# Deep Smallmouth



## GSPNut (Nov 15, 2009)

This is the time of year when I am rudely reminded that I need to up my Smallmouth game. After getting fat and happy on eager pre-spawn biters and then seeing fish everywhere in the flats during the spawn, the shallows are once again devoid of fish in the clear and deep lakes Northern Michigan lakes I frequent. Unfortunately, this is when I struggle. How do you guys locate fish once they’ve vacated the shallows and what baits and techniques work best in that 15-25’ zone. Thanks for any help!


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## 101thwacK (Sep 7, 2017)

Also very interested in this subject! I will say one thing I have noticed is that the first and last hour of the day I still seem to find them shallow, I assume they are coming up to feed. But just like you I typically find fishing difficult other than that narrow window. Looking forward to others answers


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## FishMichv2 (Oct 18, 2004)

GSPNut said:


> This is the time of year when I am rudely reminded that I need to up my Smallmouth game. After getting fat and happy on eager pre-spawn biters and then seeing fish everywhere in the flats during the spawn, the shallows are once again devoid of fish in the clear and deep lakes Northern Michigan lakes I frequent. Unfortunately, this is when I struggle. How do you guys locate fish once they’ve vacated the shallows and what baits and techniques work best in that 15-25’ zone. Thanks for any help!


They likely won't be too far from where they were spawning. I've been getting them on stuff I can move a little slower. For example, a lighter weight tube that sinks slower rather than eratic hopping on the bottom. Just gotta force yourself to fish a bit slower. Thats been my experience on some TC area waters anyways.


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## DRR324 (Jan 29, 2010)

The bite will be a little slow for a week or so as they recoup from spawning. Once they recover, target any off shore hump, exposed island edges where a good break line leads from the 30' stuff up to 5-6' on top. They love to hang deep all day and then hit the humps and shallow flats at dusk to feed throughout the evening. To find them during the day, focus on the deeper- but more narrow areas that lead to the flats. Drop shot rigs, creature baits on a jig head, slow rolled spinner baits are all good bets during the day. I use search type baits to find them, (rattle traps, spinner baits) once I find them, I switch to the drop shot, tube and jig to pick them up. Find one, usually plenty hanging all together...


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## GSPNut (Nov 15, 2009)

DRR324 said:


> The bite will be a little slow for a week or so as they recoup from spawning. Once they recover, target any off shore hump, exposed island edges where a good break line leads from the 30' stuff up to 5-6' on top. They love to hang deep all day and then hit the humps and shallow flats at dusk to feed throughout the evening. To find them during the day, focus on the deeper- but more narrow areas that lead to the flats. Drop shot rigs, creature baits on a jig head, slow rolled spinner baits are all good bets during the day. I use search type baits to find them, (rattle traps, spinner baits) once I find them, I switch to the drop shot, tube and jig to pick them up. Find one, usually plenty hanging all together...


Great info. Thanks


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## Stubee (May 26, 2010)

I rarely fish the early shallows & spawning bass. I later target drop offs near deeper water, say a pretty rapid drop from about 10 feet to 20. My best method for years has been a slip bobber + half a crawler on a small hook. If you find them it can be very interesting. I started drop-shotting in the same areas a few years ago and do that while waiting for a bobber to go under. I also use plain old jigs with a twister tail etc but the drop-shotting is fun.

I obviously anchor for this stuff, on the drop to about 14-15’. Watch the bobber and set it once it’s down about 2-3 feet and you’ll very rarely miss a hit and won’t deep hook ‘em. I find the fish moving to these areas well after spawn and when the surface water temp hits 75F or so. I fish a pretty big, deep and clear NLP lake.


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## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

Stubee said:


> I rarely fish the early shallows & spawning bass. I later target drop offs near deeper water, say a pretty rapid drop from about 10 feet to 20. My best method for years has been a slip bobber + half a crawler on a small hook. If you find them it can be very interesting. I started drop-shotting in the same areas a few years ago and do that while waiting for a bobber to go under. I also use plain old jigs with a twister tail etc but the drop-shotting is fun.
> 
> I obviously anchor for this stuff, on the drop to about 14-15’. Watch the bobber and set it once it’s down about 2-3 feet and you’ll very rarely miss a hit and won’t deep hook ‘em. I find the fish moving to these areas well after spawn and when the surface water temp hits 75F or so. I fish a pretty big, deep and clear NLP lake.


Have you tried a circle hook under a bobber? I’ve had good luck fishing shiners under a bobber on a circle hook for largemouth. Just reel in till it’s tight, and fish on, an no hooks down the gullet. Really gets rid of the guess work of when your line will be tight enough for a traditional hook set.


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## mbirdsley (Jan 12, 2012)

I caught a small mouth today guarding a bed on the Saginaw bay. He may have been legal size. Seems late 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

mbirdsley said:


> I caught a small mouth today guarding a bed on the Saginaw bay. He may have been legal size. Seems late
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Not too late. Lots of bedfish to be had around the state still. Lake st clair opens the small mouth season this week because of bedding late. There were plenty of fish in beds. Males will protect the bed 10 days after they spawn.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

GSPNut said:


> This is the time of year when I am rudely reminded that I need to up my Smallmouth game. After getting fat and happy on eager pre-spawn biters and then seeing fish everywhere in the flats during the spawn, the shallows are once again devoid of fish in the clear and deep lakes Northern Michigan lakes I frequent. Unfortunately, this is when I struggle. How do you guys locate fish once they’ve vacated the shallows and what baits and techniques work best in that 15-25’ zone. Thanks for any help!


If you have imaging on your fish sonar, use it to locate isolated rocks or wood in deep water clear lakes. An example is I locate big rocks or wood structure on bottom. Depths may be 30-50 fow. Tube jigs, swim baits or blade baits all work well here. Cast swim jigs or tube jigs until they hit bottom. Long casts leaving alot of slack so bait drops straight down and not pendulum toward the boat. Once it hits bottom, pop the bait and let it drop. Pop it and let it drop. Continue this to the boat. Same exact method with the blade bait. Your hook up will come in the pop or jerk. The fish pick it up on the drop and you automatically set the hook on the next swing popping the bait. You may need to move around before locating fish but this is a tried and true method I use to hook nice deep water Smallies. Grass on bottom is another great place. Patches of grass in otherwise Sandy bottom is another magnet for Smallmouth. Rocks, wood or scattered grass


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## Slimshady (Apr 4, 2002)

I recommend watching the Major League Fishing events that happened up in Alpena. The main guys were up there twice and the Selects were up there once as well. I think both times they were there in August. You can find all of them on www.myoutdoortv.com. The subscription is $9.99 per month, but the first month is free. 2014 Summit Cup, 2017 Challenge Selects & 2018 Summit Cup. 

We go up north every year around that same time and fish very similar lakes, so I learned a ton by watching those events. They are fishing the lakes for the first time (generally) and they don't know where they are going until that morning, so they have to figure them out real-time, just like we do. 

In a nut-shell, I learned that early in the day, top-water can be amazing, especially on those hot, muggy days. Later in the day, there are still relatively shallow (8-12 fow) fish to be had in most of the lakes, but you have to find the weed-edges. On the windy or cloudy days, spinnerbaits or square-bills did well. There are also lots of deep fish, and most of those were caught on drop-shots or tubes.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

Slimshady said:


> I recommend watching the Major League Fishing events that happened up in Alpena. The main guys were up there twice and the Selects were up there once as well. I think both times they were there in August. You can find all of them on www.myoutdoortv.com. The subscription is $9.99 per month, but the first month is free. 2014 Summit Cup, 2017 Challenge Selects & 2018 Summit Cup.
> 
> We go up north every year around that same time and fish very similar lakes, so I learned a ton by watching those events. They are fishing the lakes for the first time (generally) and they don't know where they are going until that morning, so they have to figure them out real-time, just like we do.
> 
> In a nut-shell, I learned that early in the day, top-water can be amazing, especially on those hot, muggy days. Later in the day, there are still relatively shallow (8-12 fow) fish to be had in most of the lakes, but you have to find the weed-edges. On the windy or cloudy days, spinnerbaits or square-bills did well. There are also lots of deep fish, and most of those were caught on drop-shots or tubes.


Most of those Smallmouth lakes in the Alpena area aren't very deep. Relatively speaking that is. 25' max. Beaver is deep 75' but Long and Grand are not. Hubbard is the deepest approaching 90'. Winyah is under 30 barely. Those 5 are about the only lakes for Smallmouth in that region besides Thunder Bay (Huron). Good advice tho on top water early also late but in shallower water. I do my best in 8-14 fow on all those bodies. Lake Huron being a different animal. All depends on the year. Some years the fish stay shallow all season. Beaver is tough as heck to find fish. Long and Hubbard are about the best two for me.


