Smallmouth Baits and Colors

Hey guys,

Looking for some insight. Can you guys give me your top 5-10 Smallmouth Jig/Lures and colors to go with them.

Thanks!

The answer depends on the season in which you are fishing.

Pre-spawn:
-Suspending stickbait (RC Stx/deep Shadow Rap, natural baitfish patterns)
-Square billed crankbait (KVD 1.5, natural baitfish patterns)
-Swimbaits/Swimjigs (1/8 to 3/8 oz. with Keitech paddletails, shad colors)

Spawn:
-Surface baits (small Zell Pop – now made for Booyah, natural baitfish)
-Weightless worms/Wacky worms (Senkos/Zoom Finesse Worms, natural browns)
-Tubes (natural browns)

Post-Spawn:
-Jig/Craw (natural browns)
-Tubes (see above)
-Surface baits (see above)

New Baits (to me) I’m going to invest time in the future:
-Hair Jig (1/16 oz., black)
-Neko Rig (natural browns)

I don’t do a lot of summer/fall fishing for smallies because of my musky addiction. Others would have a better handle on that.

BrianF wrote:

The answer depends on the season in which you are fishing.

Pre-spawn:
-Suspending stickbait (RC Stx/deep Shadow Rap, natural baitfish patterns)
-Square billed crankbait (KVD 1.5, natural baitfish patterns)
-Swimbaits/Swimjigs (1/8 to 3/8 oz. with Keitech paddletails, shad colors)

Spawn:
-Surface baits (small Zell Pop – now made for Booyah, natural baitfish)
-Weightless worms/Wacky worms (Senkos/Zoom Finesse Worms, natural browns)
-Tubes (natural browns)

Post-Spawn:
-Jig/Craw (natural browns)
-Tubes (see above)
-Surface baits (see above)

New Baits (to me) I’m going to invest time in the future:
-Hair Jig (1/16 oz., black)
-Neko Rig (natural browns)

I don’t do a lot of summer/fall fishing for smallies because of my musky addiction. Others would have a better handle on that.

That’s a good start. I want to build a tackle box for Smallmouth. I’m a believer in having your 5-10 baits with the right colors instead of having a tackle box full of 20-30 different jigs/colors. Odds are you won’t use 1/2-3/4 of them.

Kyle Wills wrote:

That’s a good start. I want to build a tackle box for Smallmouth. I’m a believer in having your 5-10 baits with the right colors instead of having a tackle box full of 20-30 different jigs/colors. Odds are you won’t use 1/2-3/4 of them.

X2… I’m tending with time to do more of this… picking my lures and such by trips and not having to dig through the box that day so much. I’m a believer in a line I read here some time ago, I think by Dean “better to fish the wrong bait really well, then the right one incorrectly”. Presentation… Presentation.

Pink and neon orange(hot head) x-raps have worked well for me in spring.

•Wacky worms. Kalin’s 5 inch Baby Bass in any water color. Yamasenko 5 Inch blue Pearl silver fleck (basically “white with flecks” – its outstanding in stained water and especially in muddy rivers). Both rigged weightless if in a lake and a 1/16 or 1/8 oz VMC wacky hook with weed guard in river current.
•5 inch Caffeine Shad on a 3/32 oz Owner Screw-Lock light hook. Pearl, Glacier, Baby Bass.
•Hula Grub in Chartreuse on VMC Rugby jig
•Shadow Rap in any brighter color
•Wiggle Wart in either Brown Mustard Craw, Brown Scale Craw, or Hot Tiger. Good lure for pre-spawn.
•Whooper Plopper 110 in BONE color
•Spinnerbaits in white or chartreuse. Prefer willow blades for faster retrieve speed with smallies when needed.

Small swimbaits like Keitech easy shiner in natural baitfish colors n a jighead
Smoke colored grubs
Green pumpkin tubes
X raps and pointers in almost any color, from natural to bright
Spooks and Sammys in chrome, bone, and chartreuse
Chartreuse spinnerbaits with colored double willows
Powerbait twitch tail minnows and Jackall crsstail shads on a drop shot
Wacky rigged baby bass and green pumpkin senkos. 4&5″
Black 1/8oz marabou jig
Ned Rig
Whopper plopper

I forgot a Hard Head jig with a Paca Craw or beaver bait, especially on the rivers. I’m sure I forgot a few.

Drop shot set up with plastics

Football jig with trailer. Drag it over deep points/rocks.

Deep cranks over points/rocks.

The new KVD Deep Diving jerk bait from strike king has been crushing smallness for me this year as well.

Tubes also are great smallmouth rigs. Not to mention an often overlooked big largemouth bait.