Lure Recommendations For Smallies

[Tom Tricamo]

Gents,

Long time reader, first time poster. Up until now, I've predominately fished Largemouth Bass at Lake of the Ozarks. However, as I delve deeper into fishing in the beautiful state of MO, it becomes abundantly clear that there are many more places to fish and other species to attempt to catch. That said, I've recently turned my attention to Smallies.

It seems as though Ozark streams are the place to be. And we can could argue for hours about the "correct" rod/reel combo to use for Smallies. But what about lures? Assume one were to use a spinning reel; what type of lures would you recommend? Brian Sloss over at Eleven Point Canoe Rental had recommended Maribou Jigs for winter time Smallie Action. I have heard small tube jigs work as well. Any other recommendations?

Respectfully,

Tom Tricamo

[Al Agnew]

If you're talking about cold weather fishing, your lure choices are fairly limited. The marabou jigs, either plain or tipped with a small split tail plastic or pork trailer. The small tubes. If there is a warming trend, or in late autumn/early spring, jerkbaits like the LC Pointers and Rapala X-Raps, and deep-diving crankbaits such as Bandits and Wiggle Warts.

Anytime the water temps are in the high 50s or above, your choices become almost unlimited. Spinnerbaits, shallow running crankbaits, deep cranks, soft jerkbaits, topwaters, buzzbaits, jig and pig, and just about any type of soft plastics.

[Dutch]

Charlie Brewer's slider bass grubs are the best stream smb baits I have ever used. They don't make a bad color.

[OzarkFishman]

+1 on the 3" sliders (paired with a 1/16th pro series slider head)

They will catch anything from trout to bass and everything in between.

[wily]

my favorite is a 1/8 oz. slider head and a green pumpkin fish dr

[FishinCricket]

Rebel teeny craws (or the aforementioned maribous)

Or a minnow sein...

[gotmuddy]

so far on crooked creek and the white river have been kind to medium crankbaits. I like medium divers because they more resemble a crawfish when they root around. I have caught probably two dozen fish on a single wiggle wart without having to tune it or anything.

[RSBreth]

Summertime is "turn and burn" or "run and gun" or something like that on Ozark rivers for bass. Anything that you can work fast works pretty good most days. You'll find most folks using tubes, worms, or maybe jigs, which is fine and will catch fish, but I'd much rather use a popper or walk-the-dog topwater, a floater/diver minnow (think Rapala Flat Rap or original Minnow) or soft jerkbait aggressively than one of the slower techniques.

Shallow and medium diving cranks are great if there's any color to the water at all, too.

[jdmidwest]

Live shiners seined from the stream or fresh Crayfish.

[eric1978]

Summertime is "turn and burn" or "run and gun" or something like that on Ozark rivers for bass. Anything that you can work fast works pretty good most days. You'll find most folks using tubes, worms, or maybe jigs, which is fine and will catch fish, but I'd much rather use a popper or walk-the-dog topwater, a floater/diver minnow (think Rapala Flat Rap or original Minnow) or soft jerkbait aggressively than one of the slower techniques.

Shallow and medium diving cranks are great if there's any color to the water at all, too.

Ditto. The faster the better for me. I get bored with slow presentations, and anything you work on the bottom that isn't T-rigged you're gonna leave in the rocks. I also like faster baits in super-clear water because they don't have the time to examine and reject it. Don't forget your spinnerbaits and buzzbaits.