Entry 85-2

Roger Stegall's 10 Tricks For Boating Big Smallmouths

Slow Down Your Retrieve

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 fish a big Strike King spinner bait. Even though I'll fish my Strike King spinner bait all year, I like it best in the springtime. The 3/4-ounce Strike King Premier Pro-Model spinner bait is the one I'll use the most. I'll take the front blade and the beads off and not use a trailer hook. My favorite color is a No. 5 gold blade with a chartreuse skirt. Or, if the water is clear, I'll fish a chartreuse-and-white skirt. When I get into the summer months, I like a white Bleeding-Bait spinner bait. When I cast this Bleeding Bait spinner bait out, I'll let it fall on a tight-line and swing like a pendulum to the bottom. That way I can feel the blade turning as it falls, and many times I'll get a strike on the fall. Once the bait hits the bottom, I'll bring my rod tip up to the 10:00 position, reel eight to 10 times and let the bait swing like a pendulum back to the bottom. You'll be surprised how many big smallmouth you will catch using this technique. I'll also fish this tactic in the late spring, summer and even in the fall.

Strike King Wild Shiner Tactic:

One mistake that many people make when fishing a jerkbait for smallmouth is that they believe the jerkbait needs to be fished really fast. But if you've ever watched a school of shad in the wintertime and seen the shad dying off, they'll just barely twitch as they flutter to the bottom. When a fish is dying, it won't be jerking and jumping through the water quickly. I cast the Wild Shiner out and crank it down eight or 10 times pretty hard. Then I stop it and allow it to sit still. I use my rod tip to pull it slowly like you'll pull a Carolina-rigged worm across the bottom. I can feel the bait wobbling really slowly. Then I take up my slack, and once again pull the lure slowly with my rod tip. I'll have a lot of hard hits from big smallmouth when I'm using this technique. The biggest smallmouth I caught in the fall of 2003 weighed 7-1/2 pounds. I took that smallie on a Strike King Wild Shiner using this tactic.

My favorite color is chartreuse with a black back when the water has a little bit of color to it or is cold. I start using this tactic when the water temperature is 48 degrees. When the water's clear, I'll fish a clown color that has a lot of red in it, a chrome with a blue back or a chrome with a black back. Just remember to fish the Wild Shiner really slowly, and you'll catch many more big smallmouths.




 

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