Entry 128-1
Roger Stegall - How to Catch Smallmouth Now
The Crankbait for Smallmouth
Editor's Note: Longtime Strike King Pro Fisherman Roger Stegall of Iuka, Mississippi, has guided fishermen on Pickwick Lake on the Alabama/Mississippi/Tennessee border for over 17 years. Here's some of his tactics for catching big smallmouth during the month of November.
Stegall: My first choice to fish for smallmouths is a crankbait. The smallmouth are very active in November, and they like medium-diving crankbaits like Strike King's Series 3 Bleeding Crankbait. At this time of the year, smallmouth will find plenty of shad to feed on, so the gray ghost is my first choice of colors for my crankbait. The new gray ghost has red eyes, red on its sides and red hooks.
The smallmouth will be following shad at this time of the year. You can fish the crankbait around the bank or underwater ledges or drop-offs. Secondary drop-offs, points and underwater road beds will also be where you will find the smallmouth now. The reason I prefer the Strike King Series 3 crankbait is because the smallmouth will be holding in 4 to 8 foot of water in November, and these depths are where this bait performs best. The smallmouth usually prefer either a medium retrieve or a medium stop-and-go retrieve.
The reason the stop-and-go retrieve is so important at this time of year is because I believe that the stop-and-go retrieve makes the bait look like a shad that's gotten away from the school of other shad and stops and looks, trying to decide where it should go next. Many times an isolated shad like this offers an easier meal to the smallmouth than a shad swimming with a school.
If cloud cover rolls in, I'll still be fishing the Series 3 but I'll change colors. On cloudy, overcast and rainy days, I will be fishing the chartreuse with a powder-blue back Series 3 crankbait. Chartreuse is a color that smallmouth like, especially on cloudy days. I've found that the smallmouth seem to like the contrasting colors that you get with the chartreuse-and-powder-blue-colored crankbait. I believe on cloudy days, the chartreuse looks like a bright light to the fish, and on cloudy days I've noticed that the shad look kind of like a bright light. I'm fishing these crankbaits on 10-pound-test Shakespeare Supreme Line and like several types of cranking reels.
My third favorite color Series 3 crankbait for November smallmouth is the bream-colored Series 3 crankbait. Although smallmouth prefer shad at this time of the year, they won't eat shad all day, every day. They like a variety in their diet, and on some days, they'll prefer bream. So if I can't catch the smallmouth on the gray ghost or the chartreuse with the powder blue back, I'll throw the perch/bream-colored crankbait that has bars on it to make it look like a bluegill. I like this color because it doesn't look like a shad.
You have to remember that smallmouth, like other bass, don't always eat the same food every day. Often they'll feed on bream, even though shad may be the most-dominant food in the lake and their favorite food. So anytime I'm going smallmouth fishing at this time of year, I always have three various colors of crankbaits with me, and I'll be fishing them in the places where smallmouths hang out.
One of the reasons I like smallmouth fishing so much is because the smallmouth are extremely active and eager and anxious to chase a bait. If you use the color of crankbait that the smallmouth prefer on the day they want it, you can wear them out and catch good numbers and good sizes ofsmallmouth during November.
To fish with Roger Stegall at Pickwick lake, contact him at (662) 423-3869.
