a while.. With the cold water temps, a football jig with a Hula Grub in Green Pumpkin, RootBeer, or Watermelon Seed could be your ticket. Working it slowly on the bottom. Another good idea would be to throw 4" curl tail grubs on a ball jig (1/8 oz to 3/16 oz) and slowly swim that baby along the bottom.
__________________
Bob Smith a.k.a. "Porko" (vintage Strike King variety!)
Bob Smith is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 10:09 PM   #10
Bender
BassFishin.Com Super Veteran
 
Bender's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Brighton, MI
Posts: 2,414
Default

I might also suggest throwing a jerkbait taking your time between jerks. That and even try a Rat-L-Trap if they seem aggressive. Burn it over flats just above the deep breaks. Might try a baby bass color in clear water.
Bender is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 10:30 PM   #11
Patrick Krueger, Jr.
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
 
Patrick Krueger, Jr.'s Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Kenosha, WI
Posts: 567
Default

I'm with Bender on the jerkbait with long pauses. Smallies kill x-raps around here right at. ice-out. Rapala has slightly smaller ones then awhen they first came out and that seems to be preferable to our bronzebacks. Good luck!
__________________
The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. - John Buchan
Patrick Krueger, Jr. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 11:21 PM   #12
carolina-rig-01
BassFishin.Com Premier Elite
 
carolina-rig-01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Webb City, MO
Posts: 6,387
Default

not sure how realative it is considering the difference in location but this might help. it's an article a local guide wrote about table rock smallmouths.

TABLE ROCK SMALLMOUTH BASS SPRING PRIMER

Mean-A-Muss, Pull-A-Muss, Break-A-Muss Rod-A-Muss. Locally know as the Bronze Back, Brownie, Smally, Small Jaw, or most commonly know as the Smallmouth bass, is getting ready to start on its Spring chomping binge. Time for sushi, crayfish gumbo, and shad alamode.

This feeding frenzy results in missed work, broken lines, lost fishing fodder, and a whole bunch of fun, fun, fun.

Table Rock Lake witnesses this madness, like no other body of water in the mid-west. Starting when water temps nudge into the mid-to-upper 40's and generally lasting till late June, the Rock is truly a trophy smallmouth destination. You would be hard pressed from Michigan South, to find a better hidey-hole for trophy caliber small jaws.

During this peak period smallmouth in the 3lb to 5lb range, are the norm rather than the exception. I take very few guide trips in which we don't catch one of these bronze beauties. Targeting smallmouth during late March, April, May and early June can and is done on a daily basis by experienced local anglers and guides alike. A few years ago when someone called and asked to go small mouth fishing the answer was usually, yes we will catch some if the conditions are right, but lets target Kentucky's or Black's and let the chips fall where they will. Not now, not during the peak period, we can and do catch-em everyday.

When I was going to the School of the Ozarks in the mid-70's, we rarely caught them even in the dam area. Yes we caught a few, but nothing like today.

The lakes major range on the jaws runs from Long Creek to Big M. My best, a 6 pound monster came right across the lake from Big M boat dock on the White River Arm. Campbell Point, to the 86 bridge on the Long Creek arm is the Mecca, and that is a huge main lake area. Smallmouth love main lake flat gravel.

April 10th. -- May 10th. Is absolutely prime time. Here are a few tips to help you catch that trophy Jaw.

Let's take a victory tour, starting in March and skipping our way thru June in pursuit of these wonderful fighting fish.

Mid-March brings on longer daylight hours and water temps on the upward swing, not huge rises, mind you but increases of a degree or two during the day and somewhat stable during the night time hours. Smallmouth move from there suspended states and deep water haunts and start to cruise windy sun-splashed banks. Banks with wood or pole timber seem to warm at a faster rate and the wood is an attractant to early season smallmouth. Like most bass, Smallmouth usually prefer to feed during low light times of the day, early, and late. Not so much at this time of year. Most bass love the warmth of mid-day and it is not uncommon to do quite well on Jaws, during warming high light periods, in March and April.

There always seems to be some small mouth shallow on the lower lake under docks and on gravel, but March is when they start to get frisky, and there country cousins from the deep start to arrive in numbers.

