Smallies

[fishhead20]

I was up in the grand rapids area yesterday and was sight fishin smallies. they where all over. we tried just about everything we had.We tried for about 5 hours and only got 2 fish. I was just wondering when they start turning on and getting more aggresive.

Thanks

[RK]

Hiya Fishhead -

O man, if I could explain why smallies act the way they do sometimes... This will be a long post, because along with muskies, smallies are my hands-down favorite, and they're one of the most fickle, contrary fish species you'll ever encounter... Part of why I love 'em.

At this time of year, smallies can really go into a funk between periods of activity. It can be tough to get them to bite unless you get things exactly right.

Getting it 'exactly right' is where the problems start. Smallies can be as selective as trout, but they're so much more fickle and unpredictable when it comes to what they're being selective about. Trout can get selective about a particular size fly or color nymph. If you can figure it out, you're set, and there's usually a reason for it - a hatch or something.

But smallies are worse because they can be selective about stuff that has nothing to do with anything. It's totally random - at least to us (I'm sure they have their reasons. I've shouted at them trying to get it out of them, but they won't talk...) They may want a particular color and style of plastic, at a particular speed and depth, or a specific blade on a spinnerbait, or a specific crankbait at a certain speed or retrieve style.

When I know they're there, either because I can see them either with polarized glasses or with a camera, or on my electronics, or just because I know they are there from past experience there, if I can't get them to bite, I start throwing the kitchen sink at them. Start with stuff experience or history tells me should work. Might be a particular color or size grub, for example. Then start experimenting with retrieve speeds, depth, etc. Then start playing with color and size. If grubs usually work but aren't working, try a swimming worm instead. If tubes usually work but aren't, try a creature jig or carolina rig a tube.

Throughout this process you have to really pay attention to what you're doing and adjust based on how the fish react. If you get short hits, or have fish follow, they're telling you you're getting close. Make a subtle change - if you get short hits on a pumpkinseed grub, try smoke, or change from a 5 to a 3" grub. Or vice versa. But you really have to pay attention. Catching a fish and not having any idea what you were doing when it hit is a sad deal. It's like forgetting the snap count in football... On days like this I end up with torn off plastics all over my front deck from trying to get them narrowed down.

What's amazing with this is how getting things dialed in can make fish that seem totally turned off turn themselves inside out trying to get caught. Get it right, and the top of a reef can turn black with smallies. An example from this summer: my wife and I fished a smallmouth lake near our cabin. After catching a few on grubs, we marked some fish on a deeper hump, and were both drop-shotting. Based on past experience on the lake I knew one particular color (pumpkinseed) was usually good. So I gave her that color and I tried something else. She caught a few, and so did I, but it was nothing special. One here, one there. So I had her change to the same pumpkinseed plastic, but with a chartreuse tail. When i say same, I mean, same size, same brand, same everything - except the chart tail. Without moving the boat, she went from catching a fish every 10 minutes or so to very rarely having her ds rig hit bottom before it got hit. It was pretty much drop the rig in, close the bail and set the hook. When she reeled in a fish there were often 2-3 following it up. Meanwhile, I tried 3 or 4 different colors up front, including pumpkinseed, and straight chartreuse, in the same size and brand of plastic. Still one here, one there. As soon as I switched to the same color she had, I'd catch one immediately. then I'd swithc to something else to see if ANYTHING else would work. Different sizes, colors, styles - nada. They wanted that plastic and that alone. She probably outfished me 15-1. A 3/4" bit of chartreuse made that much difference.

If things are still rotten, you can try things like drop-shotting, which is getting to be a standby technique for me with smallies. It's seldom the first thing I try, but it's almost always the second. With smallies though, especially if they're off, you have to really concentrate on keeping your bait still. They can just want it hanging there. Sometimes even lifting the sinker off the bottom can spook them. Or, you can go the other way and try to play off their curiosity. Shove a piece of alka-seltzer into a tube, pitch it out, and just let it sit on the bottom. They'll swim over to see what the racket is, and just pick it off the bottom. Bang bottom with a football jig, or fish over a spot with a buzzbait, then go back through the area with a tube or grub. I've used my underwater camera as a fish caller before by banging it off the rocks, then watching smallies swim over to see what the noise was.

This is all probably one big non-answer, but the point is, with smallies, you just have to keep trying to find what their buttons are on any given day. When you're starting totally from scratch it can be a tall hill to climb. Every fish, or every short hit, follow, or roll on a bait is a clue. Just have to keep experimenting and try to narrow it down. Part of the fun, but can be absolutely, flat-out maddening sometimes.

Man I love smallies

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[fishhead20]

thanks for the tips looks like i will have to throw a lot more stuff with different styles at them next weekend.

It's crazy how just that little color change can make that big of a difference.

[SledNeck]

Caught about 100 smallies this weekend at lake vermilion

[river rat316]

so......

[Hodgie]

Well put RK!!

[smalliestalker]

My smallie fishing has always been in flowing water. I have only had a hand full of experience on smallies in lakes so I sort of feel out of the loop.

I have an opportunity to fish a lake up north this weekend which is supposed to have a good population of smallies. Here is the thing, I read an article today that said in stained lakes w/ a crawfish forage base ( which this lake is )the smallies tend to stay in water 10' or less feeding on the craws throughout the summer months. Now if this statement holds true I don't see any reason why I could turn have this be an out standing weekend. If not I could use a back up plan.

The particular lake is in fact a reservoir with quite a bit of acreage. It's max depth is around 25-30' w/ sand, gravel, boulder substrate. Water clarity is around 6'. And rusted crawfish were identified in the lake in the early 90's, which, I think, would explain the boom in the smallie population.

If anyone has any advise on a strategy for this particular type of lake I would appreciate it.

Thanks

Joe

Sorry for hijacking.

[RK]

Hey Stalker -

With a crayfish forage base, they do tend to stay up on structure a little more than the fish eaters on the lakes I fish do. Makes them easier to find - at least most of the time.

One thing with rustys - they swim more actively than native craws do. They'll actually swim along a foot or so off the bottom. So swimming a tube can work pretty well. If they're a little 'off' a drop shot 12" up can work pretty well too.

If you aren't finding them up on the rocks, start looking to the edges where rock reefs break into deep water. Rock to sand transitions can be pretty good if they're not up on top of stuff. Tubes, drop-shotting, or a football jig with a tube or craw trailer can work pretty well.

I wouldn't totally rule out the possibility that there are smallies chasing baitfish though. Even on lakes that mainly have a craw forage base, at certain times of year when baitfish are abundant, smallies can switch gears and clobber the perch or shiners. Pays to keep it in mind anyhow.

Have fun with the lake smallies. Tougher to fool than the river fish it seems. Still fun though.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm