Warm Weather Lure Selection

[Al Agnew]

I know we've hashed and rehashed lures for stream smallmouth at different times, but at some point in the hopefully not too distant future it's going to be warm weather and the water temps are going to get above 60 and stay there, and I'm more than ready for it. So to keep from going crazy with another few days of temps in the 40s...

I've had pretty close to the same lure selection for many years now. It changes slightly depending upon water clarity, but that's about it. I carry five rods in the canoe. One will always have a topwater on it starting out. One will always have a spinnerbait starting out. One will either have a buzzbait or a crankbait. One will have either a jig and chunk or a tube. The last one will have either a soft jerkbait or a Senko type unweighted soft plastic. Other than those, I might possibly try a hard jerkbait, or my homemade Subwalk. Here is pretty much a complete list of the lures I carry:

Topwaters

Strike King Sexy Dawg

Lucky Craft Sammy, 85, 100, and 115

Lucky Craft G-Splash

Lucky Craft Gunfish, 65 and 95 sizes

Homemade popper type

Homemade walk the dog lures, one weighted to float high, another with more weight to float lower

Homemade prop bait

Small, compact homemade buzzbaits, a couple sizes of single blades and one with counterspinning double blade

Crankbaits

My homemade shallow running crank

Modified Wiggle Wart

Modified Norman Middle N

Spinnerbaits

My homemade twin spin

14th ounce tandem willow leaf

1/4th ounce single colorado blade

Other hard baits

Homemade Subwalk

Rapala X-Rap, two sizes

Lucky Craft Pointer, 78 and 100

Soft baits and jigs

Superflukes

5 inch Senkos

1/4th ounce jig with plastic chunk type trailer

3.5 inch tubes

That pretty much covers it. If the water has more than 4 feet of visibility, I'll always start out with some kind of smaller to medium walk the dog topwater. If it isn't getting any action, I'll keep it on and try it again periodically. If I'm getting strikes but not consistent hook-ups, I'll often go the the G-Splash, or the Gunfish.

In that clearer water, I'll also always be throwing my homemade twin spin in some combination of white and chartreuse, a buzzbait in the same colors, the Superfluke to start with, and a tube, the color of which will match the bottom of the river as closely as possible.

If the water is murkier, the buzzbait gets switched out for my homemade crankbait. If it isn't working, I may try a deep diver like the Wiggle Wart. I'll also try a bigger, black buzzbait. I may switch out the twin spin for one of the other spinnerbaits. I look upon the twin spin as almost entirely an upper water column lure, and the other spinnerbaits as being better when fished a little slower and deeper. The tube gets switched to a jig and chunk. Superfluke, if not getting action, will be switched to the Senko.

So, anybody else care to share their lures and when they use them?

[cReekFishin]

My list is far less expansive (I should probably branch out a little more).

I'll also start with a zara puppy if the water is clear or maybe a popper. I'm a sucker for any top water action.

My go-to is a Strike King bitsy tube in green pumpkin followed closely by a 3 inch curly tail grub in the same color. These seem to work in all water conditions.

Every now and then I'll throw a soft jerk bait. My favorite is the Big Bite jerk minnow in watermelon red ghost color. They don't seem to work as well with smallmouth as they do with largemouth, but the bites I do get seem to produce big fish (as the name of the bait says)

I just purchased the Rapala x-treme slash bait. Haven't had a chance to use it yet but hoping it produces for me this year.

[Seth]

I'm still figuring out my best baits but last year I had my best luck on the Gasconade with a bubblegum zoom trick worm, chartreuse/white war eagle spinnerbait, trigged 4" watermelon tube, 5/16oz PBJ Eakins jig with a Zoom critter craw of a similar color and a black buzzbait. My two biggest fish came on a 3/8oz green pumpkin terminator jig with a matching Zoom Super Chunk and the other came on a trigged watermelon yum dinger. Those lures didn't produce a lot of fish for me, just my two best so I didn't list them.

I'm sure my list will change as I gain more experience fishing the rivers, but I have the confidence to go catch fish in any condition with the lures I listed.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I probably use a wider selection of lures than many, and rely far less on soft plastics and jigs than many; I probably only throw the slow stuff about 10% of the time in the summer.

I've pretty much fished like this all my life, and I'm older than dirt. By this time, I've gotten to where different spots and different situations call for different lures, which is why I carry that many rods, all of them within instant reach. Say I'm fishing a stream that's very clear. My five rods have a topwater, twin spin, buzzbait, fluke, and tube. I'm covering a lot of water, floating along and fishing everything I come to. Fish are hitting the topwater very well, so that's what I'm throwing the most. But it isn't easy to work the topwater in faster water. So when I come to a riffle, I pick up the twin spin rod or the buzzbait rod, because all I have to do is cast and burn it back, no extraneous action imparted. If I come to a rootwad with a big hole scoured out around it, I may back off it a bit and pick up the tube rod to drop the tube right into the hole. If I come to a spot with a bunch of overhanging tree limbs, I'll pick up the fluke rod (it will probably be my only spinning rod) because I can easily skip a fluke way back underneath the limbs. Thing is, if the smallies are active, they'll probably hit any of those things, but lures are tools and some tools work better in a given situation than others. Of course, sometimes they ARE hitting one class of lures better than the others, and if so I'll try to fit the round peg in the square hole...I'll use the topwater even in the fast water, for instance. But most of the time, I catch fish on whatever I'm throwing, so I fish whatever lure appears to work the best in a given situation.

Another inch of snow and a predicted high of 40 today...when will topwater time ever get here?

[mjk86]

Im a big fan of the senko style baits....my fav is the 5inch watermelon red flake yum dinger. For me, overhanging limbs= weightless wacky worm. Also Ill use other various jigs, and always have a med diver crankbait (bandit 200, or flicker shad 5)

[Guest]

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[riverrat]

I carry five rigged rods with me in the summertime. I usually have tied on a 3/8 dark buzzbait, a wakebait(big fan of the Mikey Jr) or a popper, a walk the dog bait, a fluke, and a bottom bouncer for missed strikes. Even though i carry way too much arsenal, I'm such a topwater junkie that a quart size ziplock bag would suffice.

[moguy1973]

I tent to take way too much myself and I rely far too much on plastics than I should. My best smallmouth days have always come on top water or spinnerbaits it seems and I should probably just stick with those when instead I'm switching to slow plastic baits.

[Mitch f]

I always have a walk the dog bait, a fluke, and a jig tied on at all times in the summer. When the water gets more stained, a small crank bait and spinnerbait get tied on too.

[Gavin]

My selection is very similar..Walkers, buzzers, flukes, some stuff to drag and hop on the bottom if need be. The only two not mentioned..The Norman Top Dollar...It walks and does some other weird things..Works when other walkers wont occasionally. The other is a shallow suspending jerkbait...LC Flashminnow 110...It works when they are short striking flukes. Fish it in a similar manner.