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Summer 2025
S
mallmouth bass are highly sought after by all
anglers, for one main reason, they are a RIOT
to catch. From their lightening hard hits, to zinging drag off your reel and then flying out of the water,
anglers love to catch them. Many anglers go in search of
bronze backs to see that powerful fish explode from the
depths onto the surface to take down a topwater plug,
dive back to the depths and seconds later erupt back
out of the water. Another great thing about targeting
smallmouth bass is that an angler can go about catching
them in different ways, all the way from the top of the
water column, down to the bottom.
SMALLIES IN SUMMER
A prime time for an angler to hop aboard this emotional rollercoaster is in the summer, when all fish are putting on the feedbag. I begin looking for smallmouth on my favorite lakes and rivers that have some form of current present. This current will help position the bass so they can grab an easy meal. Many times, this constitutes a point, drop-off or flat. All three of these areas allow for smallmouth to ambush their prey, which this time of year is primarily shad.
Being that many of these fish will be on shallow flats or near one, I’ll position my boat so I can deploy my Minn Kota Raptors, or engage the SpotLock on my Quest trolling motor, so I stay in one place and don’t disturb the area that I’m fishing.
FISHING THE SURFACE
LURES: The two topwater baits I’ll have rigged up on my deck include a popper style bait, like a Storm Chug Bug, or Rebel Pop-R, along with a walk-the-dog style plus, like a Zara Spook, or Evergreen Shower Blow. The reason I have two different styles of topwater plugs is that smallmouth can be very picky and I want to be able to present them with the right bait at any given time.
GEAR: You want to use a rod that has a soft tip so you can give the bait the correct action, along with a limber bend so the rod will give and load up when that big smallie hits and makes a surge to the bottom.
LINE: I also like to use a braided line with this style rod, as the braided line allows me to make long casts to smallmouth breaking the surface, and if I’m fishing around vegetation, I can keep that feisty smallmouth
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