Summer Smallmouth Fishing In Creeks

 The dogwoods have bloomed. The lakes are full of skiers and the crappie have gone to their warm water haunts. Where are you gonna fish on this 85 degree day? There's plenty of places to fish during this warm weather period, and you drive over them on your way to work everyday. 

 Those small little creeks that wind in between the fields and hardwoods hold a secret. And that secret is a feisty little bronzeback bass called the smallie. These little fish call many places home. They are a very sought after fish in the great lakes, the biggest rivers and many inland reservoirs throughout the Midwest. They also  call these tiny little tributaries home.  

 Known to be the hardest fighting fish, pound for pound. These creek smallies can make a fight in a tiny little pool 20 feet wide by 50 feet long feel like your fighting a blacktip off the shore of the OBX. And there's no better time to do it than in the heat of the summer. You can loose the waders and grab an old pair of crocs and a pair of old swim trunks. An old back pack will hold your small tackle box and a couple bottles of water just fine. 

 Locating these fish can be relatively easy. For e-scouting, all you need to do is find a piece of public land (or an old farm, you'll usually be able to get permission easily if your polite and let the owners know your true intentions of just walking up and down through the creek) that has a small to medium size creek, river, or tributary running through it. Finding bends in the waterway or anywhere that there is an interruption (log jam or a man made dam) will usually indicate where the water is going to be deeper. Large rock structures can also wallow out the creek bed and make a deep pocket. While you walk the creek you can also find deep spots even in straight runs that will hold fish. It does not take much change in depth to hold a fish or group of them. Sometimes only 6-8'' can hide a smallie. 

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 For tackle, it gets even easier. The best rod is going to be a cheap rod. This is because your going to fall and trip as you navigate the creek. Better to break a cheap rod tip than an expensive one. You should be using a light to medium light rod setup with a reel that can handle the drag. usually a 2500-3000 series shimano is what I prefer. With 6lb mono or 10lb braid and a 10lb flouro leader if your really trying to feel the bite and deal with the extra hassle of tying a new leader on. 

 Lures, can vary. The tried and true is the new classic, the ned rig. A very easy and small presentation the ned rig can be bounced off log jams and fish in between boulders with ease. Z-man makes a good ned. And you'll want a sharp hook on the end of your jig to really set the hook into the tough jaw of these creek dwellers. You can use a variety of different lures though. 

 A list of my favorites starts with the previously mentioned ned rig. Then followed up be any short presentation of a texas rig. You can throw tubes, senkos, or creature baits on the texas rig and be able to easily swap out plastics until you find what they want. Sometimes color can make the biggest difference. I usually start off with a darker blue or brown then slowly move to the lighter greens and white patterns. The third bait of choice is definitely a mini spinner bait. The mini strike kings and booyah's are very similar to each other and relatively cheap so they are a good brand to use. They are light weight "mini" spinnerbaits like the name suggest. You can buzz them close to the surface to make the fish aggressively smash the lure or let them sink a little bit and slowly reel them through the center of the hole. Last but not least, the jerk bait and rebel craw. The rebel craw has a massive reputation for a smallie killer. Along with almost any smaller jerk bait, these both can be very good lures for when the fish are aggressive and feeding heavily on bait fish and crawfish. They both fish in the same manner. Cast to the end of the hole, jerk or slowly reel the plug until its near bottom or bouncing off rocks and branches. You'll normally do pretty well on these types of baits. But the biggest problem is you will loose alot of these baits to snags. The treble hooks on these hard lures love digging deep in between rocks and into any wood structure on or near the bottom of the creek. 

 Where to fish and place lures. The most important part of fishing these small (usually clear water) creeks is to be stealthy. I normally start at the down river side of a hole and stay there unless there is another reason I should go towards the  head of the hole. This keeps me out of sight of these little fish. Especially in the higher pressured areas where your normally gonna be fishing. The fish can be holding anywhere in the hole. The first place I target is anywhere with structure. The biggest fish in the group I usually find right under an old stump or behind a large boulder, or any man made structure, like in between railroad pillars where the water gets extra deep. The second place in the "head" of the hole. I usually cast against the shore on the opposite end of the creek right where it starts to get deeper. Sometime fish are right there feeding on anything that comes into deeper water. then I'll get my lure positioned right in the center where the water is usually trifling down the natural rock formations in the middle of the creek. If I catch a few fish in the first two mentioned spots and feel I have fished it out I'll start casting right in front of me. Where the deep water comes up to be shallower. If your lucky (and paying close attention) You'll be able to spot the fish holding here slowly swimming up and down looking for their next meal. Its surprising at how many fish you'll spot during the day. 

The most important part of fishing these little creeks is downsizing. Like I mentioned earlier, all the lures your gonna be throwing are "minis" or small. These smallmouth bass aren't like their bigger cousins. They can't fit a big spinner bait in there mouth and their forage is usually a lot smaller.