Smallmouth Saturday

It's been awhile since I went fishing, and cabin fever is in full swing.  I've been reluctant to try and fish for smallmouth because I'm afraid of being discouraged to not find any fish.  When the temperatures go down, they migrate to some winter hiding holes.  Where are they?  Nobody knows because they are hiding!

Karen and I were in Hershey two weeks ago for the Outdoor Classic hockey game between the Hershey Bears and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, so we made a side trip to Susquehanna Fishing Tackle.  We live maybe five minutes from the Maryland Bass Pro Shops, but Susquehanna Fishing Tackle is worth the trip because of its proximity to the Susquehanna River.  The tackle selection seems to be almost 75-percent geared toward catching smallmouth.

We managed to escape only spending $80 worth of stuff.

Last week Karen received an e-mail notification that SFT was holding a "Smallmouth Saturday" event at the store on Feb. 3.  Discounts throughout the store plus free seminars from local fishermen about tactics to catch them brown fish.

The stash of new lures from Smallmouth Saturday.

We woke up at zero-dark-thirty yesterday morning and headed up.  The first seminar was on spinnerbait fishing with Jason Shay.  You might remember Jason being mentioned here in "Somewhere downriver from the rainbow," "Tubin' down the Susquehanna," and other blog posts as the guide on all my trips on The Big River Up North.

I've mentioned before that I haven't had much luck with spinnerbaits, but my confidence went up when Karen and I hit the Juniata at the end of our trip last April with Jason.  Then I used a small white spinnerbait (still not sure of the brand) to catch a few smallmouth away from the Susquehanna last year.

Jason described and showed the spinnerbaits he preferred and optimal uses for them (bigger, flashier spinnerbaits earlier in the year when the water is high and more stained, more low-profile and lighter lures when the water is low and clear).

He also said he uses baitcasting rigs instead of spinning tackle for the spinnerbaits because he can reel in faster when necessary.  So one of my goals this year is to break out the Shimano Curado reel I've had for maybe 10 years and try and get enough confidence in it.  I've tried in the past and just made birds nests, then gave up trying to make it work for me.

After Jason's seminar, Karen and I went back into the store and bought spinnerbaits.  I looked at a few baitcasting reels but decided to just try and master what I already had before buying another reel.

We stuck around for the next presentation on finesse techniques from another local, Corbin Gotwalt.  He preached about using Z-Man products like the TRD Finesse Wormz, which wasn't new to me or Karen, but a lot of other people in the room had not tried them.  Corbin kind of reinforced the what I have used for these lures -- a medium spinning rod with six or eight-pound fluorocarbon.  But he also indicated that he doesn't give the lure much action once it hits the river bottom.  Just lets it sit there and drags it back slowly.  The smallmouth are naturally curious, and the buoyancy of the elaztech material peaks the fish's interest.

Corbin also brought up using newer Z-Man products made of the soft (yet durable) elaztech -- Tubez and Boar Hogz.  I picked up some of those and can't wait to try them out.

A couple other lures he mentioned were swimjigs and Jackall Lipless Crankbaits.  The latter really intrigued me as it looks like an old-school Rat-L Trap.  But, again, Corbin's technique is to drag it across the bottom.  And when I found the lure in the store, it had a $14.99 pricetag.  I envisioned those two treble hooks snagging the river bottom on the first cast, but I'll keep it in mind for later.

The next two seminars seemed like they were more specific to locations fishing the Susquehanna, so we didn't stick around.

A few takeaways from this, I'd really like to become comfortable with baitcasting reels.  Every guide I've fished with has them, and I think using them would give me more options for lure presentations.  I also want to be more patient with finesse lures with the tactics Corbin mentioned.  Instead of making lures more active, "dead stick" more and let the natural action of the lures entice fish.  He covered jerkbaits, too, and giving them slow, subtle twitches through the water.

And now, some unedited Smallmouth Fishing Porn: