Warm Weather Lure Selection

[Terrierman]

What? No humpback blue / chrome rebel? No rebel craw crankbaits?

[fishinwrench]

I have yet to fish any bait on a Smallmouth stream that cleans up like a 5" worm on a slider head, or a tube bait, so I always have one or the other tied on.

For topwater and mid-level presentations I reach for the fly gear.

[Smallieguy87]

I catch 90% of my smallmouth on 5inch kalins grubs or 3.5-4 inch tubes. I still carry other lures though. I have plenty of 1/4oz football jigs and craw trailers. I also have some rebel craws, a few soft plastic jerk baits, a pack or two of 4inch senko style baits, and a few of the terminator titanium inline spinners in 1/4oz.

[dtbrake]

Wow alot of baits listed here i have never really given a chance. i would say that 95% of all the river fishing i do is with a gitzit and 80% of that was a 3.5 inch brown with purple flaked gitzit. i have never had a problem bringing in fish and rarely have a bad day(<10). the other 5% is a spook jr... so what size flukes are you guys throwing and senkos. i have never thrown a senko but fish flukes often at the lake. wacky worms have caught my eye and i will be throwing them alot this year. also have hardly ever thrown a crankbait/jerkbait in any situation but the river of all places geez. i guess i need to get out and fish with different people or hangout on the forums more. looks like my river bag is going to have to get a whole lot bigger.

[countryred]

Most of my smallie fishing up here is in dingier water so I can use double willow leaf spinnerbaits , square bills, and texas rigs or jigs on heavy line.

A buzzbait seems to produce a lot of strikes but with few hook ups. A few years ago, a white monsor jig tipped with a matching paca chunk did wonders.

Now down south, such as the Jacks Fork, smaller baits seem to work better. A 4" worm rigged either texas style or on a shakey head is my favorite for now.

One thing I have noticed, so far, is that wood with depth has been more important than just deep pools or boulders.

Next trip down , I plan to find out what the rebel craw crankbait bite is about as well as seeing if I can get a few topwater bites.

[Smallieguy87]

Wow alot of baits listed here i have never really given a chance. i would say that 95% of all the river fishing i do is with a gitzit and 80% of that was a 3.5 inch brown with purple flaked gitzit. i have never had a problem bringing in fish and rarely have a bad day(<10). the other 5% is a spook jr... so what size flukes are you guys throwing and senkos. i have never thrown a senko but fish flukes often at the lake. wacky worms have caught my eye and i will be throwing them alot this year. also have hardly ever thrown a crankbait/jerkbait in any situation but the river of all places geez. i guess i need to get out and fish with different people or hangout on the forums more. looks like my river bag is going to have to get a whole lot bigger.

You fish a lot like I do. I mostly fish darker tube baits with blue or purple flake sometimes copper. I've been wanting to try out a spool jr or Sammy 65 they look like a lot of fun. I normally throw just the 4inch senko in pumpkin purple or green pumpkin. I don't use fluke style baits to often but any 3-3.5 soft jerk bait I think would do it. Maybe take a look at the kietech swing impact.

[Al Agnew]

There are a lot of anglers that depend upon soft plastics fished on or near the bottom, and there is no doubt that they produce lots of fish. But I've proven to my own satisfaction that they aren't any better than the lures I fish. I never start out fishing tubes or jigs in warm weather; even though I've got one tied on a rod, it's mostly a lure of last resort for me. And if the fish aren't hitting the stuff I usually use, they usually aren't hitting tubes or jigs, either. For me, these lures are tools for fishing certain specific situations.

However, a lot of what I use is dictated by the way I cover the water. Fishing from a canoe and not bothering to get out and really concentrate on what looks like the best spots, fishing stuff more slowly close to the bottom just isn't as efficient. Basically, the more quality casts I make, the more fish I catch, and my goal is to give every fish in the river one good chance to hit. I've watched a lot of guys fish with the slower stuff on the bottom, and in my opinion they spend too much time fishing unproductive water. If you don't get a bite the first good cast to a good spot, much of the time you might as well move on. You might eventually pester a fish into taking, but in the meantime I've put my lure in front of a bunch more fish and probably caught a few. On the other hand, if you find a pod of active fish, you can catch several on a tube, while I've probably caught one and moved on.

The other thing I've noticed is that some anglers use a lot of small lures. Sammy 65? I've NEVER used a topwater that small, even on small, clear, wading size creeks. The Sammy 85 and similar topwaters are as small as I ever go, and I use lures the size of the Sammy 100 more often, and go up to the 115 if the water is murky. The lures the size of the Sammy 85 are mainly for wading size water, or exceptionally clear, marginally floatable creeks. It's the same with the fluke type lures. The Superfluke is just about the perfect size for most situations. I've tried the Superfluke Junior with very little success on good fish. It's not that small lures can't catch big fish, it's just that my experience has been that bigger lures (up to a point) catch more big fish while not catching significantly fewer smaller ones, with the added bonus of not being as attractive to sunfish so you're not yanking a longear out of a spot that got there before the 18 inch smallie could reach your lure.

[Seth]

Dragging jigs/soft plastics on the bottom seems to produce more quality fish for me. I love throwing spinnerbaits and other moving baits, but I just seem to catch small guys on those baits. If I am fun fishing, I will toss those moving baits but if it is tournament day, I will have a jig or trigged soft plastic in my hand most of the day.

[Smallieguy87]

Im wading 90% of the time since im normally fishing places like mineral fork,black river etc. I meant to say sammy 85 though they do make a 65. Since i wade as much as i do i dont have to feel rushed about covering water i have the time to break down and disect cover from ever angle i possibly can and it works very well for me. I enjoy fishing "low and slow" i find it to be a real challenge. There are days when it doesn't work as well but thats when i put on a rebel craw or wiggle wart and i can get something. Its a rare day when i cant pull one in on a grub or tube bait.

[Hog Wally]

I haven't fished a tube or soft plastic in 4 or five years. I'm just burned out on them. I usually have 3 poles tied up with cranks. If I see a lot of top water or minnows hoppin I will throw a Slugo that matches those blue colored shiners straight gold Aberdeen hook run all the way down till it sticks out its tip of tail then pull it over the string Jumps and hops just like a minnow jumping and skipping away from a bass. I caught a 4.2 lb smallie on a awesome flat last year with it