BEST BAITS FOR HUGE SMALLMOUTH
Originally appeared in Bassin' Magazine March 2006. 

A blueprint to big brownies.
By Darl Black 

There is nothing I would rather do than fish for smallmouth bass – it’s something I’ve been doing more than 40 years with anglers around the country.  Smallies hit a lure harder, fight with more tenacity and jump higher than largemouth.  The bold bronze color overlaid with darker vertical bars makes smallmouth an absolutely gorgeous fish. 

I treasure every smallmouth that I catch.  When handling even the littlest bass, I treat each with care and respect to insure its survival.  One of those released may grow up to become a record-breaking fish! 

And speaking of record-breaking bass, there is something really special about big smallies.  Just talking about them gets my heart pounding and brings a nervous quiver to my voice.  You can imagine what happens when I have a huge smallmouth on the line!   

What is big?

Smallmouth growth is limited by its environment, including habitat, seasonal water temperature range and available appropriate prey.  Not every lake and river across the country can produce big smallmouth.    

For some anglers a big smallmouth may be a 13-inch brownie in a stream filled with 10-inchers.  Or perhaps it’s that elusive 3-pounder in a reservoir where the average bronzeback is just over 2 pounds.  But when someone mentions big smallmouth to me, I’m thinking a whole different category.   

With decades of chasing bronze under my belt, a big smallmouth to me is one approaching 5 pounds.  But perhaps it’s time for me to take a reality check on smallmouth size.  So I put the question of big smallmouth to a dozen bronzeback-angling acquaintances around the country.   

Ten of them indicated anything above 5 pounds should be considered big, while two stated 4 pounds was big in their region.  By the way, the personal best smallmouth for anglers in this distinguished group ranged from 5.5 pounds to 8 pounds.   

 But defining big is only a start.  Next I asked the convened panel about two critical concerns when seeking gargantuan bronzebacks – timing and bait choice.   

Seasons for Big Smallies 

It was no surprise that the majority of these experienced anglers pointed to “spring” and “fall” as the best times for exceptionally large smallmouth.  However, rather than going to the calendar to define the spring and fall bites, water temperature is more exact.  Big smallmouths are most active (i.e. catchable) when water temps are roughly between 45 degrees and 65 degrees – either with temps on the way up, or on the way down. 

Among the river and Great Lakes fishermen in the workgroup, “summer” was included as a season to catch big smallmouth.  Again, that was not a surprise.  Current flow in rivers overrides uncomfortably high summer temperatures of lake shallows, and the Great Lakes system is simply a large river.  Besides, the Great Lakes remain cooler through the summer than most inland lakes at the same latitude. 

Bait Recommendations 

Each panel member was asked to provide their top picks in either artificial lures or live bait for big smallmouth, as well as identifying their “home” water for over-the-top smallmouth.  Here is what the experts had to say. 

Joe Balog (Professional angler; Western Basin of Lake Erie, OH; Detroit River, MI; and Chautauqua Lake, NY.)  Joe’s most productive big smallmouth bait in the early spring is a home-made hair jig.  He uses jigs ranging between 1/4 and 3/4-ounce depending on depth and wind, targeting winter structure adjacent to spawning flats typically in 25 to 35 feet of water.   Balog maintains bottom contact with a slow hopping of the jig.  During other times of the year, he relies on an ISG Dream Tube.  However, with calm seas on Erie, he goes to a Poor Boy’s Drop Shot Goby.  And in the fall when smallies move shallow, he favors a 3/8-oz. jig-n-chunk on inland lakes.  

Mark Burgess (Professional angler; Lake Champlain, VT and Lake Winnisquam, NH.)  For fishing shoals and humps in 10 to 35 feet of water, Mark’s “go to” bait is a Yum Mega Tube in Watermelon Gold Flake.  He utilizes a hop or slow drag to move the tube.  For targeting shallower water, such as weed edges and points, he switches to a 1-oz. Booyah Blade in a Gold Shiner pattern with double willow gold blades.  He maintains a steady retrieve with the spinnerbait.  Burgess says a Cordell Spot runs a close second to the spinnerbait. 

