Let's Talk Smallmouth Lures...

[Gary Lange]

Hey Smalliebigs have you used any of the Case Helgremmites (sp) thye look like this.

[Smalliebigs]

Hey Smalliebigs have you used any of the Case Helgremmites (sp) thye look like this.

Gary, I have used those and I have black and a color close to green pumpkin seed.Case is a good company the problem I have had with those Helgi's is they a bit to small and hard to rig with a hook unless you wacky rig them.They still work okay but I wish they were bigger.Helgramite's swim if that's what you want to call it with a kind of inch worm rolling unjulation, which is very hard to mimic with a bait.Most of the time they are stuck up under a rock in current.The case Helgi's are really good if you find a nice Goggle hole and then they are a deadly bait.Real Helgramites are a bitch to get on a hook they can pinch you with their butt and mouth, they will get ya on both ends The larvel stage of a Dobson fly is a little bad butt.Back in the day my grandpa would siene up crawdads, Helgramites and minnows on the Big Piney with me and we would oviously catch a ton of nice fish.That was then and this is now and I don't bait fish for bass anymore but, once my grandpa reeled in a smallish bass.When he lifted the little bass up out of the water to our amazement the fish wasn't hooked he was beeing held there by the Helgramites front pinchers.I know this sounds like me and my grandpa were smoking something on the river that day but it's true, the bass was only about a 7 inch fish. Smallie's believe it or not??????

Gary, the soft plastics I use on the river are made by an old tournament friend who started a company in Louisiana by the name of Arkie.His company has really made it big now.He makes a bunch of cool baits that work great for smallies...unintential on his part because he does not fish for smallies.The Arkie crawling fry is like crack to a smallie when presented the right way.They use to be in walmart but not anymore.Another good company for great smallie baits is V&M.They have baits like the Okie swamp bug and all of their plastics are made with pork and salt. I also have to mail order their stuff but well worth it believe me.I also buy plastics from some smaller guys online that make some really wild baits, you really have to search them forever to find them though.

[Smalliebigs]

I bought some of those last year, but didn't get around to fishing them. How do you rig them? I was thinking of either on a jig head, or texas rigged with a bullet weight.

Your a lucky man for making that purchase and your are correct Texas rig them with a 1 or a 2 offset worm hook with a black brass bullet.You only need Green Pumpkin for the color on the Arkie crawlining fry. Alot of guys I have talked to that have used the crawling fry said that it didn't produce for them like they wanted.

I always use black brass on the rivers and streams, brass clicks better than lead when it hits rocks and gravel, it might be my little goofy trait but I'm not going to stop a good thing.I also found my friends who use this bait swim it and really work the bait in.....this not what you want to do with crawling fry.It is most effective, if you ask me when you literally don't move it, let any current or stream flow move it for you.Keep your slack up but only very, very small movement of the crawling fry is needed for it to really do it's stuff. I love this bait so much I might have 100 bags of them in my garage just incase they decide to quit making them. I have had alot of people say that it is no good but thats fine with me, nobody use them they suck, I just hope my buddy Chris keeps making them.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Chief have you had the young one out yet or do you wait until school is out???

Oh yeah. Fishing is a year round job. Cold weather doesn't stop us. The big snows did though. We don't do quite as much in Jan and Feb due to doing some rabbit and squirrel hunting. And the youth turkey season is coming up which we get to hunt and fish on the same days!

[Smalliebigs]

Oh yeah. Fishing is a year round job. Cold weather doesn't stop us. The big snows did though. We don't do quite as much in Jan and Feb due to doing some rabbit and squirrel hunting. And the youth turkey season is coming up which we get to hunt and fish on the same days!

sweet!!! Ii haven't done some good rabbit hunting in a long time, now that's some fun..man I wish my dad would have had the energy to go turkey hunting and fishing on the same day your the man Chief!!!! your son is living the dream, thanks to you.

Hey, if you two ever want to hit Table Rock, pm me I have a brand new 20 foot Seaark sitting in my garage up here collecting dust!!!!

[Brian Jones]

Topwaters: My favorite is the buzzbait. Usually throw a homemade 3/8 oz. in a variety of colors. Also like fishing a bass assassin on top of the water and walking it like a spook or similar baits. I use the spit n' image on occasion and the more I read about the sammy's has got me to thinking that I need to be throwing them as well.

Spinnerbait: 3/8 and 1/2 ounce varieties with a willow leaf/colorado combination. For colors, I mainly throw my version of the sexy shad color and a "sun perch" color. Used to throw a twin spin a lot when I canoe fished more, but most of my time now days is spent in the jet boat and they have never been as productive for me on the bigger rivers as conventional spinnerbaits have.

Cranks: Unfortunately, I am one of those guys who has invested a ton of money in crankbaits and most of them have never hit the water. I throw one some in the spring and winter and usually throw a number 5 or 7 shad rap, or a model 200 or 300 bandit.

