Best Topwater Baits For River Smallmouth

Buzz baits for smallmouth bass.

Best topwater baits for river smallmouth.

When aggressive tactics fail to produce slow down and present finesse style baits to finicky bass. Topwater lures are the most effective when the bass are aggressive. They will usually hit topwater baits in the warmer weather and spring is usually the best time to throw them. 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.

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. Grubs work best of all. Some varieties include hollow body frogs walkers poppers spooks and pencil poppers. 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. Topwater smallmouth fishing isn t just exciting but early summer smallmouth bass are suckers for surface baits. If you re hitting the water for bronzebacks this summer you ll want to fill your tacklebox with these go to baits. 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.

I can cite my own experience as an example. Worm jigs in the 1 8 to 3 16 ounce range couple well with the craw tube and. The 7 best lures for smallmouth bass in rivers. In fact big topwater lures are often the most effective way to catch bigger smallies.

Top 10 baits from sturgeon bay. My personal best smallie was caught on a large walking style lure and when i landed her i found an 8 inch. Silver blades and a 2 white green rootbeer or black grub work well in most rivers. That s a lesson i learned from kevin turner owner of river pro boats a fine line of jet boats.

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. Other popular top water baits include the popper baits and the exciting to fish buzz bait. Again there are many different topwater lures to choose from.