This is without a doubt one of my favorite times to catch these feisty fighters. It's stick bait time. X Raps, Rogue's, Pointers and Thundersticks, twitched, jerked hopped and sat motionless, will get their attention toot-sweet if presented where there lurking. Flamboyant colors in pink, chartreuse, purple, red, yellow and green, will catch the eye of smallmouth on the prowl. Short rods 5 ½ ft, to 6 ft, with sensitive tips soft mid-sections and firm butts are the ticket here. Most stick baits are fished on 8 to 12 lb. mono. If I want my bait to fall slightly, I will at times fish fluorocarbon of the same test, but most often just the mono and weight the bait with suspend dots for an even float, slight sink, or slight rise.

The preference is in the preferred way each person likes to fish the bait. I prefer a neutral to a slight sink.

Start the season on transition banks and channel swings. Most all lake maps will help you pinpoint these locations. Good transitions are bluff to chunk rock to gravel. Three different zones in a 100 to 200 yard stretch. Look for a ripple or wind on this type of a location, and pole timber is nothing but a plus. Position the boat on the outside of the timber and cast to the bank working the bait from the bank thru the transition zone to the offshore wooden structure. Be sure to pause as close to any structure as possible, let the bait sit and just twitch the head back and forth, keeping the bait as close to the tree as possible. Do not be afraid to have your boat in extreme deep water this time of year. I have had the boat in as much as 70 ft. twitching the bait thru the upper column in 50 ft. and have caught huge smallies.

Very seldom will the bite come while the bait is moving. The bite will happen as the bait sits motionless, falls or rises. It is not uncommon, early in the season, to let the bait sit for up to 20 seconds. A jerk, jerk, jerk, pause method is a very good method to work the bait. Jerk, jerk, twitch, twitch, pause, twitch, pause, twitch, BANG.

As the water starts to edge into the 50's smallmouth get a real hanker-en for crayfish and the huge amounts of calories these yummy cru stations provide for procreation. Wiggle Warts, tubes, jigs, hula-grubs, shaky-heads, and split shot rigs will get you nipped most often. The stick bait is still in vogue. Again wind is important if you can find it. Fish will begin to shallow up and fishing from bank depth to 30 ft. will keep you on target. Smallmouth during this period will start to migrate toward transitioning chunk rock and flat gravel. Cove mouths and the first 100 yards or so of big spawning pockets will hold lots of fish. Main lake flats adjacent to spawning coves are magnets, for staging feeding fish. Grub swimming, stick baits, and split shot rigs work wonders, as the fish occupy all levels of the water column and all depths in this range.

Warts and Jigs are most generally fished with 10 to 12 pound fluorocarbon on bait casters, and the soft plastics on a spinning rod, with 6 to 8 pound flora.

As water temps again nudge upward, into the upper 50's to 60, smallmouth will be at an absolute feeding Mecca. On Table Rock this means on the bank to 16 ft. depth range and migrating and moving the bank in large numbers. Shaky head, split shot rig, jigs, hula grubs and tubes are at there best. Great color combos included are green pumpkin, watermelon candy, watermelon red, and peanut butter and jelly.

Late April and early May are here at last and the water temps are 60 to 65. Smallmouth are bedding in 3 to 16 ft. of water and again one of my favorite times is here. Top water like the Zara Spook, Red fin, Yellow Magic and a multitude of others presented parallel to the bank will get vicious strikes. This is also the time when floating worms seem to work there magic and are as fun as the top water stuff. Not only do you feel the strikes, but you see the attack. Bubble gum, mercurochrome, chartreuse, yellow and white are my favorite soft floating baits. The fish are available main lake wide at this time and finding them is just a matter of exploring large pockets of mixed chunk and gravel.