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## Slimshady (Apr 4, 2002)

Ironically, the one with the best top-water bite was Hubbard (in the videos anyway). The lakes that I generally fish up there range from super deep and clear to shallower and somewhat stained and everything in-between. Walloon Lake, Crooked Lake, Burt, Paradise Lake, Round Lake, Douglas, Little Traverse Bay, etc. Parts of Crooked are like Winyah, other parts are like Long. Burt is more like Hubbard. Douglas is deep, yet with tanic colored water. Lake Paradise is like nothing I have ever seen before with all of the massive weed-beds choking things off. It is certainly not "one size fits all", that's for sure. I try to take something away from each location and then try to find areas or situations that match. So far it has worked pretty well, but it can be hit & miss up there, depending on the weather and timing. One year I was smoking giant smallies on Sexy Dawg Jr's and Poppers in several lakes up there. The next year, it was much cooler and windier and I never had a sniff on top. Even one day to the next it can change dramatically. Last year I had one day where I caught 15 or 16 bass in about 20 casts over the same small rock pile in 3-4 FOW right at sun-up. The next morning I took my son with me and we caught 1 at that spot. The weather was about the same, so who knows why it changed.


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## Slimshady (Apr 4, 2002)

Got this 5 lb'er on a Sexy Dawg Jr. last year up there in about 3 fow near some reeds on a rocky point:


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

Slimshady said:


> Ironically, the one with the best top-water bite was Hubbard (in the videos anyway). The lakes that I generally fish up there range from super deep and clear to shallower and somewhat stained and everything in-between. Walloon Lake, Crooked Lake, Burt, Paradise Lake, Round Lake, Douglas, Little Traverse Bay, etc. Parts of Crooked are like Winyah, other parts are like Long. Burt is more like Hubbard. Douglas is deep, yet with tanic colored water. Lake Paradise is like nothing I have ever seen before with all of the massive weed-beds choking things off. It is certainly not "one size fits all", that's for sure. I try to take something away from each location and then try to find areas or situations that match. So far it has worked pretty well, but it can be hit & miss up there, depending on the weather and timing. One year I was smoking giant smallies on Sexy Dawg Jr's and Poppers in several lakes up there. The next year, it was much cooler and windier and I never had a sniff on top.


The traverse area is another story. Tons of lakes little and big. All have good Smallmouth fishing. You may have been referring to little traverse lake when you mentioned little traverse bay. That lake is small but a powerhouse Smallmouth fishery at times. Can be tough at times also like the Glen lake chain. Spring and fall is really the best time ultimately for big fish.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

Burt and Mullet are the best place IMO to get into the 6+ lb fish. I've seen fish near 8 lbs caught personally. It's no wonder the latest state record came from that chain.


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## jd4223 (Feb 12, 2012)

When the bass go deep in the summer I use a 3/8oz or 1/2oz blade bait. Just cast it out let it sink to bottom and yo-yo it back to the boat. If bass are suspended then just count the bait down to what ever depth the fish are marked at on the depth finder and jig the blade bait back to the boat. You can even park the boat over the suspended fish and vertical jig the blade bait. Gold color then silver color are my top 2 choices. My favorite blade bait is made by Johnson. Rapala has come out with a new blade bait 1/2oz. At $10 a piece I'll pass and spend less than $4 for a Johnson blade bait.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

jd4223 said:


> When the bass go deep in the summer I use a 3/8oz or 1/2oz blade bait. Just cast it out let it sink to bottom and yo-yo it back to the boat. If bass are suspended then just count the bait down to what ever depth the fish are marked at on the depth finder and jig the blade bait back to the boat. You can even park the boat over the suspended fish and vertical jig the blade bait. Gold color then silver color are my top 2 choices. My favorite blade bait is made by Johnson. Rapala has come out with a new blade bait 1/2oz. At $10 a piece I'll pass and spend less than $4 for a Johnson blade bait.


