how to fish for smallmouth bass in slow deeper parts of a river?
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I have fished for Smallmouth Bass my whole life. I usually fish rapids shallows and pools. The faster water is where I tend to find them. Behind rocks and in some shallows. Well I have moved and now I live on the river. I have taken my canoe out a few times I have found myself in deeper slower water which I dont now how to fish. I really have never used crank baits much for smallies but would like to start. I know soft plastic worms and jigs are some things I should try but I really wanna land a nice smallie on a crank bait. The type of water I have come across tends to be six to eight feet deep. Very slow moving. Lots of downed trees and large rocks. The clarity tends to be about 3 foot down after that its not very visable. I have beat the banks with a chartuse and black crank bait with no luck. Any tips on what I need to use or what I need to do about this slower deeper water?
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No.1 way would be dropshotting a wacky rigged 3in senko. But inline spiiners and ripbaits are also good ideas….then wacky rigged senkos on weighted jigs.
Look into the Float ‘N Fly rig around those downed trees and rocks.
Rapalas in the original black and silver work well. Shallow water use floaters and deeper use suspenders. I would also try flukes with a texas or carolina rig.
a #7 Jointed Rapala Shad Rap (in silver shad color), even with the slightest of movement this thing will look like a struggling, dying minnow. I have had smallies crush this thing on the surface, and down on the bottom, and everywhere in between, would never go to the river with out it. Another good lure is a crippled killer, its a top water lure, but smallies will come from all depths to hit this thing. The smallie in my picture blew up on a crippled killer (it was awe inspiring). You may also want to try some bass jigs, or a cotton cordell crank bait, i don’t know what there called, but there by cotton cordell, and there fat, stubby crank baits. They put out allot of vibration, which is good especially in a river. I always go with natural colors, and white seems to work really well also. Try some rapala X-raps to in olive green, white, purple, and trout colors. Good luck, hope this helps!
Rapala DT-4 or DT-6. Red crawdad, brown crawdad, perch, and shad would be my top picks. Fish them moderate retrieve, sometimes going a little faster, sometimes very slow, then back to moderate retrieve. Knock it off of some of the wood but for the thick stuff you’ll just lose your $6 worth.
Texas-rigged 4″ Senko. Green pumpkin and watermelon. Use a small bullet-weight, 1/16oz should work fine. Texas-rig them with a 1/0 or 2/0 Gamakatsu EWG worm hook. Or any other wide-gap to extra-wide-gap worm hook as long as it’s sharp. Slowly reel these in right across the bottom. Make sure to watch your line for any movement whatsoever.
Berkley 3″ Power Grub. Green pumpkin, PB & J, and pumpkinseed. Use a 1/8oz or 1/4oz jig-head and just thread the grub on there like you’d always do. Reel them in slowly across the bottom as you would the Senko. Probably my top-pick as far as smallie lures go.