Helpful ReplySmall Mouth Pros

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grampsdamamp
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2023/05/30 16:52:20 (permalink)

Small Mouth Pros

Been fishing for sometime and recently got into small mouth. I've fished for them before from shore and just got a boat so its different. Just wondering if the technique is for 3 people on a boat to spot fish and everyone throw a drop shot on their head till they bite. Seems stupid to me but apparently most people do it. So to those that do that.... Is that fun?
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Porktown
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Re: Small Mouth Pros 2023/05/31 08:41:30 (permalink)
I don’t smallie fish the big lake, but that doesn’t sound much different than dropping a perch rig or drifting a crawler rig for eyes. If it is catching fish, it is fun to me. I do a similar tactic for crappie inland when they are deeper and just as fun hooking a nice one as tossing a bobber with a jig dangling 18”. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love for every fish that I caught to be me casting as far as I can, giving the lure some action “that only I can do”, fish exploding out of the water and fighting like a tank. Most likely this drop shotting thing works for a month or two out of a year, then you have to move on to another technique or another species. Definitely only works if you can find the fish. Try it, if fun catching some hog smallies that the rest of the state would gladly trade for, keep doing it. I caught an 18” in the Yough on Monday, probably my biggest Yough smallie, only fish of my 2-3 hours fishing and was a “good day”. That fish would be an average one for Erie. I was dead drifting a Senko, much like dead drifting a sucker spawn or something for steel head in a creek. Not really much to it. Maybe casted to a spot that looked like one would be close to. On a boat, you have to find that spot using your electronics. A completely different kind of smarts. Like they say, don’t knock it until you try it. Most likely harder than it sounds.
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Re: Small Mouth Pros 2023/05/31 08:53:30 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby rippinlip 2023/06/08 10:25:02
The boats you see are bed fishing, this is fishing for spawning smallmouth that are defending their nests from predators trying to eat their eggs. The spawn lasts from around mid May to around mid June. However, there are other ways to catch them. There are fish staging out deep on humps, points, and rockpiles waiting to pull up to spawn. There are also others who are already finished spawning and head back out to deeper water in search of a meal. Fish in these stages are much more likely to bite a more aggressive fishing technique, such as a crankbait, jerkbait, or swimbait.  Tight lines! 
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Re: Small Mouth Pros 2023/05/31 14:59:50 (permalink)
If issue is with ethics of pulling smallies off of their beds, I get that. Especially in Erie with gobies known to eat the eggs while not protected. I thought it was more about the drop shot technique. Maybe not the most exciting technique, but if it is working (while not protecting beds), it is better than not catching…. Not that I know what not catching is like. I count catching bait now!
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