Jerkbaits: I don't throw anything but Lucky Craft 65 and 78 pointers. I was one of those guys that never believed they were worth the extra dollars until I got my rear end kicked one day by a guy throwing them. There is definitely a difference.

Jigs: Homemade 5/16 oz. ball head (Eakins) type jigs are what I throw probably 90 percent of the time I am jig fishing. Usually I tip them with a critter craw, baby brush hog, or twin tail trailer. I rarely use pork anymore as it is too aggravating in the summer when it dries up. I have also started fishing a couple different football jigs last summer and am liking them as well.

Unweighted soft plastics: Like the trick worm and fluke. Also like the senko at times as well.

Weighted Soft plastics: I throw soft plastics more than anything else. Most of the time I texas rig whatever I am throwing. But sometimes with smaller baits and especially in the winter I will thread the baits on stand up jig heads and fish them that way. I also am enjoying throwing the swim baits more and more each year. The one that works best for me is the 3 1/2 inch Bass Magic made by Lucky Strike.

[Smalliebigs]

Topwaters: My favorite is the buzzbait. Usually throw a homemade 3/8 oz. in a variety of colors. Also like fishing a bass assassin on top of the water and walking it like a spook or similar baits. I use the spit n' image on occasion and the more I read about the sammy's has got me to thinking that I need to be throwing them as well.

Spinnerbait: 3/8 and 1/2 ounce varieties with a willow leaf/colorado combination. For colors, I mainly throw my version of the sexy shad color and a "sun perch" color. Used to throw a twin spin a lot when I canoe fished more, but most of my time now days is spent in the jet boat and they have never been as productive for me on the bigger rivers as conventional spinnerbaits have.

Cranks: Unfortunately, I am one of those guys who has invested a ton of money in crankbaits and most of them have never hit the water. I throw one some in the spring and winter and usually throw a number 5 or 7 shad rap, or a model 200 or 300 bandit.

Jerkbaits: I don't throw anything but Lucky Craft 65 and 78 pointers. I was one of those guys that never believed they were worth the extra dollars until I got my rear end kicked one day by a guy throwing them. There is definitely a difference.

Jigs: Homemade 5/16 oz. ball head (Eakins) type jigs are what I throw probably 90 percent of the time I am jig fishing. Usually I tip them with a critter craw, baby brush hog, or twin tail trailer. I rarely use pork anymore as it is too aggravating in the summer when it dries up. I have also started fishing a couple different football jigs last summer and am liking them as well.

Unweighted soft plastics: Like the trick worm and fluke. Also like the senko at times as well.

Weighted Soft plastics: I throw soft plastics more than anything else. Most of the time I texas rig whatever I am throwing. But sometimes with smaller baits and especially in the winter I will thread the baits on stand up jig heads and fish them that way. I also am enjoying throwing the swim baits more and more each year. The one that works best for me is the 3 1/2 inch Bass Magic made by Lucky Strike.

Brian, I love that Luck"E"strike bait as well, I started using those last year.It took me a few times to get use to how to use them but once I did man they produce big fish it seems to me.they seem to really work on the Meramec???? mabey it's just the luck I'm having with them????That's cool that you make your own Buzz baits, they are truly a fun bait to fish.

[Chief Grey Bear]

sweet!!! Ii haven't done some good rabbit hunting in a long time, now that's some fun..man I wish my dad would have had the energy to go turkey hunting and fishing on the same day your the man Chief!!!! your son is living the dream, thanks to you.

Hey, if you two ever want to hit Table Rock, pm me I have a brand new 20 foot Seaark sitting in my garage up here collecting dust!!!!

Ha, that I what keep telling him. I am not sure at this point in time in his life, he believes me. I know that someday when he has kids, he may understand.

I just may take you up on the trip. How often do you hit the Rock??? Thinking of taking ya on a float and showing a little of the action over here.

[JGarland]

Great read and topic.

From the few times (yes actually two) I have got to go since living in MO I managed to catch them on a Storm Rattlin Thin Fin, not sure of the color but I looked online and apparently they no longer make that color, it has black back, funky darker lime green sides and an orange belly, a chug bug, and a zoom finesse worm with a 1/32 ounce unpegged bullet weight castaic choice and smokin shad colors.

Definately going to try what you more experienced river anglers use. Nice that people share information, I know some anglers in Indiana kept information like it was a top secret government file. I understand specific places maybe but techniques, colors, baits? Point is; an angler still has to know how to apply the technique and the knowledge to the specific pattern on that particular day. Thanks for contributing your knowledge on the subject.

[Wayne SW/MO]

My take on lures is pretty simple. For topwater it's a Sammy and the color is dictated by the light. I f I fish the midwater it's generally with a Baby Lucky 13 or a shallow Shad Rap, but in the fall i go to an Xrap or a Pointer. Most of my fishing is with my Jigs. My jigs are 5/16th, tied with bucktail with plastic highlights.

From there its a crapshoot that depends on my mood.

If I could figure a way to keep smallies from swallowing tubes I would use them more, but I haven't so I don't.