Hey all,
Going to target the bronzebacks this spring and I know little about the lures and such.
If ya'll could give me an idea of what gear to begin accumulating, it'd much appreciated. If ya could, include wieght and hook sizes. I'm a fly guy gone gear
Thanks in advance,
Larry

Think Crawdad's. Jigs with single or twin tail grubs in brown,green,smoke or pumpkinseed. I also like crankbaits in the same kind of color's. Find an area with sand or gravel for the bottom and your on your way. They usually won't be found in weedbeds or near soft bottoms.

Weight sizes will differ with depth. An assortment of 1/8 - 3/8oz will cover almost any situation. 3/16oz is probably the best all-around size.

I don't know where you'll be fishing, but the above advice is pretty good for most situations. If you're fishing on the east side of the state, you can pretty much cover the bases with the above, but you NEED to add some topwater baits as well. I like smallish minnow lures such as the Rapala and Bomber minnows. The 15A Bomber is a basic tool. Clown is a good color as is most of the chrome or insert colors. You'll also want to carry some poppers, such as Rebel's Pop-R in a few finishes.

Crankbaits are a necessary item as well. Crawdad finishes are a staple, but you'll also need some in chartreuse, and you'll probably end up throwing that color the most. However, I've had really good luck with silver and black, a deep red crawdad and perch colors as well. The 1/4-ounce Hot Lips in bluegill perch is a great crankbait for smallies, and so is the same in clearwater flash and fire tiger. Also look at Excalibur's Fat Free Shad series in the smaller sizes-- not because smallies only eat small baits (which isn't necessarily true) but because of their running depth. Worden's also has some crankbaits that look pretty good in their Timber Tiger series.

I really love to fish with soft plastics rigged on jigheads. You can catch smallies most of the year on them. You need a larger selection, though, than you might think. I keep heads from 1/16 to 1/2 ounce and use them in various depths and conditions. If you're really serious about fishing with jigheads, you'll probably end up casting your own because of the expense. If you fish leadheads in the right places, you'll lose a bunch during the course of a year.

Round-head jigs are great, but football heads are even better in rocks and dragging on sand. You can buy molds for them, and that is what I did because I could pour mine with larger hooks-- I really like VMC's jig hook which isn't available any more-- and you can also choose the finish you want. Go with bronze or black nickel and avoid the gold-plated hooks.

Grubs are the mainstay of most smallmouth fishermen, but tubes-- Yum's Garret Mega Tube in the smaller size is now my favorite-- and four-inch ringworms work well rigged on jigheads (you'd probably have to Texas-rig them in weeds and wood). When choosing baits, the crawdad and perch colors are good, but you'll find some dark smoke colors better. And here's a wild card-- smallies seem to love shocking pink. White and pink is a good grub color as is chartreuse.

If I was to put together a starter kit for smallies, I'd pick a couple of Pop-R's in just about any finish, a few Bomber 15As (clown, silver-black, gold-black) and a couple of Rapala minnows in perch finish. Next I would add a few Hot Lips, maybe a couple Norman Little Ns, a couple of 6A Bombers in fire tiger, and a collection of leadheads with ringworms, tubes and a few grubs.

I might also add a few soft plastic jerkbaits. And maybe a couple of buzzbaits, and spinnerbaits, and some jigging spoons.... well, you get the idea. If you pick everything you could use, you'll end up dropping a bunch of money.

Sorry to be so long winded, but I like fishing for smallmouth, and I know you'll have fun.

Good luck,

Keith

Thanks for the input guys
My lakes of interest will be in Pierce Co.. Steilacoom,Spanaway, and American Lakes (in that order).
What'd be a good time to begin goin' after them?
Larry

Larry--

I've got little experience with smallmouth on the west side of the state or in natural lakes, for that matter. On the east side, though, you can catch smallies a lot earlier than you might think.

The key is water temperature. While most folks think of bass, even smallmouth, as warm water fish, smallies are a lot more active a lot earlier than I thought possible.

I was turned on to a great approach by a friend who worked for Berkley and was an avid smallmouth fanatic.

Smallies go on a great crankbait bite very early. It's weird because you won't catch them on tubes, grubs or worms, but they will hit a small crankbait.

So here's what my friend told me to do: Get some small N's and Baby N's made by Norman lures. Take a long spinning rod (I use a 7-footer) and a fairly large reel. Load the reel with Berkley XT in six pound test. With this rod and reel setup, you can cast a mile, and the thin line lets the bait run deep. Then head out for rocky-gravelly banks close to a spawning area.

And that's it. The coldest water I caught smallmouth in was 37 degrees, and that was in Lake Roosevelt. That day I caught something like four or five smallies on the 1/4-ounce Hot Lips plus several big trout. I had one bite on soft plastics, and it was a very soft bite. The smallies just hammered the cranks.

My guess is that you can go out now and start prospecting for fish with this rig. An added bonus is that many of the weeds are down, so you're less likely to get hung on junk than later in the year.

Another thing you might try is the float-n-fly technique that is pretty popular for winter smallmouth in the Mid South. You can probably do a google search and come up with a lot of info.

Good luck,

Keith

steelworker,
for smallmouth on the clearwater river in idaho, i would use kalins grubs 5', in green pepper, browns, and also rapala crawdad colored fat raps, kalins allways seemed to produce real well, also, if your fishing a river that has resident trout and or stealhead smolts, take a floating "trout" looking rapala and jus twitch it on the surface..ive caught 17", 16" 15" SMALLIES USING THIS very method, sorry bout the caps, i cut my finger and i dont want to have to retype..well, if you ever find some good smallie fishing, hook me up.lol...

http://www.basspro-shops.com/

Check out Bass Pro and sears for "Bass kit" in their search criteria they have numerous little kits full of soft plastics and such. I stock up every year for largemouth.

~MATT