As the post spawn starts in May, thru early June, the fish are again on the move and extremely hungry, no naps or smokes after the spawn, its time to eat again. At this time really nice catches can and do occur mostly top water and swimming a grub. Top water again is without a doubt just a flat favorite. Deep Cove mouths, Bluff ends, channel breaks and over deep humps are great places to see and start chasing action for huge smallmouth. Grub swimming is probably the easiest way to entice a bite or two. I usually position my boat in the 30 ft. range on flat as a mat gravel and toss ¼ oz jig heads with 4 inch C-tail grubs, in copper, salt and pepper, grey pepper green pumpkin, on 6 lb. maxi.. A good 7 ft. rod is a must here, I prefer a very fast tip with a willow soft mid-section and firm butt. Allow the grub to sink to the bottom and follow the bottom contour back to the boat. You should at the end of the cast be almost reeling your bait straight up from the bottom, under the boat. The bite is not a true smallmouth attack and is a bit deceiving, as most often the fish will just ride the bait. The locals and Pro's let the fish mouth the grub and just keep reeling. As the rod tip begins to bow, and the mid-section of the rod, starts to bend, now is the time to lay the wood, or better yet just lift on the fish. Raw windy, rainy, overcast days are what you want at this time of the year. The worse it is the better the experts like it.

All thru this period is a great time to fish the Rock, as you know for sure the Kaintucks, are just flat not going to let those smallmouth get all the goodies.

Table Rocks top baits for trophy small mouth start with the family of suspending stick baits, and go to hard plastics like the Storm Wiggle Wart, Jigs made by Jewell Bait Co. with the Spider Jig being a small mouth getter. Soft plastics without a doubt are the king. Zoom, Fish Dr. and Centipede, Chomper soft plastics, hula-grub, Chomper tubes, Spot Remover stand up shaky head jig, and a variety of C-tail grubs.

Hope to see you all on the lake this year. Take advantage of one of the best sport fish this country has to offer, and one of its best fisheries. Going after, Table Rock's pot of Bronze at the end of the Rainbow.

William Babler
White River Outfitters-Guide Service
__________________
You only live once. But if you do it right, once is enough.
carolina-rig-01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-08, 11:59 PM   #13
Buzz Wing
BassFishin.Com Super Veteran
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hudson, MI
Posts: 1,219
Send a message via MSN to Buzz Wing
Default

Babler... What a perfect name for that dude!

-Buzz
Buzz Wing is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-01-08, 12:01 AM   #14
senko
BassFishin.Com Veteran Member
 
senko's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Manteca,Ca.
Posts: 826
Default

Nice post Carolina Rig!
__________________
Manteca High Freshman Football V.O.L. Champions 2007 "Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever."
senko is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-01-08, 12:16 AM   #15
carolina-rig-01
BassFishin.Com Premier Elite
 
carolina-rig-01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Webb City, MO
Posts: 6,387
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Buzz Wing View Post
Babler... What a perfect name for that dude!

-Buzz
yeah but he has forgot more about fishing than a lot of guys will ever know. he's a good guy to listen to and has been a huge help for me.
__________________
You only live once. But if you do it right, once is enough.
carolina-rig-01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-01-08, 12:40 AM   #16
WallStreetAmigo
BassFishin.Com Active Member
 
WallStreetAmigo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: BC Canada
Posts: 325
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Smith View Post
WSA! It's been about a week since I checked your site! Hope all is going well.
You need to show the smallies something they may not have seen in a while.. With the cold water temps, a football jig with a Hula Grub in Green Pumpkin, RootBeer, or Watermelon Seed could be your ticket. Working it slowly on the bottom. Another good idea would be to throw 4" curl tail grubs on a ball jig (1/8 oz to 3/16 oz) and slowly swim that baby along the bottom.
Ya I've missed ya on there Bob......my site hit 1000 posts the other day. not bad for a month and a half. Considering it is the first of its kind up here in B.C.. I'm pretty happy with how its going.

And thanks for the tips!
WallStreetAmigo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-06-08, 07:19 PM   #17
Buzz Wing
BassFishin.Com Super Veteran
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hudson, MI
Posts: 1,219
Send a message via MSN to Buzz Wing
Default

How'd it go, man?!

-Buzz
Buzz Wing is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Disclosure / Disclaimer
Before acting on the content posted, you should know that BassFishin.Com may benefit financially and otherwise from content, advertising, links or otherwise from anything you click on, read, or look at on our website. Click here to read our Disclosure Policy and Disclaimer.


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:59 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
© 2013 BassFishin.Com LLC