Inline Spinners For Winter Smallmouth - How To Please

[mic]

Thanks Al

[Mitch f]

Also for jigs I would use no lighter than 6lb test ever, and 8 most of the time for 1/8 oz or smaller. I would also reccommend a spinning rod for the tiny jigs. It's hard to throw a light jig with a baitcaster. Anything over a 1/8 oz I use a baitcaster. On a different thread Al said he was going to try a new casting rod and set up for hair jigs, I cant wait to hear how he likes it. Ihave tried several (casting rods) for lighter hair jigs but can't seem to come up with the right combination of stiffness for the hookset vs being able to cast well. It's also difficult to fish jigs if you are wading vs from a boat. The trolling motor helps you free the jig from a snag in water too deep to wade. I would suggest you start tying hair jigs yourself, it's very easy and with a relatively small initial investment you can tie jigs and combinations better than you can get from the shops. Plus it's nice sitting in front of the fireplace watching your favorite fishing show.

[Al Agnew]

Also for jigs I would use no lighter than 6lb test ever, and 8 most of the time for 1/8 oz or smaller. I would also reccomend a spinning rod for the tiny jigs. It's hard to throw a light jig with a baitcaster. Anything over a 1/8 oz I use a baitcaster. On a different thread Al said he was going to try a new casting rod and set up for hair jigs, I cant wait to hear how he likes it. Ihave tried several (casting rods) for lighter hair jigs but can't seem to come up with the right combination of stiffness for the hookset vs being able to cast well. It's also difficult to fish jigs if you are wading vs from a boat. The trolling motor helps you free the jig from a snag in water too deep to wade. I would suggest you start tying hair jigs yourself, it's very easy and with a relatively small initial investment you can tie jigs and combinations better than you can get from the shops. Plus it's nice sitting in front of the fireplace watching your favorite fishing show.

Mitch, I tried out the new rod yesterday. I was using the lighter weight jig heads that you supplied me with, think they are 1/8th ounce. Had the discontinued BPS Pro-lite Finesse reel on the rod, my usual 8 pound McCoys line. The rod was on the verge of being too stiff...I had to re-educate my thumb to release on the cast a little quicker, or the cast would be too low and short if it was an overhead cast, or off to the side and short if it was a sidearm cast. Still, once I got my thumb working, I was getting good enough distance and accuracy, with an occasional fuzz of loose line whenever I forgot and shot the cast short.

Sensitivity with the mono (or co-poly) was different from fishing with braid and spinning tackle. Rocks and logs feel "hard" with the braid. Fish feel "soft". The rocks and logs felt a little "softer" with the mono and that rod, and fooled me into thinking they were fish a couple of times. So it a different feel from my old Kistler rod, which actually felt a lot like I was fishing braid when I was fishing the mono. Once I got used to THAT...I caught several fish. No problems on hooksets with those thin wire sharp hooks.

All in all, not as good as the Kistler was, but very serviceable. I'm thinking of switching reels to one of my old Shimano Japan Scorpions, which seems to handle light lures a little better than the Pro-lite.

By the way, I've been trying Fireline Crystal on my jig fishing spinning rod. Not good. Casts well, seems to be reasonably abrasion resistant and strong enough, but looks like a thick white nylon rope attached to the jig in the super clear water we've seen so far this fall. I refuse to use a mono or fluoro leader with braid, so I guess I'm going back to the Power Pro olive colored line in 4/15 or maybe 2/10 in the clear water.

[Mitch f]

I had to re-educate my thumb to release on the cast a little quicker, or the cast would be too low and short if it was an overhead cast, or off to the side and short if it was a sidearm cast.

That's a perfect description of what I've been fighting. A rod that loads good with a light jig is usually too soft for an adequate hookset... Or it's too stiff and can't cast well. I'm tempted to get a 6 1/2 ft. ML and take it to a machine shop and have them keep cutting off 1/2" at a time until I find the combination.

I've had to re-educate my thumb so many times I think my thumb has developed Alzheimer's

[T Hood]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned spoons. A smaller spoon can give you great action falling in the water column but also allow you to retrieve quickly to get reaction strikes.

My perspective is skewed because I haven't fished this water, but I do know the smallies back home in Michigan will nail a falling spoon in a deep pool. Striker spoons with dressed hooks seem to work better than others.

[mic]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned spoons. A smaller spoon can give you great action falling in the water column but also allow you to retrieve quickly to get reaction strikes.

My perspective is skewed because I haven't fished this water, but I do know the smallies back home in Michigan will nail a falling spoon in a deep pool. Striker spoons with dressed hooks seem to work better than others.

You know I wondered about that. Are the smallies back home in a river or in a lake?

What is a striker spoon?