Smallmouth help

Hoping some of you guys can give me some tips for smallmouth fishing. I've never specifically targeted smallmouth, but I now live in a subdivision with private access to the upper Potomac river in West Virginia that has some of the best smallmouth fishing in the area. Once I get my boat finished up I'll be trying to get on these guys.

I've mostly fished for largemouth with plastics (typically carolina rigged), jigs and live bait with great success. I've, to a lesser degree, also used spinners, crankbaits and some topwater with crappy results. Hoping my largemouth experience can carry over a bit to smallmouth fishing. I also routinely fish for catfish with the standard chicken livers, hot dogs, etc.

What types of baits should I be using? Techniques? Where to look for smallmouth? Rod, reel, line? Anything you guys can throw at me would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

i use white flukes, rigged with a 1/16 lead head or a wacky worm rigged with a 1/8-1/16 lead head. or a rapala original floating jerk bait. thats it. i have a ton of lures and those three are my go tos in the shenandoah.

Thanks!!

Any luck with live bait? I've had success with shiners and crayfish for largemouth. Thinking of picking up a crayfish trap to stick in the river.

Smallies love crawdad!

Captain Ahab said:

Smallies love crawdad!

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That's what I've heard. Any tricks to catching those suckers? I've read 3" and smaller works best for smallies. Crawfish traps are cheap enough so I figured I pick one up and give it a try. I've used what I've caught while fishing, but would like to be able to get a decent mess to last half a day of fishing or so.

I love smallie fishing! They fight harder than any other fish out there.
My favorite way to catch them is on top water. Pop R's, tiny torpedoes, and buzz baits are my favorite in a river. You are going to have to learn to read the current breaks to figure out where they are feeding. My biggest fish just about always come on a jig n craw. Let the strength of the current and depth of water determine the weight of the jig you use. 1/8 to 3/8 is most commonly what I use. Black/blue or pumpkin/orange are the colors I throw. Flukes and senko's work too when you know right where the fish are. Don't forget about crankbaits either. Wiggle warts and shad raps in craw patterns.

BigTerp said:

Captain Ahab said:

Smallies love crawdad!

Click to expand...

That's what I've heard. Any tricks to catching those suckers? I've read 3" and smaller works best for smallies. Crawfish traps are cheap enough so I figured I pick one up and give it a try. I've used what I've caught while fishing, but would like to be able to get a decent mess to last half a day of fishing or so.

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Trick to a crawdad trap is to bury it to the opening so the bugs can craw in - use something with scent to attract them - liver, bacon or just some mashed up sunfish all work


Set you trap in a likely area and let it sit overnight - you should take a good flashlight and check a few areas after dark to see where the bugs are hiding out - I would start with any feeder streams and such

And I do not think you really need to worry about the size of the crawfish - they eat them all

Thanks for all the responses. Keep 'em coming!!!

I'm fortunate that I live on a part of the Potomac that is known for smallmouth and big muskie. I also have private access to this area above some really shallow/rocky areas that only guys with jets can get to when the river is running at normal depth. Looking forward to getting my boat done so I can start chasing both of these fish.

Guessing you are up near dam#4? I've had good luck from shepardstown down to mouth of monocacy with green pumpkin tubes on a 1/8 oz to a 1/4 oz jig depending on current. After they spawn chartreuse square bill cranks pick up lots of fish. In the summer white buzzbaits and silver torpedos work great on top water. IF your going to use live crawfish use big ones. The smallies in the potomac get big I've caught them trolling 6" jakes for musky. One time we were catfishing with live sunfish and I caught a 17" smallie on a 4" bluegill.

If you can get them> Hellgramites!
In the fall we fish the deeper holes with minnows, drifted on the bottom.

:twisted: The same lures you use for largies will catch the brown fish too. I also like 3 inch tubes.

In the upper James River, we've used minnows a lot. Some free lined and some rigged with a slip sinker, similar to Carolina rig. In the AM Tiny Torpedos or other top water lures.

overboard said:

If you can get them> Hellgramites!
In the fall we fish the deeper holes with minnows, drifted on the bottom.

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Hellgramites are hard to beat. Try to match the food source for that area of the river. I've had good success with 3'' grubs in the
smoke/blue metal flake in the summer. Belive it or not, a bud of mine and I floating a section of the river and when one of us hooked a smallie, the water was so clear, we could see other smallies trying to steal the lure from the hooked fish. So the one who didn't have fish on would pitch his lure near there and hook up. Many many times we both would have a fish on at the same time. Made for some great fishing fun !!

Thanks for all the tips!! Will hopefully have the chance to get after 'em here soon.

We drop shot with hellgramites on the susquehanna river in Pennsylvania for them. Case plastics makes a great hellgramites

reaction innovations smallie beaver in watermelon red on a gamakatsu football head jig. size it with the current. youll smack em.

worked on the upper james, potomac, and rappahannock. i even use them for largemouth in the chickhominy.

we tore them up saturday in the shenandoah! even caught several large mouths and a few crappie. using white flukes hooked with a jig head. i caught a tiny one on a Vixen that was as big as he was.

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=313073#p313073 said:

stevesecotec02 » May 3rd, 2013, 4:57 am[/url]"]Guessing you are up near dam#4? I've had good luck from shepardstown down to mouth of monocacy with green pumpkin tubes on a 1/8 oz to a 1/4 oz jig depending on current. After they spawn chartreuse square bill cranks pick up lots of fish. In the summer white buzzbaits and silver torpedos work great on top water. IF your going to use live crawfish use big ones. The smallies in the potomac get big I've caught them trolling 6" jakes for musky. One time we were catfishing with live sunfish and I caught a 17" smallie on a 4" bluegill.

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I'm just below dam #5. Thanks for the tips!!

Being post-spawn, nearing warmer water temps, try Bagleys crankbait or Rapala DT04. In a month, give or take, weightless wacky worms. Try Case Plastics Big Stick, gammy size 4 finesse wide gap hook.

right now=short shank finesse jigs with chunks