“Just 20 more yards,” I told my buddy as we drifted down a long river bluff. 
“They’ll hit it.”  We’d gone about 200 yards and he hadn’t quite figured out what I was doing with the sliver and black Tiny Torpedo to entice the smallies to blow up on it.  It had gotten to the point that he wanted to switch to a finesse worm despite the eager brown fish I’d led to the side of the boat.

“You have to pop it this time of year,” I explained laughing.  “And this is a good spot for big fish.”  As things balance out, the average river smallies I was attracting were mere offspring compared to the smallmouth that pounded his Tiny Torpedo.  The explosion from the big smallmouth made my fishing partner jump and nearly miss setting the hook on the tremendous topwater strike.  Ten minutes later I got the loaned Tiny Torpedo back—only now it was attached to a five pound smallie after one heck of a river current fight.

That’s not the only scenario you’ll create for yourself when fishing the versatile Tiny Torpedo.  Versatile—it’s the best description of a topwater bait that is good nearly year round.  A simple yet effective design that yields strikes from late spring until the close of fall is the right smallmouth formula for success.  If the baitfish shape isn’t enough to attract them, the tail spin prop and an array of colors top the fatal attraction.

 In the springtime, smallmouths offer a narrow window of opportunity for a topwater take.  During the post-spawn, smallies will back off beds to areas that were actually pre-spawn staging spots.  As they gather energy after the spawn and begin to feed, the Torpedo takes advantage.  The suspended smallies are vulnerable and the subtle springtime twitch is more than they can stand.

Summer’s later heat is the second advantage period of nailing smallmouths on topwater.  The main surface activity in the summertime is traditionally early in the morning and late in the day—or Torpedo time.  You an easily boat numbers of smallies in river and lake settings with a variety of baitfish color imitations to draw strikes.  A lot of action on the bait isn’t required in summer months.  The seductive bait can be slowly retrieved with the prop’s action attracting brown fish or you can twitch the Torpedo on a calm surface while watching a bronzeback turn that calmness into a boil with a heavy surface explosion.

As good as the spring and summer Tiny Torpedo action can be, it’s just an appetizer for what happens in September, October and on into November.  Numbers and size come in the spring, numbers in the summer with a few quality fish, but the fall topwater action offers both combinations every day.  From daylight to dark, the fall topwater action is what I live for and the Tiny Torpedo is the bait that I bank on.  The seductive twitch and the low whirr from the prop are replaced by what some would term as an over-productive jerk.  When fall’s water temperatures start to drop and smallmouths become aggressive, what you make the Tiny Torpedo do on the surface draws mega attention.

 You could call it an aggressive pop, but many veteran top water anglers would even look at it as overkill.  Smallies look at it as an intrusion in their territory that they need to annihilate.  If the urge to feed up for the winter isn’t enough, the overwhelming reaction to what the Tiny Torpedo is doing on the surface is more than enough to draw a reaction strike.  It’s called beating the brown fish at his own game.  Smallies are aggressive, even predatory in nature.  You put something on the water like the Tiny Torpedo and you take advantage of their senses.  It’s almost like calling a draw play on an overaggressive pass rush.  You catch them off guard the first time.  After that, they’ll adjust and then it’s back and forth when it comes to advantage.  Either way, you win with smallmouths blowing up on the surface on the most versatile topwater bait ever created.

Past Articles

EAST MEETS WEST ON LAKE ERIE
TACKLING RIVER SMALLMOUTH IN THE FALL
INDIGENOUS BAIT
SUPER SHALLOW SUMMER
CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
CRANKY SMALLMOUTH
TINY TORPEDO
LAKE ERIE “BEST” FOR SMALLMOUTH BASS
HOW TO CATCH THE BIGGEST SMALLMOUTH OF YOUR LIFE
IN QUEST OF CENTER HILL SMALLMOUTH
LOVE THOSE HELLGRAMMITES!