Yep I just picked up 8 of the V Rap's. Gonna be interesting to see how they work. My favorites are the River2Sea glassy vibe 65. Very effective blade type bait. Looks realistic more so than most blade baits. Bad part is when catching alot of fish, the paint wears off it fast.


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## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

Slimshady said:


> Ironically, the one with the best top-water bite was Hubbard (in the videos anyway). The lakes that I generally fish up there range from super deep and clear to shallower and somewhat stained and everything in-between. Walloon Lake, Crooked Lake, Burt, Paradise Lake, Round Lake, Douglas, Little Traverse Bay, etc. Parts of Crooked are like Winyah, other parts are like Long. Burt is more like Hubbard. Douglas is deep, yet with tanic colored water. Lake Paradise is like nothing I have ever seen before with all of the massive weed-beds choking things off. It is certainly not "one size fits all", that's for sure. I try to take something away from each location and then try to find areas or situations that match. So far it has worked pretty well, but it can be hit & miss up there, depending on the weather and timing. One year I was smoking giant smallies on Sexy Dawg Jr's and Poppers in several lakes up there. The next year, it was much cooler and windier and I never had a sniff on top. Even one day to the next it can change dramatically. Last year I had one day where I caught 15 or 16 bass in about 20 casts over the same small rock pile in 3-4 FOW right at sun-up. The next morning I took my son with me and we caught 1 at that spot. The weather was about the same, so who knows why it changed.


One thing I try to do on a fishing vacation trip is never fish the same water two days in a row. I like to rotate through spots every other day. That seems to give enough time for the fish to either recover and hit the same presentations again, or give time for new fish to move in that haven’t seen those same lures recently. This works great on bigger lakes, but not to great on smaller lakes where you can cover the whole thing in a day.


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## Slimshady (Apr 4, 2002)

johnIV said:


> The traverse area is another story. Tons of lakes little and big. All have good Smallmouth fishing. You may have been referring to little traverse lake when you mentioned little traverse bay. That lake is small but a powerhouse Smallmouth fishery at times. Can be tough at times also like the Glen lake chain. Spring and fall is really the best time ultimately for big fish.


No, I meant Little Traverse Bay. We stay at Boyne Highlands when we go up, so I will sometimes launch at Petoskey and fish around Bay Harbor if the wind is favorable for it. However, I may have to check out Little Traverse Lake. Never heard of it.

Never mind, I just looked it up and it would be a pretty long drive from the Highlands.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

Slimshady said:


> No, I meant Little Traverse Bay. We stay at Boyne Highlands when we go up, so I will sometimes launch at Petoskey and fish around Bay Harbor if the wind is favorable for it. However, I may have to check out Little Traverse Lake. Never heard of it.
> 
> Never mind, I just looked it up and it would be a pretty long drive from the Highlands.


Never heard of little traverse bay. We're even. I'll have to look IT up.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

johnIV said:


> Never heard of little traverse bay. We're even. I'll have to look IT up.


Interesting. Petoskey sits on it. Never fished that far north on Lake Michigan.


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## Slimshady (Apr 4, 2002)

johnIV said:


> Burt and Mullet are the best place IMO to get into the 6+ lb fish. I've seen fish near 8 lbs caught personally. It's no wonder the latest state record came from that chain.


That could be, however, I have yet to catch a fish on Burt, and I haven't made it to Mullet yet. I only went to Burt once, but it was a total bust. We never even saw a fish of any kind. No blue-gills, no bass, nothing. We launched at Maple Bay Ramp and fished mainly the NW part of the lake. It was pretty windy that day from the NE, so we couldn't really venture all that far. I know there are huge fish in that lake, but I don't have a clue how to find them or catch them.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

Slimshady said:


> That could be, however, I have yet to catch a fish on Burt, and I haven't made it to Mullet yet. I only went to Burt once, but it was a total bust. We never even saw a fish of any kind. No blue-gills, no bass, nothing. We launched at Maple Bay Ramp and fished mainly the NW part of the lake. It was pretty windy that day from the NE, so we couldn't really venture all that far. I know there are huge fish in that lake, but I don't have a clue how to find them or catch them.


Summer can be a challenge. Spring/fall are top seasons to get fish of any size. Otherwise knowing where rock piles are or points with fish on them are year round.


