calling river anglers - s/m

[Loggerhead Mike]

We got a first time local smallie tournament this sat from 8 to 3. Its on the lower portion of our river (little tennesse). i always fish the section above the ****, and havent been down river in about 2 years. its like day and night between the 2

so heres my question. What would yall use for smallies

The river is about 50 + yds wide, very rocky ranging from 1 to 5ft deep with some deep calm holes here and there usually w/ no structure. it is swift at parts and probably going to be around 50deg. if the rain stays clear of us it will be very clear, or if we get the rain this thurs that there calling for it will be partly murkey

you can use artificial or live bait. i went yesterday w/ a white jerkbait and they didnt want anything to do with it. did catch a small brown off a panther martin. Ive only fished live bait (worms crawdads minners) with luck out there

so what would yall do. theres going to be a good payout and i certainly could use the cash

 

[Captain Ahab]

Bucket of big crayfish

 

[russ010]

You can't go wrong with a shakey head with a roboworm on it... those things will catch any fish in almost any situation.

I would also try maybe jigs in the rocks.. I've been tearing them up around here lately on those, but I'm fishing reservoirs and not river systems, but shouldn't be that different. I saw an old ESPN Bassmaster Classic last night where Alton Jones was using a black/blue jig with a blue craw as a trailer, and he was pulling some nice ones off rocks.

Drop Shotting is also another smallie technique that works well.. If you fish them, put your hook about 8-18" above your weight and you can fish it just like a crankbait... I've used this technique as a search bait, and when I catch them, I'll go over to a jig and then a worm to see if I can pull anymore out.

As far as colors... you can't go wrong with Green Pumpkin. If you can find out what color the crawdads are, you'll want to stay close to those colors.

 

[Brine]

Bucket of big crayfish

All you should need.

 

[mr.fish]

Tubes, tubes, and more tubes. T-rigged or with a jig head. From what you explained your river sounds very similiar to the one I fish. #1 bait to mimic a crayfish, a smallies main forage food.

 

[jkbirocz]

I agree with all of the above. Tubes and worm/craw imitators on shakeyheads are my go to baits in creeks and rivers. A few topwater and minnow baits should also be in your bag. Since you can use live bait, I would take advantage of that too.

Good luck, I hope you win some cash

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

thanks for the input fellers!

im going to fish the river afterwork for the following day's and see what works. i baited my crawdad trap last nite so hopefully ill have a dozen plus by saturday

the best place to fish anywhere on the river is rite below the dam. you can usually catch a dozen 1.5-2lb bass in a hour there. i was planning on high tailing it straight there but this last week ive heard several people talking about how they were going to head straight there and slay um... sooo, i think me and a few buddys are going to hit it friday after work untill 10 or 11pm, and haul all the bass we catch way down river :wink:

its no serious die hard tournament angler tournament by anymeans. a new (and only) baitshop just opened and i think he's just trying to get his name out. its more than likely just going to be abunch of good'ole boys w/ nitecrawlers and minnows - i hope atleast [-o<

thanks again!

 

[whj812]

haul all the bass we catch way down river

[-X [-X Dont be caging them bass up now... Thats not fair play

Jking!

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

lol hmmm. if only i had one big enough... naaw got to many friends fishing it too to even think about cheating, but 10 minutes of fishing that hole equals about 2 days of fishing the rest of the river. they just love that fresh water comming off the spillway

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

well yesterday was a success in finding a good hole. ended up with a nice cat, dink s/m, a keeper sm (only around a lb but 12" long), and a ton of rockbass. Where i was at the river flows too fast for the tubes and dropshotting. I did see a LUNKER tournament winner s/m chase a baitfish nearly all the way onto the bank. i threw everything i had at it with no luck except it did take 1 strike at a rattletrap and that was it. Well thats 1 good hole for me to hit saturday where i know ill get 1 or 2 in the bag, hopefully i can find some deeper calmer water after work today

 

[russ010]

if you can find a place on the river behind a rock where the river current is running that is not moving (I think this is an eddy)... throw it in there and hold on. I don't know about smallies, but LM are lazy and will get in there and sit waiting on prey to come by... you might also try throwing it into that current and letting it take it past that eddy

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

well the tourni was a bust, but alot of fun and i learned alot for the next'n since this was my first ever

winner's bag was 6lb (my gf's dad) $245
big fish was 1.6lbs $250

lesson's learned - dont spend half a day in the same section of river!

I thaught w/ the crystal clear water i'd do beter w/ 6lb on my crappie pole. big mistake. had a keeper break off that morning in some brush, and about a hr before weigh in had a big daddy (had to be between 2.5-3lbs) get hung in a sunken tree. finially got it out but we were fishing off a straight down 8ft bank. my buddy jump'd in the water and had the net a foot away from it and the line snapped. that was a $250 dollar fish

next'ns a month away and we're going to float down a certain section of the river instead of wading/bank fishing

i caught about a dozen dinks but only allow'd to keep 2 wich total'd .91lbs. came in 7th out of 22. only 8 ppl weigh'd in so i wasnt too imbarrased.