07-09-2003, 03:19 PM
[cool]I would be willing to bet that any large smallie you catch right now will have tails of perch sticking out its gullet. I know a couple of guys last year who mopped up on big (20" plus) smallies by dropping small perch down just above the top of the brush on small leadheads...no plastic. They hooked the little perchies through the lips and just vertical jigged them...or raised and lowered them...paying attention to when the line stopped falling before it was supposed to. You don't have to drop into the brush to catch fish, but you need to be where the fish are.
Another good tactic is to fish crankbaits that run about seven or eight feet deep, over ten to twelve feet of depth. Smallies will come up off the bottom to grab a sexy crank bait. Here again, you need to know your depths. Fish too deep where there are lots of snags and it gets expensive. Too shallow where there are no fish and all you do is wash your lures. It really pays to check out the bottom depth and structure with sonar before working it over with expensive lures. Even if you are casting and retrieving plastics, it helps to be able to count them down to the right depth before retrieving.
I don't know any serious year-round smallie chaser who does not live and die by his sonar system. Without it, you are strictly "chuck and chance it". By knowing a lake and the fish in it, you can catch something most of the time, but you will catch more and bigger fish...consistently...if you always fish in high percentage water.
The main difference is when the fish are near the bank and you can stay just offshore and work the shoreline by moving along and casting into the bank with slow-sinking plastics, like the Senkos and your Robo Worms. Properly rigged, you will catch fewer snags and spend more time in fish country.
As far as night fishing, you are more vulnerable, if there are boats on the water. Most of those boats are going to be fishermen, not skiers, and they are usually more cautious. You should have a light. I wear a headlamp. I turn it on only when I need to signal an approaching boat of my presence...and for helping me get my gear back out of the water when I'm done. It is also helpful for watching out for snakes after dark, on the way back to the car.
For tieing knots or fiddling with tackle, I usually carry a small penlight that I hold in my mouth and then tuck back in my vest. Don't shine a bright light along a shoreline at night, or you will send all of the foraging fish back out into deeper water.
Never fish at night on a lake you do not already know well. It is also a good idea to get launched before dark and to get into position in the area you plan to fish. That way you can stay out of heavily used boat channels and reduce the risk of an unwanted encounter.
Hope some of this helps.
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Another good tactic is to fish crankbaits that run about seven or eight feet deep, over ten to twelve feet of depth. Smallies will come up off the bottom to grab a sexy crank bait. Here again, you need to know your depths. Fish too deep where there are lots of snags and it gets expensive. Too shallow where there are no fish and all you do is wash your lures. It really pays to check out the bottom depth and structure with sonar before working it over with expensive lures. Even if you are casting and retrieving plastics, it helps to be able to count them down to the right depth before retrieving.
I don't know any serious year-round smallie chaser who does not live and die by his sonar system. Without it, you are strictly "chuck and chance it". By knowing a lake and the fish in it, you can catch something most of the time, but you will catch more and bigger fish...consistently...if you always fish in high percentage water.
The main difference is when the fish are near the bank and you can stay just offshore and work the shoreline by moving along and casting into the bank with slow-sinking plastics, like the Senkos and your Robo Worms. Properly rigged, you will catch fewer snags and spend more time in fish country.
As far as night fishing, you are more vulnerable, if there are boats on the water. Most of those boats are going to be fishermen, not skiers, and they are usually more cautious. You should have a light. I wear a headlamp. I turn it on only when I need to signal an approaching boat of my presence...and for helping me get my gear back out of the water when I'm done. It is also helpful for watching out for snakes after dark, on the way back to the car.
For tieing knots or fiddling with tackle, I usually carry a small penlight that I hold in my mouth and then tuck back in my vest. Don't shine a bright light along a shoreline at night, or you will send all of the foraging fish back out into deeper water.
Never fish at night on a lake you do not already know well. It is also a good idea to get launched before dark and to get into position in the area you plan to fish. That way you can stay out of heavily used boat channels and reduce the risk of an unwanted encounter.
Hope some of this helps.
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