Steve Dezurik (Smallmouth guide; Upper Mississippi River, MN.)  Steve’s top pick for big mid-summer smallmouth on the Mississippi is a Rebel Pop R, focusing on current sweeping over 2 to 4-foot flats with weed and rock.  His second pick is a Jimmy D black hair jig which he fishes during the spawn and post spawn period when shallow-water brown bass are spooky.  Dezurik simply casts the 1/16-oz. jig and lets it sink to the bottom. 

Jim Duckworth (Guide and angling educator; Dale Hollow & Center Hill, TN.)  With water temperature below 52 degrees on Dale Hollow, Jim relies on Matzuo’s Float & Fly kit.  He focuses on steep points and bluff-like banks.  Matzuo’s Zander Shad suspending jerkbait gets the nod when water temperature is between 50 and 65 degrees.  Duckworth uses a short stiff rod to impart sharp, crisp action to the jerkbait. 

Pete Glusek (Professional angler; Lake Erie and Lake Champlain, VT/NY.)  During the spring and fall when bronzebacks are shallow, Pete’s pick is a Lucky Craft Sammy 115 for a bass over 5 pounds.  But if you desire even bigger fish, Gluszek says all his smallies over 6 pounds have come on a tube jig.  Plus, he is relying more and more on a goby drop shot rig for big bass on Lake Erie. 

Bruce Holt (Tackle industry representative; Columbia River, OR.)  During the spring, Bruce’s #1 bait for smallies over 5 pounds is a split-shot rig with a 4-inch Zoom Lizard.  He fishes the rig close to shore on secondary river points that have a mixture of mud and scattered rock, dragging it very slowly so the sinker maintains bottom contact all the time.  But for the really cold water of early spring, Holt relies on a brown live-rubber 1/4 or 3/8-oz jig with a purple or brown Uncle Josh #101 pork frog trailer.  The jig is hand-tied with a sparse living rubber skirt.  Holt does not bounce or hop the jig, but drags it s-l-o-w-l-y on the bottom. 

Bob Hornstrom (Smallmouth guide; Conneaut Lake, PA & Chautauqua Lake, NY.)There was no hesitancy from Bob to the question of best bait: a 1/2-ounce Rat-L-Trap.  He fishes it in the early spring just as smallies are beginning to move up and again in the fall when the fish are shallow again.  With spring water temps in the upper 40s or low 50s, he crawls the rattle bait along the bottom on rock-rubble points.  But in the fall when bass are aggressively feeding on the flats, he employs a faster retrieve with occasional pauses.  When calm conditions call for topwater, Hornstrom selects a Heddon Spook – the original 3/4-oz. model.  In recent years, he has taken a number of good smallmouths on a Super Fluke, which is his primary post spawn and summertime lure for brown bass.   

Terry Jones (Smallmouth guide; Eastern Basin of Lake Erie, NY.)  According to Terry, only two artificial lures are needed to catch huge smallmouth on Lake Erie.  First is an ISG Dream Tube on footfall jighead.  Second is a Poor Boy’s Drop Shot Goby in pumpkin pepper with white belly.  In the spring he targets rock piles in 15 to 25 feet; in the fall he finds the biggest fish on deep flats immediately adjacent a structural breakline in water as deep as 40 feet.    

Pete Mlinar (Smallmouth guide; Upper Mississippi River, MN.)  Pete is a classic live bait guide.  When it comes to big smallmouth, he only considers a single type of live bait worth putting on a hook: a red-tail chub (although in a pinch he will use the closely-related creek chub).  His minimum size for a chub is 5 inches, and maximum size is 9 inches!  The hook must have a wide enough gap to accommodate the head of the chub, otherwise many bass will be missed on the hookset.  Although he catches good bass through the summer on live bait, spring and fall are prime times for numbers of big bass. 

