Entry 85-1

Roger Stegall's 10 Tricks For Boating Big Smallmouths

Springtime Smallmouth Fishing

Editor's Note: Roger Stegall of Iuka, Mississippi, one of the nation's leading smallmouth bass guides, is Mr. Smallmouth on Pickwick Lake on the Alabama/Tennessee/Mississippi border. Stegall shows his clients when and where to catch the big ones. Smallmouth weighing over 5 pounds are common, 6- and 7-pound smallmouths are caught frequently, and every now and then you may catch an 8 pounder or better. Stegall has been smallmouth fishing for 20 years, and his personal best record is an 8-pounder. Each year Stegall and his clients will catch and release 150 smallmouth that weigh at least 5-pounds each. This week he'll give us the 10 secrets for catching monster-sized smallmouth.

Stegall:I like to cast a smoke with blue glitter or a chartreuse with silver glitter 3X grub for smallmouths. Most fishermen believe that you have to give a grub a lot of action to get a smallmouth to take a grub. But remember too that a 3X grub's tail has its own action. What I do is cast out and let the grub hit the bottom. I bring my rod up to the 10:00 position and make eight or 10 quick turns of the reel handle. Doing this causes the grub to look like a minnow swimming off the bottom. Once I've cranked eight or 10 times, I stop reeling, and the grub will swim toward the bottom instead of falling vertically. When I see slack in my line, I know the grub has hit the bottom. I then reel eight or 10-more times and stop the grub again.

I like to use yellow Stren line because it's highly visible, which allows me to see when the grub hits the bottom and if a bass attacks the bait. You don't always feel the bite when the grub is swimming back toward the bottom, which is the reason you need to use High-Vis line to spot the bites you aren't feeling. Oftentimes when the smallmouth attack the grub, you'll see your line move sideways or spot a twitch in the line. Even though the bite may be small, and you don't feel it, you may be hooking into a 6-pound smallmouth.

Next: Slow Down Your Retrieve

Contents:

• Part 1: Springtime Smallmouth Fishing
• Part 2: Slow Down Your Retrieve
• Part 3: Late Spring Through Early Summer
• Part 4: Big Smallmouths in the Middle of the Lake
• Part 5: Smallmouth Fishing After the Spawn