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## jd4223 (Feb 12, 2012)

johnIV said:


> Yep I just picked up 8 of the V Rap's. Gonna be interesting to see how they work. My favorites are the River2Sea glassy vibe 65. Very effective blade type bait. Looks realistic more so than most blade baits. Bad part is when catching alot of fish, the paint wears off it fast.


When you fish the new Rapala give us a report on the performance of the bait. I want to know if it's worth $10. If the bait is a success hopefully Rapala will come out with lighter weights at a reduced price.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

jd4223 said:


> When you fish the new Rapala give us a report on the performance of the bait. I want to know if it's worth $10. If the bait is a success hopefully Rapala will come out with lighter weights at a reduced price.


Will do. Go to bass or shops. I think they were like 7.00 +/-.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Slimshady said:


> That could be, however, I have yet to catch a fish on Burt, and I haven't made it to Mullet yet. I only went to Burt once, but it was a total bust. We never even saw a fish of any kind. No blue-gills, no bass, nothing. We launched at Maple Bay Ramp and fished mainly the NW part of the lake. It was pretty windy that day from the NE, so we couldn't really venture all that far. I know there are huge fish in that lake, but I don't have a clue how to find them or catch them.


You have to hit burt at the right time for bed fishing. It can ve incredible. You will see mark zona and vandam hanging around lake that time of year too. A few other pros like scott dobson. 

Once the spawn is over the fish disappear onburt. I have to believe they go ultra deep like they do on charlevoix.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Slimshady said:


> I recommend watching the Major League Fishing events that happened up in Alpena. The main guys were up there twice and the Selects were up there once as well. I think both times they were there in August. You can find all of them on www.myoutdoortv.com. The subscription is $9.99 per month, but the first month is free. 2014 Summit Cup, 2017 Challenge Selects & 2018 Summit Cup.
> 
> We go up north every year around that same time and fish very similar lakes, so I learned a ton by watching those events. They are fishing the lakes for the first time (generally) and they don't know where they are going until that morning, so they have to figure them out real-time, just like we do.
> 
> In a nut-shell, I learned that early in the day, top-water can be amazing, especially on those hot, muggy days. Later in the day, there are still relatively shallow (8-12 fow) fish to be had in most of the lakes, but you have to find the weed-edges. On the windy or cloudy days, spinnerbaits or square-bills did well. There are also lots of deep fish, and most of those were caught on drop-shots or tubes.


One other good source is mark zona. He offers alot of short youtbe clips with northen mixhigan smallmouth advice. He has a pretty good tip about swing head/wobble head presentations for lakes that have sand to rock transition that would be great for long or grand lake.


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

johnIV said:


> The traverse area is another story. Tons of lakes little and big. All have good Smallmouth fishing. You may have been referring to little traverse lake when you mentioned little traverse bay. That lake is small but a powerhouse Smallmouth fishery at times. Can be tough at times also like the Glen lake chain. Spring and fall is really the best time ultimately for big fish.


Torch has some real toads. Mid day we do best with 3-5" saltwater jigging spoons at the base of the primary drop off into 25-35' of water. Fish like inside and outside turns in the break line as opposed to long straight breaks.


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## Slimshady (Apr 4, 2002)

Interesting. What advantages do you see with spoons vs blade baits or drop-shots?


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

Slimshady said:


> Interesting. What advantages do you see with spoons vs blade baits or drop-shots?


For me personally large jigging spoons throw much more flash. Clear water presentations don't require big spoons but they still help if fish are not in an area.


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Slimshady said:


> Interesting. What advantages do you see with spoons vs blade baits or drop-shots?


Jigging spoons, especially with a brass worm rattle superglued to them call in fish from a long ways off, can be worked faster, and seem to turn on neutral fish better for me.


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

One thing of note, if you bang the spoon into the bottom, then leave it lay there forever, like 10 seconds(seems like forever) it will often get hammered the second you lift it back off the botton. Works great when you know there are fish around that are reluctant.


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## Slimshady (Apr 4, 2002)

ESOX said:


> One thing of note, if you bang the spoon into the bottom, then leave it lay there forever, like 10 seconds(seems like forever) it will often get hammered the second you lift it back off the botton. Works great when you know there are fish around that are reluctant.


Thanks for the info. I am wondering if they would react the same way to blade-baits or even heavy rattle-traps, only because I already own those and would have to buy the spoons.


