Summer 2024
T
his summer, sophomore Elite Series
pro Bryant Smith will traipse around
the country chasing tournament fishing glory. He’ll make stops on some of the
best smallmouth fisheries on earth, including the
St. Lawrence River, where he set a B.A.S.S. record
with a 29-pound, 5-ounce bag of bronze. While
he’ll be focused on those venues when he needs
to do so, a portion of his mind – and his heart –
will always be at California’s Clear Lake.
Unlike many of the tournament lakes of the
southeast, which get tough during the dog days
of summer, Smith believes that one advantage
to the California gem is that it remains good if
not great just about the entire year.
“It stays strong,” he said. “The funny thing is
that even though it’s fairly small, you don’t see a
lot of guys taking advantage of how good it can
be. You can go out and catch 20 to 40 fish and
maybe see only five other boats.”
He’s spent plenty of time chasing big fish on
the southern end of the lake, where he plies deep
rock piles with a jig or crankbaits like a Strike
King 6XD or 10XD, but given a choice, his happy
place is the north end, the “shallow big bowl with
more grass.”
CONTINUE TO COVER WATER
Clear Lake’s grass can be daunting to newcomers, in part because there’s so much of it, and so much of it looks exceptionally fertile.
“If you go, you’re going to see it from the bank all the way out to three-quarters of a mile offshore,” Smith said. “I go out to the edges. It’s the easiest starting point. If you start in the middle you’ll be going in circles all day. Looks for the more isolated stuff, the clumps.”
But don’t get stuck in an area, just because it looks “right,” or because you’ve caught them there before.
“People slow down too much,” he explained. “Go until you find them. You can catch a lot of fish on a dropshot and a worm, but that’s not really my thing. Power fishing is the king if you want to compete for the win. You can’t get complacent.”
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One reason he’s wary of that little worm bite is because of the quality
of the fish in the lake. “You
won’t catch a lot of sub-3-
pounders in the grass,
but they don’t
necessarily
group up by
size. A lot of
times you’ll
be going
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