5 Best Smallmouth Bass Lures Based on Their Behavior
Certain lures and presentations work better than others when targeting smallmouth. These are the ones I rely on to catch plenty of smallmouth bass. Links to smallmouth lure are below.
Visit our coffee site: https://www.bassfishinglifecoffeeco.com
Your purchase helps me to keep producing free content. Thank you!
Looking for more bass fishing tips and techniques? Visit our blog, https://www.thebassfishinglife.com. New content every week.
Smallmouth Lures
Tube Baits: https://omnia.direct/tubes
Insert Tube Hooks: https://omnia.direct/tubeheads
Baby Z Too Drop Shot Lure: https://omnia.direct/BabyZToo
Rage Swimmer: https://omnia.direct/gNMKnD
KVD 1.5: https://omnia.direct/KVD1.5
KVD Size 200 Jerkbait: https://omnia.direct/200jerkbait
Ned Craw: https://omnia.direct/nedcraw
If you want to support the channel, use any of the product links below and shop away! There is no additional cost to you and it helps me to keep producing free content for you to enjoy. Even if the product link below is not something you need, just going to the retailer through the link supports the channel. Thanks again for all your support!
Links to some of my favorite lures from Omnia Fishing – a great online site from Minnesota. A bunch of terrific anglers who love to help you find the lures you are looking for. You can even search by lake!
Megabass Jig Head: https://omnia.direct/Okashira-Head
Baby Z Too for Damiki Rig: https://omnia.direct/BabyZToo
Strike King Thunder Cricket Bladed Jig: https://omnia.direct/ThunderCricket
Swim Jigs
KVD Tour Grade Swim Jig: https://omnia.direct/TourGradeSwimJig
Hack Attack Heavy Cover Swim Jig: https://omnia.direct/HackAttack
Crankbaits
KVD Squarebill 1.5: https://omnia.direct/KVD1.5
KVD Squarebill 2.5: https://omnia.direct/KVD2.5
KVD Squarebill Hard Knock: https://omnia.direct/KVD1.5HardKnock
3XD: https://omnia.direct/3XD
5XD: https://omnia.direct/5XD
6XD: https://omnia.direct/6XD
8XD: https://omnia.direct/8XD
10XD: https://omnia.direct/10XD
Soft Plastics
KVD Dream Shot: https://omnia.direct/DreamShot
KVD Half Shell: https://omnia.direct/HalfShell
KVD Perfect Plastics Rodent: https://omnia.direct/Rodent
Rage Tail Menace Grub: https://omnia.direct/MenaceGrub
Rage Bug: https://omnia.direct/RageBug
Topwaters
KVD Splash Popper: https://omnia.direct/Splash
Strike King Tri-Wind Buzzbait: https://omnia.direct/TriWingBuzzbait
KVD Sexy Frog: https://omnia.direct/SexyFrog
KVD Sexy Dawg: https://omnia.direct/SexyDawg
Rod and Reels:
Lew’s Pro SP Skipping/Pitching Reel: https://omnia.direct/ProSP
Lew’s Mach Crush Spinning: https://omnia.direct/MachCrushSpinning
Lew’s XD Crankbait Rods: https://omnia.direct/XDCrankbaitRods
Lew’s KVD Graphite Casting Rods: https://omnia.direct/KVDGraphiteCastingRods
Lew’s KVD Composite Cranking Rods: https://omnia.direct/KVDCrankingRods
Lew’s KVD Spinning Rods: https://omnia.direct/KVDSpinningRod
Lew’s KVD Baitcast Reels: https://omnia.direct/KVDBaitcastReel
Lew’s KVD Spinning Reels: https://omnia.direct/KVDSpinningReel
Books on the Outdoors I have read and enjoyed:
Jay Yelas: A Champion’s Journey of Faith, Family, and Fishing: https://amzn.to/31Vl02g
Kevin VanDam’s Bass Strategies Revised Ed: https://amzn.to/3lPppLM
Rootbeer Lady: The Story of Dorothy Molter by Bob Cary: https://amzn.to/32WsGAi
Ely Echoes by Bob Cary: https://amzn.to/2F6x5s8
Try Audible and get Two Free Audiobooks: https://amzn.to/3jHU2B1
EQUIPMENT I USE TO FILM MY VIDEOS:
Neewer 12″ Ring Light:https://amzn.to/2ODRtBY
Fuji XT3 Camera: https://amzn.to/2zpmTFb
Softbox Light Kit with Backdrops: https://amzn.to/2FEya7t
Lilliput 4K Field Production Monitor:https://amzn.to/2OCgU6F
Rode Mic: https://amzn.to/2Zr6J92
Dell XP15: https://amzn.to/2KWoGrS
Neewer Travel Tripod: https://amzn.to/2Zt2n5j
Polar Pro Peter McKinnon Variable ND Filter: https://amzn.to/2ZumvA3
Analytics Tool I use to Help Get My Videos Found
TubeBuddy: https://www.tubebuddy.com/SteveRogersOutdoors
Disclaimer: Some of the links included in this description are affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service through the links I provide, I may receive a small commission. There is no additional cost to you. These links help to keep the free content coming for you to enjoy! Thank you for supporting the channel.
Recommended Playlist – Bass Fishing Tips and Techniques
Let’s connect:
Instagram – @steverogersoutdoors
Twitter – @steverogers46
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/thebassfishinglife
#bassfishing #bassfishingtipsandtechniques #largemouthbass #smallmouthbass #bassfishingtips
Great channel! I just subscribed at home on TV and my phone!