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Slimshady said:


> Thanks for the info. I am wondering if they would react the same way to blade-baits or even heavy rattle-traps, only because I already own those and would have to buy the spoons.


I'm sure it would. First time I discovered this was back in the mid 70's fishing around Walpole with my buddies. We were at the top of the Basset Channel fishing for pike. I made a long cast with a 3/4oz Daredevle and I put my rod down to imbibe in the combustible that was going around. A number of seconds later I picked up my rod, lifted the spoon off the bottom and it was HAMMERED by my first ever 6#+ smallie.
Leaving things lay on the bottom has worked great for me ever since.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

Late fall those spoons work well jigging for Smallmouth in cold clear deep water lakes. Lake Erie has delivered some real nice Smallmouth during fall. 20-30 fow is where they head late in October/November. Just before winter they are feeding heavily and those big spoons work well. I say big meaning 3.5-4" for me. Hammered chrome and gold spoons worked best at that time.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

ESOX said:


> I'm sure it would. First time I discovered this was back in the mid 70's fishing around Walpole with my buddies. We were at the top of the Basset Channel fishing for pike. I made a long cast with a 3/4oz Daredevle and I put my rod down to imbibe in the combustible that was going around. A number of seconds later I picked up my rod, lifted the spoon off the bottom and it was HAMMERED by my first ever 6#+ smallie.
> Leaving things lay on the bottom has worked great for me ever since.


Sometimes fishing a ned rig the same way has the exact same effect. Saw some cool underwater footage once. Those smallmouth will get finicky and dropping it down and leaving it still tends to make them curious. They will often immediately swim over and just sit there and watch. A slight pick up on the line and they slurp it in. Different bait than you are describing but the presentation has the same effect when you deadstick it awhile.


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## Lightfoot (Feb 18, 2018)

I had a great 4th of July weekend on smallies that were holding in 2-5 feet of water with nothing more than a split shot in front of a 4" rubber worm. There isn't a lot of deep water and surface temp was 78.5. You had to watch your line as grabs were very subtle with only a few taps all trip.


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## Slimshady (Apr 4, 2002)

DirtySteve said:


> Sometimes fishing a ned rig the same way has the exact same effect. Saw some cool underwater footage once. Those smallmouth will get finicky and dropping it down and leaving it still tends to make them curious. They will often immediately swim over and just sit there and watch. A slight pick up on the line and they slurp it in. Different bait than you are describing but the presentation has the same effect when you deadstick it awhile.


I believe it, but it is so hard to have that kind of patience, especially if you aren't sure they are down there. I mark lots of fish on the graph, but hard to know if they are carp or bass. 

I had a similar thing happen this past weekend, only it was on top vs on the bottom. I had seen giant smallies coming to the surface slurping up mayflies while we were casting jerk-baits and cranks. I decided to put on a popper, even though it was pretty wavy out. After about 10 casts without a blow-up, I noticed a large bass following it in. I twitched it a couple times, and the bass swam-away. On the next cast, I saw another one hanging out under my bait, so I just let it sit there for about 10-15 seconds. Finally, that bass came up and smashed it. Unfortunately, I figured it out when we were already past our target quitting time, so that was literally my last cast.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Slimshady said:


> I believe it, but it is so hard to have that kind of patience, especially if you aren't sure they are down there. I mark lots of fish on the graph, but hard to know if they are carp or bass.
> 
> I had a similar thing happen this past weekend, only it was on top vs on the bottom. I had seen giant smallies coming to the surface slurping up mayflies while we were casting jerk-baits and cranks. I decided to put on a popper, even though it was pretty wavy out. After about 10 casts without a blow-up, I noticed a large bass following it in. I twitched it a couple times, and the bass swam-away. On the next cast, I saw another one hanging out under my bait, so I just let it sit there for about 10-15 seconds. Finally, that bass came up and smashed it. Unfortunately, I figured it out when we were already past our target quitting time, so that was literally my last cast.


One trick i learned if you dont have the patience for a ned rig..... how ever you are fishing and catching them have a ned rig handy on a spinning rod. Afteryou net your fish immediately drop the ned rig down with bail open before you begin removing the fish from the net and unhooking. This works especially well if you like to weigh your fosh or take a picture etc... release the fish then pick up on your spinning rod with the ned rig. The technique works well cause often there are more where you catch one. Also catching one will sometimes fire them up and get them eating.


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