The Great Lakes and other large northern waterways offer amazing smallmouth bass fishing to anglers who learn the best techniques for catching these incredible sport fish.
Professional anglers call it the "Erie drag." Dragging YUM Mega Tubes across the bottom of a big northern lake, they impart no additional action. Instead they just hold on, feeling intently for any unusual movement. When they detect any hint of motion or even a spongy feeling, they set the hook hard, doing so with great anticipation. Experience has shown that a heavyweight smallmouth may be about to rocket out of the water.
Big-water smallmouths are a breed of their own, and best techniques for catching them are somewhat specialized. As anglers unlock secrets for fishing vast northern lakes from Michigan's Lake St. Claire to Vermont's Lake Champlain, they tap into some of the most amazing bass-fishing action found anywhere in the nation. Anglers who figure these fish out commonly catch amazing numbers of 3- and 4-pound smallmouth bass.
Dragging tubes clearly is the most popular tactic for targeting big smallmouths on the Great Lakes and other big northern waterways. Where the lake bottom allows, most professional bass fishermen prefer fishing Mega Tubes on 1/4-ounce leadheads. If the bottom is too grabby, the alternative is to Texas rig a tube with a 1/4-ounce Excalibur Tg (Tungsten) Weight and a 4/O Tx3 Wide-Gap Hook.
When the smallmouths are feeding along the bottom but a tube seems too big, a 3- or 4-inch YUM Dinger fished on a leadhead can be fabulous. Frank Scalish, Mark Burgess and Jordan Paullo all made extensive use of Dingers in placing 1st, 5th and 8th, respectively, in the BASS Northern Open on Lake Erie this summer.
In stark contrast to the normally slow bottom presentation of a Mega Tube or YUM Dinger, anglers who burn big, bright, BOOYAH Glow Blade Spinnerbaits over smallmouth-holding rockpiles almost have the rods ripped from their hands. Using double-willowleaf all-chartreuse or chartreuse and white 1/2-ounce baits, anglers make long casts, crank hard and hold on for dear life.
Early and late in the day -- and throughout those days when skies stay good and dark -- the most fun way to catch big northern smallmouths is with topwater lures. A Heddon Super Spook or Super Spook Jr., with it's classic walking action and noisy rattle, often is tough to beat for bringing smallies to the surface. At times the fish want a different sound, however, in which case a Rebel Super Pop-R or Smithwick Devils Horse offers a better bet.
Because smallmouths sometimes get overly excited and miss topwater plugs when they blow up on them, an angler always should keep a follow-up bait handy. Many pros agree that a YUM Houdini Shad, rigged weightless, is ideal for casting to fish that miss a topwater lures. In addition, a Houdini Shad, either dead-sticked or fished with short twitches and long pauses, will keep the action going in many spots after the morning topwater frenzy wanes.