Best Topwater Baits For River Smallmouth

Top 10 baits from sturgeon bay.

Best topwater baits for river smallmouth.

My personal best smallie was caught on a large walking style lure and when i landed her i found an 8 inch. Some varieties include hollow body frogs walkers poppers spooks and pencil poppers. Let s get one thing straight right off the bat smallmouth bass can be caught on big topwater plugs. Summertime smallmouth fishing makes having a drop shot or two on the deck pretty essential and the top pros in the tackle warehouse title presented by toyota on sturgeon bay basically all relied on the versatile finesse rig to get the job done.

When aggressive tactics fail to produce slow down and present finesse style baits to finicky bass. Rig them on a 1 16 to 1 8 ounce round jighead or carolina style on a size 4 8 hook 18 to 24 inches behind a split shot and swivel. The 7 best lures for smallmouth bass in rivers. When smallmouth are hovering on or near the river bed few lures can top a soft plastics rigged with enough weight to crawl over the rocks and ledges.

Silver blades and a 2 white green rootbeer or black grub work well in most rivers. Topwater lures are the most effective when the bass are aggressive. Topwater smallmouth fishing isn t just exciting but early summer smallmouth bass are suckers for surface baits. Crayfish imitations like zoom s speed craw ned rig type profiles like z man s trd and trd tubez and senko style soft stickbaits all are good options to slowly crawl jig across or near the bottom.

If you re hitting the water for bronzebacks this summer you ll want to fill your tacklebox with these go to baits. Buzzbaits are the ultimate river reaction bait for smallmouth. There are a variety of topwaters and greatly varying fishing conditions so offering the fish the right lure the right way is essential for consistent success. 1 4 ounce is a good all round size though anglers can drop down to 1 8 ounce if the water is low and clear.

Worm jigs in the 1 8 to 3 16 ounce range couple well with the craw tube and. In fact big topwater lures are often the most effective way to catch bigger smallies. Buzz baits for smallmouth bass. Other popular top water baits include the popper baits and the exciting to fish buzz bait.

I can cite my own experience as an example. They will usually hit topwater baits in the warmer weather and spring is usually the best time to throw them. Grubs work best of all.