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Favorite lure for smallmouth?

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I'm curious how many smallmouth fisherman we have here?

What is your favorite lure? Personally I like using a rubber crawfish hooked weedless style and bumped along the bottom.
 
That depends on the structure you are fishing... deeper rock bottom, Tubes work well. I love throwing top water baits and they work all day, not just in the morning and evening. Real frogs and crawfish work very well too, where permitted. Jigs and twisters. Rapala's. The imitation crawfish rigged texas style work well for both Smallies and Largemouth. Chuch them up near structure, like next to a log or tree lay down, along rock humps, etc, almost guaranteed action.
 
Yes, for pure excitement, I love using poppers. When that smally explodes out of the water, shaking his head it almost knocks me out of the boat.
 
I'll use both small hair poppers when out with my fly rod or a #2 gold bladed Mepps with a swivel. Both have served me well over the years in both lakes and rivers. I've spent a lot of my youth fishing for smallmouth on the Upper Delaware River and as an adult in the Adirondacks. Each method has been successful for me.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...Be well.

snapper
 
My favorite smallie lure is either a Bomber Model A or Rapala Fat Rap, either one in crawdad color and used with a bait caster reel and low stretch line.

Cary
 
I've only used the imitation crawfish rigged texas style and the crawfish crankbaits.

I've heard of some guys hooking the rubber worms in the middle and working those on the bottom (I think). Does anyone here do that? I'm curious how successful that is.
 
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I've heard of some guys hooking the rubber worms in the middle and working those on the bottom (I think). Does anyone here do that? I'm curious how successful that is.

I believe you are referring to the technique called "Wacky Rigging" and I do a lot of this for both SM and LM Bass.
My preferred approach is using a "YUM" Yum Dinger 3.5 inch in pumpkin green and a Gamagatzi Octopus hook. (both available at Walmart)
Fold the worm in half and run the hook through the middle. I like it because you can jiggle the rod tip and the worm has a lot of action but stays put where you want it. You can obviously Wacky rig any worm you prefer, but the dinger has always given me the best results.
I'll give you my other 2 favorites in case you feel adventurous and want to give them a try. Same Octopus hook as above with a "Case" SSM. Pearl white is my most productive color and only color I carry with me now. You nose hook the SSM by holding the minnow and imagine it has 2 eyes like the real thing. Run the Octopus hook in one eye and through/out the other. The action is amazing and best with just slight twitches. Just google - case ssm.
Lastly, but not least by any means is the "Cabin Creek" Spider Jig. I only carry one color...Pumpkin Green. They come in small and large. I only use the large and the jig hooks come in 2 sizes (I forget the weights) and I only use the smaller weight Jig heads. Spider jigs are 2 piece jigs and again work very well on SM and LM Bass.
Well, those are my 3 go-to lures for Smallies and I found that all 3 work just as well on LM, especially the Spider Jig. I do bring a few other top water lures, but these account for 90% of my fish.
Hope this helps or gives you some food for thought in trying something new. Good Luck!
 
Thanks schiff! I'm going to look these up and give them a try on my next smallie trip.

Are you primarily fishing lakes up north or on rivers too? Most of our smallie action in Arkansas is on smaller rivers.
 
For SM, I fish streams and rivers...Delaware, Lehigh and Susquehanna. For LM, lakes and a sometimes get them on the rivers. I am lucky enough to have a large reservoir 1/2 mile from my house, as well as several streams within several minutes. Lehigh river is 40 minutes away and the Delaware is about a one hour drive. Hey, I used to use "Zoom" Fat Albert Grubs (Green Watermellon) with an Arky 1/16 oz jig head that has a large hook (another Walmart source). They actually worked so well that I got bored using them. My issue was that just like the amazing tube baits that use jig heads...I would get snagged too often. So I stopped using them. They do work well though.
 
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