Crankbait Technique For River Smb

[Norm M]

I have caught a few nice smallmouth bass out of my local river with this technique. The water temps have been in the high 30's to 40 degrees and to my way of thinking the coldwater period ends about 40 degrees and the cool water period starts so it's right there at the interface.

I have been using a Storm Wigglewart that allegedly runs about 10 ft deep on current seams about 3 ft deep off slack water pockets. I quarter cast upstream out into the flow and crank it down until it's making bottom contact along the seam. I stop reeling, let it drift about 4 feet, turn the handle enough to make bottom contact again and repeat until I run out of seam. So far every fish has come when I tighten up the line to reestablish bottom contact, I just feel something extra and set the hook. The fish have mostly been medium sized ones in the 15 to 18 inch range but I did get 1 pig that was 22 inches.

Now that may sound shallow for this time of year but my river is basically shallow, I'd say if you averaged it out over the entire river, the average depth would be about 4 feet. We also usually measure visibility in inches rather than feet.

[eric1978]

Good tip Norm. I was thinking about wading a small stream this weekend since it's supposed to be nice. I'll be bringing the Warts, Pointers, hair jigs, and just in case...a spinnerbait. I hope they wake up a little with the coming temp kicks.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Sounds good. I think smallies favor a wobble over a wiggle and the wart is right up there for that.

[Gavin]

Will have to try that...Thanks.

[fishinwrench]

Thanks for the report Creeky. Those Illini bass must like it cold, the fish in my area haven't wandered away from the winter holes yet.

Wiggle Warts are amazing, even after all these years.