Went fishing 2 days in a row this week. Caught around 80 bass with the hellgramite on a ned rig. They were in 2 feet of water or less. Within 5 feet of shore in the shade.
Wow, this was a good video for me! I just moved to the midwest and don’t have any experience catching smallies. Everything has been largemouth mostly for me. Does this mean I have to give up bladed jigs, like chatterbaits, to catch smallmouth? Swim jigs? Plus I am a bankfisherman too.
Thanks for the Tips. I still use the goid ole Rebel Crawfish crank baits.
I really enjoy your videos Steve. Great information without a bunch of self-patronizing garbage. Keep up the great work and offering words of encouragement.
We don’t have smallmouth where I live. Pray you are well, Steve, be safe
me realizing that i’m kind of a one-trick pony / =
Flies on a split shot 8 inches above fly with trophy bass catches em. Sadly, I lost a 4lb smallie because I had split shot on the line too tight 😢
Couldn’t agree more.
Hellgramites are a delicious bait smallies cannot refuse
Excellent – always appreciate your content, Steve… well done — keep it coming!!
Nice video buddy
In my neck of the woods, I’ve had luck throwing floating rapala’s & inline spinners.
I use crank bait for smallies😂
I have a smallie tatic/experiment for you!! I learned this one from a bait fisherman. He told me in passing one day to break off a crayfish claw and you will catch more fish. I tested it and its true. (The tests were all in a small river.) So my experiment would be: drop 2 ned rigs, one with un trimed claws and the other with reduced size claws( trimmed) . and watch what rig gets the bite. I would love to see the video of that !
Have you heard of a slimswimz one of the best smallmouth ever
Never caught on a tube.
Great video! I’ll be fishing Lake Wissota near chippewa falls Wisconsin the first week of June. Any tips on what type of structure and depth to find them on?
@shanninkirby9295 I will pray you someday are able to move to Smallmouth country 😉. Very exciting fishing.
My new Bass Behavior Bundle is active. You can join here or find out more by following this link: https://www.steverogersoutdoors.com/bass-behavior-bundle-info
Thank you! Have a blessed day!
Is it safe to eat smallmouth bass every week?
There’s two different types of small mouth fishing to me… there’s creek smallies and there are lake river smallies I’m in more of a over fished urban area so I feel like these creek smallies are much harder to find and catch
Great videos
Having fished multiple s in different sizes and colors, https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxCbNOWAGmn6nfbCbJDmasvBq7J38KZNw2 this is by far my favorite. One thing to be aware of is the sided willow blade. One side is silver and the other is the green/orange shown. This is not bad, just unconventional. In terms of fishing, I have found the lure works just fine without a tail like a craw or shad. That addition is up to you. Also, the hook part where you attach the swivel snap or tie the line is a problem on baits these days, since it’s able to slide up and down. However this lure seems to be tight enough that that doesn’t happen often, and you can solve it by putting a thin slice of medical tube over the hook before attaching the line. Like others have said, it’s really magic on a good windy day.
We have some great smallie fishing in Maine, particularly in rivers and I can vouch personally for all 5 of these baits. Pumpkin/ Green Pumpkin/ Watermelon colored tubes, Z-man finesse trd/ trd crawz on a ned head, small flukes/ creature baits on a drop shot, ribbed or smooth body swimbaits (like a keitech easy shiner), and 1.5 size squarebills (or even 1.0 size) in some kind of craw or perch pattern ABSOLUTELY crush it for me throughout the season.
I’ve seen the square-bill work well along weed lines in the late summer early fall as well. Love your stuff.
Lucky to live in Kingston Ontario which is located on Lake Ontario at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. This area is home to some of the best Smallmouth Bass fishing in the world. I’m a life long Largemouth Bass fisherman but once I discovered the smallmouth bass I would argue that Smallies are pound for pound the hardest fighting fish in North America. Right now the Smallies are up in the shallow water with the food bags on after the spawn. It is not uncommon to catch them in the five and six pound category. Thanks for your video. Keep on fishing.
I live in ohio and fish a lot of muddy rivers that are connected to Lake Erie. My my top 5 baits are
Whopper plopper 90 and 110
Tube
Squarebill crankbait (usually silent)
Shakey head/ ned rig with a craw
Chatterbait
Great baits for sure! I wouldn’t overlook a spinnerbait in clear water and wind, it just train wrecks them
Thank you Steve.
Man how could you not put wacky rig in that 5 my guy, never lets me down them wacky mofos!!
For the tube how do you avoid snags on the bottom and how do you rig it for the bottom or higher in the water?
Man, you just rattled off my 5 exact favorite lures for smallies too. That’s awesome
One lure I recommend is stik-O worms, caught one in the first 30 seconds. Find a tutorial to put one on a hook so it does not fall off, and at sunset or sunrise is the best time
For some reason, the drop shot doesn’t work where I’m at up north, and the tube is alright, but not like some bairs
What do you recommend for shallow and muddy river water
Being in the deep south, I don’t get to fish for smallies anymore. But I do get to fish for spotted bass and they remind me so much of those northern smallmouth. My plan is to one day make an extended trek back to the homeland and fish some lakes I haven’t fished since I was much younger. And when I do, you can be sure I’ll have a tube and a drop shot rigged up!
New subscriber here, thanks for the information. Lots of smallmouths here in PA rivers
This was super informative and helped me a lot. Very appreciated 👍🏻
I fish the delaware river north of Trenton and after the stripers slow down its smallies for the rest of the summer (with a couple of walleye) 80% of what i catch is with a white curly grub on a jig head. if there is some color to the water or its murky i throw a mepps spinner to send some "flash" through the water. summer of 23 has been great so far.
Great video ++