Favorite River/Creek Smallie Bait?

[Daniel_Boone]

What do you all like to use when getting after river/creek smallies? (artificial baits)

I know there are many good soft plastics, crank baits, spinners, and jigs but I have had my best luck throwing green Bitsy Tubes on a 1/16th or 1/8th jig head.

What all do you guys like to use?

 

[Daniel_Boone]

To add, I hear lots of people rave about the rebel crawl crank baits but it seems like I catch way more redeye / panfish when I throw those as compared to a small plastic (tube, craw, lizard).

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Rebel crawdad for me. I do catch alot of redeye on them as well but I dont mind that.

 

[Kimberman]

Watermelon Zoom Fat Albert grub with a Slider style head.

 

[AllOutdoors]

I always have tied on... Buzzbait, crankbait, lizard or craw, spinnerbait. My favorite is which ever one produces the biggest smallie for the day.

 

[jb3]

Rebel craw and rooster tails is what i started on. Easy for a kid to use. as i got older, small zoom lizards or grubs worked really well. Zoom use to make a worm about 4-5" long with a curly tail that had it's moments. I know this is about using artificials, but I still like catching lizards or crawdads and throwing them into a deep hole and waiting.

 

[monsterbuck07]

Watermelon Zoom Fat Albert grub with a Slider style head.

^ This......

 

[catman529]

haven't tried tubes yet. A zoom lizard is my favorite. I use Fat Alberts for largemouth in the fall and winter sometimes. Green pumpkin, watermelon seed, watermelon red flake are my favorite colors. May have to give that tube a try sometime.

 

[Daniel_Boone]

Assuming the '3 inch on the grub? What kind of heads, not familiar with what slider style means.

As I said, love working tubes - over the years they have just been my most consistent bait for small mouth but looking to try some others as I begin to fish more and more.

I'm sure there are some light hair jigs out there that can put the hurting on them in the moving water as well.

Was at sportsman's warehouse earlier and saw some nice 4 inch mini lizards that looked killer.

 

[catman529]

Assuming the '3 inch on the grub? What kind of heads, not familiar with what slider style means.

As I said, love working tubes - over the years they have just been my most consistent bait for small mouth but looking to try some others as I begin to fish more and more.

I'm sure there are some light hair jigs out there that can put the hurting on them in the moving water as well.

Was at sportsman's warehouse earlier and saw some nice 4 inch mini lizards that looked killer.

buy those lizards. I have used 4 and 6 inch lizards both with success. Only complaint with Zoom lizards is the Super Salt Plus lizards which are pretty much the only ones I can find around here. They break apart a lot quicker because of all the salt. But if you take em to the smallmouth creek, chances are it will be fish that are breaking them apart.

 

[turk870]

slider head with watermelon seed finesse worm.

 

[Daniel_Boone]

[/quote] buy those lizards. I have used 4 and 6 inch lizards both with success. Only complaint with Zoom lizards is the Super Salt Plus lizards which are pretty much the only ones I can find around here. They break apart a lot quicker because of all the salt. But if you take em to the smallmouth creek, chances are it will be fish that are breaking them apart. [/quote]

Thanks, will do. The mini 4's look pretty finesse, what size head do you fish them on 1/16th?

 

[catman529]

buy those lizards. I have used 4 and 6 inch lizards both with success. Only complaint with Zoom lizards is the Super Salt Plus lizards which are pretty much the only ones I can find around here. They break apart a lot quicker because of all the salt. But if you take em to the smallmouth creek, chances are it will be fish that are breaking them apart. [/quote]

Thanks, will do. The mini 4's look pretty finesse, what size head do you fish them on 1/16th? [/quote] I just run a plain hook through them and put a couple split shot about 10-12 inches up the line.

 

[Lincoln Co Archer]

Black and blue 1/8 oz bitsy bug with a tiny paca craw trailer.

 

[lung-buster]

Bitsy bug with strike king trailer craw, yum wooly bug texas rigged, origional floater rapala, spook puppy, and 4" flukes. The spook is my new favorite for the creek and the wooly bug for the river.

 

[horn master]

1/8 oz. Bitsy bug. Color depends on water clarity. 6lb. test for rock ledges 8lb. for around wood.

 

[Daniel_Boone]

yum wooly bug texas rigged

Spent 3 days out on Dale Hollow back in December. Went out with a well known guide on day two. At his recommendation we used nothing but wooly bugs and absolutely crushed them.

saw these the other day and thought that looked good as well, the Stanley Itza Bug '4

Itza Bug

 

[Winchester]

1/4 oz spinnerbait and a smoke colored grub until low light and then its a lil Zara puppy topwater.

 

[Live action]

Green back rebel crawl

 

[ShaneHallum]

Pink RoosterTail..

 

[Headhunter]

1/16 oz pro slider head and an Irish whiskey colored slider worm.
Best there is in my opinion, for both smallies and rock bass in the river.

 

[chunkandwind]

1/16 slider head with my 5 inch finesse worm or baby hawg t-rigged with a 1/16 ounce weight. If I am just trophy fishing it's one of my swimbaits.

 

[BUSHRAT]

+1 on the slider's. 4" lizard, 4" senko, 1/4oz buzzbait.

 

[Jugfish]

Zoom Fluke Jr with the swim bait tail with a 2/0 hook sticking out of the back. Work it across the top and hold on.

 

[jakeway]

Tan Zoo Cougar in size 6 or 4. I usually use it on a flyrod with sink tip line, but you can fish it with a spinning rod and a light-weight Carolina rig with a 12 inch leader. When you jig it the weight pulls it down toward the bottom, but when you let the line slack the deer hair makes it slowly flutter to the top like a dying sculpin.

Works great on Stripe, too.

 

[Hollar Hunter]

All these answers and nobody says LIVE BAIT blow my mind!!!!!! Nothing beats a live stone roller or shiner or maybe I'm one of the few and should keep my mouth shut!!!

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[catman529]

All these answers and nobody says LIVE BAIT blow my mind!!!!!! Nothing beats a live stone roller or shiner or maybe I'm one of the few and should keep my mouth shut!!!

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stone rollers are awesome baits, best minnow you can use live or dead. Reason I use lures when creek fishing is because I am usually wading a good stretch of river and don't want to sit and let my minnow swim around and carry a bait bucket while trying to keep them alive. I like to stay mobile most of the time when smallie fishing but there are those times I will bring the cast net just for stonerollers and I throw all the shiners and other minnows back in the water.

BTW the markings on that smallie are awesome.

 

[Hollar Hunter]

I catch bait before I go Fill up my minnow bucket and tie it to my belt loop and just let it float along with me when I need to walk a stretch just grab the handle and go. If I need to bring my cast net for say a real long trip stuff it in the backpack with some cold drinks. Doesn't hinder you being mobile but to each their own. If I'm fishing crystal clear water though and you want to trick those 3 to 5 lb smallies you need live bait...

 

[catman529]

I catch bait before I go Fill up my minnow bucket and tie it to my belt loop and just let it float along with me when I need to walk a stretch just grab the handle and go. If I need to bring my cast net for say a real long trip stuff it in the backpack with some cold drinks. Doesn't hinder you being mobile but to each their own. If I'm fishing crystal clear water though and you want to trick those 3 to 5 lb smallies you need live bait...

I did that once and might do it again. I caught 27 stonerollers in one throw, put them in the minnow bucket, dragged along with me through the water. Then I set them on the bank for just a bit too long and they all died. But with more care I could do it easy. Crystal clear water...... hmmmm sounds familiar. Need to be going back there soon.

 

[Kimberman]

Live baits cheatin!