Smallmouth reservoir techniques....

[66KingFisher]

Since finding out that one of the small lakes(300 acres)I fish has smallmouth in it, I plan on targeting them on future trips.....starting tomorrow morning...lol

I've fished for them alot as a young man, but in streams only....Never in a lake.....So other then targeting rocky points and bluffs with downsized crawfish patterned cranks, jigs or plastic grubs, are there any other techniques that you'd recommend I try this time of year?

For what its worth the normally clear water lake is receiving alot of rain tonight, so i'm not sure how this might effect the bass in the morning......Any suggestions?

[JerseyFisher]

Drop-Shotting the points, and rock piles, or jerkbaits depending on depth

[CamG]

If there are smallies - then I don't think there's a better bait for them than a tube jig. I've caught smallies on tubes spring, summer, fall and winter!

[BassMoJo]

Dropshot/shakyhead mainlake points.... Rocky flats with deep water close by or humps in the am

[66KingFisher]

I hit the mainlake points with several different crankbaits, as well as a tube and a finesse jig, but I didn't find any smallies this morning.....I also fished some shallow areas and steep banked areas but no smallies.

It was pouring down rain when we arrived at the ramp at aout 5:45 this morning.....I'm sure that had some effect on the fish but I'm not sure what...lol....We had to wait about 20 minutes for the storm to move off before we hit the water......I kind of expected to tear'm up after the heavy rain fall, but that didn't happen. We caught a few fish but no smallies.....I'll try again next time.....Thanks for everyones suggestions.

[Cavs1123]

I would say a tube in green pumpkin

[tim4081]

Don't rule out some traditional LMB techniques. In the past couple of weeks I've caught several smallies using 7" Berkley worms and a couple on chigger craws as well. Good luck.

[66KingFisher]

I wondered if they'd hit a worm or not.......Thats good info.

[plugsandaxes]

Some of my best smallies have come on a 6" senko (shad color, I think), 4-5" roboworm finesse in smoke color and double tail hula grubs in oxblood color. All were texas rigged, pegged and unpegged but the senko obviously works great wacky, too, especially for summer pressure. A small, shallow to mid crankbait in natural colors has been working well for me in early morning also...baby 1 minus or fat rap medium diver.

[Mac2]

Slow falling and deadsticking the body of a tail-less watermelon/red zoom speedworm texposed weightless on a 2/0 Gammy or XPS worm hook works well on smallies. If deeper than 15 feet, place a small split shot about two and a half feet up the line. It will fall and then waft down for the last two and a half feet on the fall.

[Bender]

Biggest thing I can suggest is to move around a lot. The dammed up lake that I fished in Michigan several times a week had a lot of smallies and after the spawn there were very hard to find until fall. I'm not saying you can't find them but in spring and fall our ratio was maybe 1:1 SM vs. LM or maybe even more smallies. In the summer it was probably 10:1 LM vs. SM. They sure seem to move around a lot more during the summer from shallow to deep and all over the place.

As far as baits I think everything has been covered. I like tubes or little black jigs (Bitsy Bug type) or hula grub if they are eating on the bottom or a drop shot with a 3" bait works best on other days. Topwater can never be ruled out either.

[walkeraviator]

Tubes and Reaction Innovation Smallie Beaver (its in the name for gods sake)... but locating teh fish is probably 80% of cathin em... if you can find a bank that will hold smallies... LM techniques will usually work... it does on the LBL side of Kentucky Lake...

[fish_hunter]

Drop shot with a TroKar TK150 size 1 or 1/0...target near points or bluffs!
Also flippin' is a good technique this time of year. I use the TroKar Flippin hook and never had a problem!

[plugsandaxes]

Originally Posted by walkeraviator

Tubes and Reaction Innovation Smallie Beaver (its in the name for gods sake)... but locating teh fish is probably 80% of cathin em... if you can find a bank that will hold smallies... LM techniques will usually work... it does on the LBL side of Kentucky Lake...

Agreed. Finding them is the real key. Plenty of lures work. Just think of the climate they generally prefer and you'll usually find them, along with walleyes. At least in most of the waters I've fished.

If you're out on the water at 4:30 am they'll generally be roaming in flats feeding, but will retreat to nearby deep water structure (in many cases, rip rap or deep ledges) a bit after first light. exactly when depends on your climate and water temp.

Whatever the case on your waters be sure to keep their needs in mind and follow the fish. G'luck!

[Showda]

I like to dropshot a 4" berkley gulp minnow on deeper points this time of year for smallies. My favorate color is smelt.

[Jrok]

Ive caught all my smallmouth this year on a spinnerbait or a Slurpee worm wacky rigged with no weight and one or two on a rattletrap. If the smallmouth are in there, you'll catch them once you find them.