Kevin VanDam (Professional angler; Grand Traverse Bay, MI.)  Kevin’s #1 presentation for smallmouth over 5 pounds is a 1/2-oz. Strike King Double Willow Premier Spinnerbait for making long casts on flats.  He alternates between a Firetiger pattern with gold blades to imitate perch and a Blue Glimmer Shad with nickel blades to imitate alewife, smelt or shad.  Second on his list is a Strike King KVD Pro Tube, choosing a color based on the seasonal dominant prey.  Unlike many anglers who drag or slow swim a tube jig, VanDam rips the tube off the bottom with each rod movement. 

Marcel Veenstra (Professional angler; Lake Erie.)  Rather than a big tube jig, Marcel offers smallmouth something different by going with a 1/2-oz Sworming Hornet Jig with a Venom Salty Sling Trailer – it works great on big fish.  He utilizes this bait from early summer to early fall, dragging it on humps and rock piles in 10 to 25 feet of water.  But when schools of big smallies move shallower into the mouth of the Detroit River in the fall, he throws Spro's Aruku Shad rattle bait in blue shad color, working it with frequent pauses to allow the lipless bait to rest on the bottom.  At rest, the Aruku Shad sits with head down and tail up rather than lying over like other rattle baits.   

Todd Witt (Smallmouth guide; Pickwick Lake, TN/AL.)  At the top of Todd’s list of baits for big smallmouth is a Strike King KVD Pro Model 3.5” Tube with a 1/4 or 3/8-oz. insert head.  Used primarily around current beaks in 6 to 14 feet of water, he either hops the jig along the bottom or simply lets it drift with the current.  Witt says a tube jig is excellent as a year-round bait.  His second choice is a Strike King Wild Shiner Suspending Jerkbait, which he fishes in 4 to 16 feet of water over gravel banks during the pre-spawn and spawn periods – as long as temperature is below 65 degrees. 

Make It a Baker’s Dozen 

To summarize, the list of preferred lures from this cross-section of American anglers looks like this: tube jig (6); hair jig, including the fly under a float (3); drop-shot goby (3); willow-leaf spinnerbait (2); dog-walking topwater (2); lipless rattle bait (2); jig & trailer (2); suspending jerkbait (2); topwater chugger (1); split-shot lizard (1); soft jerkbait (1).  

That makes eleven different types of artificial lures.  And with the red-tail chub as a live bait choice, we have an even dozen baits for big smallmouth.  Looking over the list, I feel very confident in this selection.  

However, talk of a “dozen” has me thinking back to the old corner bakery shop in my hometown.  The neighborhood baker always threw in a couple extra items when you ordered a dozen of something – it was a baker’s dozen.  So here are a couple extras from my box to make a baker’s dozen for big smallmouth.     

Blade bait/jigging spoon – In the very early spring, shortly after ice-out on northern waters while smallies are still deep on the Great Lakes, I have excellent success with hard metal for gargantuan smallies.  I use either a blade bait (Silver Buddy, Sonar) or jigging spoon (Hopkins, Bomber Slab Spoon) in the 18 to 40-foot range. 

Grubs – For some anglers, an action-tail grub is an all-season bait that catches average-size smallmouth.  But when I take a 5-inch wide floppy tail grub on a heavy head and slow roll it along the bottom just as smallies are starting to move from wintering grounds towards the shallows in the spring, it accounts for some of my largest bronzebacks of the season.  ISG’s Hyper-tail Grub is my favorite for big smallies because the nub on the tail inures action at very slow retrieve speeds.

Well, there’s your blueprint to big smallies.  Now use this information to put a smile on your face by catching your biggest smallmouth ever.

Past Articles

SMALLIES CHILLED BUT NOT FROZEN
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!