catching smallmouth 16'-24' deep

[wippersnpr]

What lures and techniques do you use to catch smallmouth that are deep? I've got the shallow stuff down but what kinds of lures do you use to catch them when they are 20' down in the water column? I know I could slip bobber fish with a jig and a leech, but I would like to know some artificial bate combos that would work for this purpose. What have you tried that really works well for this type of situation?

[fishcast]

I haven't fished smallmouth a lot in lakes, but on one I did real well on a really clear lake fishing mostly around 20-30 fow. I used mostly 1/4 oz. mushroom head jigs with grubs. I would make a real long cast, wait for it to hit bottom, then slowly swim and jig it back. Also did well with jigheads up to 3/8 oz with tubes and hopping and dragging them back. Eventually once we found some fish it seemed most productive to just drift the areas we had been catching fish with heavy jigheads and plastics like the grubs and tubes and also jerkbaits.

However, in a couple cases we caught fish we way up in the water column, swimming in plastics and also using x-raps, not sure if they were coming up off the bottom for them, or if they were suspending.

Next time I fish a lake like that I might try out carolina rigs or dropshot rigs too.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Jig worm... Deep cranks... Dropshot... Carolina Rig... all would be what I would look for in that situation... Depending on bottom content of coarse.. at times, if the weather allows.. those fish will still come up and hit topwater too believe it or not.

[Lunker]

You said "20 ft down in the water column". Does this mean they are suspended or are you referring to fish still relating to the bottom? If on the bottom or deep structure/weeds, jigs and tubes and dropshotting are great, though I will say I don't fish deep cranks well so that's why I don't mention that. If they are suspended over structure or around baitfish schools I would think more cranks and suspending jerkbaits would be the way to go.

[RK]

Hiya -

As several others have pointed out - depends on whether they're bottom-oriented at that depth, or that far down over open water...

For bottom-oriented fish, I guess my choice would depend of if they're concentrated on a specific spot like a rock pile or break, or spread out over a bigger area. If they're sitting tight to a spot, hard to beat a drop shot rig. Or can cast a tube or grub to the spot (sometimes have to feed the jig line as it drops to get it right on the spot). Vertical jigging a tube or something like a Power Minnow on a jighead works awfully well too. If they're more spread out (sometimes they scatter out over deep gravel or rubble flats or sand flats with scattered boulders) a football head with a tube or creature is a good option. My first choice would maybe be a Carolina rig though. Very overlooked for smallies I think. You can fish them pretty fast for a soft plastic, and the noise can really call smallies in from a ways away. A C-rig with a floating tube is actually one of the few bottom-bumping presentations that can get a suspended smallie to come *down* for a bait.

If the fish are suspended, and fairly deep, vertical jigging over them with something like a Power Minnow, counting down a grub and swimming it, or sweep trolling something like a Deep Down Husky [jerk-bait] or Deep X-Rap can work pretty well. Vertical jig if they're balled up tight, or troll if they're spread out (which they seem to be more often than not...). Another good trolling option is to just drag a jigworm or Power Minnow...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm