Building My Tacklebox

[Addicted to Creeks]

I'm so new to smallmouth, I have all of two trips under my belt. However, I took this advice for power grubs and had good luck. If you are doing any small water fishing, I had great luck with a pearl metal flake tub jig.

i am personally of the opinion that power grubs will catch every fish that swims if they are given the chance to eat it

[rps]

In the blog section of this site you will find RS Breth. His blog used to contain much about river/creek fishing, with pictures. Also search for posts by Cheif, RS Breth, Dutch, Smalliebigs, and others whose screen names will not pop into my head. Their interests and reports will be very useful to you.

My short list: a good walk the dog lure, buzz bait, white/gray flukes, coffee colored tubes, compact short arm spinner baits, a jerk bait, and 1/8 ounce jig heads for use with 4" green and smoke worms or grubs.

[Mitch f]

I think MOsmallies has a very good list for you. Smallies love crawfish!

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I think MOsmallies was peeking into my tackle boxes!

Since you are SO new to it, you may or may not know how to work various topwater lures. The easiest topwater is a buzzbait. Like MOsmallies said, 1/8 or 1/4 ounce (although I'd just go with 1/4 ounce to keep it simple) buzzbaits. Get two white and/or fluorescent yellow ones (never get just one of any lure, because you'll be sure to lose it on the first day the fish are hitting it well). Just cast them out and crank them as slow as you can and still keep them on the surface. There are little tricks to make them work better but you'll catch a lot of fish with them doing that.

Second simple lure...a deep-diving crankbait. Wiggle Wart or Norman Middle N would be my recommendation. Get two that are colored like a crawdad, and two that are colored like a baitfish. All you need there. Just cast them out and crank them in, varying your speed of retrieve.

Third simple lure...a 1/4 ounce tandem spinnerbait with willow leaf blades. Just cast it out and reel it in, varying your retrieve and rod angle to make it run anywhere from just under the surface making a bulge on the surface, to running slow and deep, and everything in between.

With those three basic lures, you can usually catch fish anytime the water temperature is 60 degrees and above, which means anytime between mid-April and mid-October, fishing from the canoe or kayak. Just cast them to any kind of cover along the banks in water deep enough to allow a fish to hide around the cover, as you drift downstream.

When you see good looking spots where you can get out and fish, that's when you will want to try the soft plastics. I really keep it simple with soft plastics. If I can't catch fish on 3.5 inch tubes in brownish or greenish colors, I usually won't catch fish on any other soft plastic anyway. But I also carry 5 inch Senkos and 5-6 inch finesse worms, along with 1/4 ounce jigs with plastic jig trailers...I like the Zoom Super Chunk Jrs. Same colors on everything...browns and greens. The closer the color of your plastic matches the bottom of the stream the better. Rig them as the others have recommended.

But if you are familiar with walk-the-dog topwaters, you should add the Super Spook Jr. or Sammy 100 to your box. And if you are familiar with Zoom Superflukes and how to work them, they should be part of your arsenal. With those lures you'll pretty much have everything covered for warm weather fishing. Cold weather...that's a different story.

[Chief Grey Bear]

So...what would you recommend? Any info would be appreciated...hooks, plastics, lures, whatever you think I should get!

Thanks guys!

Hey, it was my pleasure meeting you, your kids and your fishing buddy. My wife said I was yapping like a nerd! The nerve of her!

Anyway, eric is spot on. Build your box over a period of time. Start with a few key baits from each catogory, soft plastics, cranks, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, stick baits, and top water. Yeah, that can fill a box right there. But just get one key color to start and then build from there as you gain confedence in the bait and how to work and when to use it and where to use it.

I think we can skip a lot of the how, where and when for now. I don't think this is your first rodeo. So lets take a look at soft plastics. As you have seen, they can take up a whole isle. But to simply put it a couple is all you need to start. As has been said, flukes, tubes, worms and craws all work great in the waters of this area. I personal toss 3in craws on a standing jig head, 6in worm texas rigged, and some grubs here and there. On the craws, I seem to do better on the green pumpkin color. The 6in worm...doesn't seem to make a big difference...I have caught them on about any color you toss. I would get on pack each of the craw and tubes to start. There are many manufactures so you will just have to look to see which one catchs your eye and your budget. Same with the standup jigs or any jig.

There are a ton of cranks on the market too. I am a fan of many and carry many. But to start, again as stated, Wigglewarts are very good. I like a fire tiger or phantom craw. Rebel craws are a good choice also. Corndawg has a Rebel CrankR that is about the ugliest color of blue metal flake you have ever seen and it will produce everytime! I have a few baits that are of a chartreuse and purple that are really good producers. Remember what I told you about the water column when you start to choose a bait.

When you venture to the buzzbait and spinnerbait section, if you haven't used them before, hit the $1 bait section. Most bait shops have new bait for only a buck that you can learn on without fear of loosing some of those $5+ baits. I am a fan of the hammered willow leaf blade on the spinnerbaits and sometimes even some colored blades.And with just a couple of easy modifcations, these $1 baits will work just as well. I mean the fish doesn't know how much you paid for it.

Topwater baits are a lot of fun! Jitterbugs, crazycrawlers are couple of my favorites. I certainly don't dismiss the tiny torpedo's either. Those can be just killer!! Rember on thing about top water plugs...it dosn't matter one bit what paint scheme is on top of the plug...it is the belly that matters most. The fish can't see the top side. And don't forget the old standard Devil's horse. Made by Smithwick, it has been a producer for over a half century.

Stickbaits for smallmouth and largemouth can be very deadly. My go to is a Rebel CD 7 Gold/Black. Another guy I float with was using a Cotton Cordell bait last year that I wouldn't have thought would be very good. But wow what action it had. I really liked it and saw quite a few fish caught on it.

And any rate, if you would like to meet back up in Joplin next weekend, we can hit the plug section this time and see what we are all talking about. We can speak more of the where, when and how and what are some of the best applications.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

WOW!! Thanks for the topic request. I will have to favorite/follow this one for future reference. I am always willing to learn the basics, over and over again. Seems that that is always what works.

Keep up the good info guys. The weather's gettin warmer, wont be long, 'till summer comes back again....

[bigredbirdfan]

My favorite river/creek fishing set ups are rebel craw crankbaits and brown worms with pink tails on #3 worm hook and if need be I add a small bullet weight on my line texas style with a rubber piece at varying depths from the worm.

I prefer the worm on mud banks and banks with trees and roots.

This work especially well if there has been any recent rain activity.

The crawdad crankbaits are effective in moving water or after moving water in slack pools.

The color on these is important so I keep light brown, brown and greenish brown ones.

These are not cheap so if I get hung up with one I dive in and get them back.

I will reiterate the less is more theory.

On most float trips I take a lot of what was mentioned above and tend to really only use two to three types.

If I had to add a third bait it would be brush hogs brown and green.

Good Luck.

[Gavin]

^{Some great choices....if I had to pick only 5.....Sammy 100, Buzzbait, Zoom Fluke, Jig & Chunk, and a Tube}

[eric1978]

Okay, I'll add mine just to confuse things.

Top: Sammy or buzzbait

Mid: 3/16 spinnerbait or 4" fluke

Bottom: 1/4 jig or slider (I hate the bottom and only go there when forced to...yawn)

That's for late spring through early fall. March, April, late October and November it changes some...mostly the addition of a Wart and a Pointer. December through February is fly only.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Well don't overlook grubs. Grubs in green pumpkin, watermelon, black, and pumpkin are hard to be overall and if you throw in 1/8, 1/4 and 3/8 oz jigs you have a lot of options taking up a littl space and a little money. Drag them or swim them. You can also use the jigs with Zoom finese worms and between the two you should be good in the plastic department to start.