Think topwater for Kentucky smallmouth during summer

I just about need a rope tied to my belt loop any time I work a Zara Pup. It looks so enticing darting side to side that I almost want to go in after it. Thankfully, a feisty smallie often beats me to the punch, especially during June.
Smallmouth waters often have warmed enough by June to have the fish fired up. However, the same waters have not gotten toasty enough to turn the fish lethargic or drive them deep. In addition, hatching aquatic insects, misdirected terrestrials and shallow schools of minnows tend to keep the fish looking up for meals this time of year.
June is an outstanding topwater period in streams and lakes alike, although the nature of the bite tends to be a bit different in each. In moving waters, the surface action sometimes lasts all day, and it’s apt to be best through the middle of the afternoon.
In lakes, which are generally warmer than smallmouth streams by June, surface action clearly peaks very early and late in the day. Good topwater fishing can occur during midday – and wise anglers pick up their topwater rod occasionally throughout the day – but mornings and evenings definitely bring the most predictable action.
For stream fishing, most fishermen favor fairly small topwater plugs, like Tiny Torpedoes, Zara Pups, Baby Rattlin’ Chug Bugs and Spit’N Kings. Chrome and bone are favored colors for average conditions, with black working quite well when the water is stained or the skies are very dark, and clear is tough to top for very clear water and bluebird skies.
As summer progresses, a Rebel Bighopper, twitched or slowly wobbled across the surface, can be deadly on small streams or near grassy banks. When walked on the top with occasional pauses, a Bighopper nicely imitates an out-of-place liver ‘hopper skittering across the top.
Small buzzbaits and soft-plastic jerkbaits also can be productive some days when plugs won’t do the job. Soft-plastic jerkbaits are great baits to turn to when smallmouths are busting on plugs but not quite getting them. Buzzbaits work great for working a lot of water and figuring out what kind of spots the fish are using.
Some summer days, stream smallmouths will be everywhere they should be and will hit any topwater offering that invades their space. More often, anglers need to experiment. Areas that commonly hold topwater-feeding fish include pocket eddies along the bank, waters beside current-breaking cover and swift rocky runs, where fish hold beneath submerged boulders.
Stream fishermen sometimes overlook swift areas for topwater fishing, but large runs that have good current pushing through them sometimes hold the most aggressive fish. A Tiny Torpedo, which draws attention with its spinning propeller and can be fished fast, is among the best baits for swift-water fishing.
Many of the same lures that work well on streams also will draw smallmouths to the top on reservoirs. However, with bigger fish on average, far more water for anglers to cover; deeper waters and a greater likelihood of waves to contend with; lakes also bring in a need for larger plugs. Larger “walking” lures, like Super Spooks and Sammy plugs, are favorites among reservoir smallmouth fishermen.
Like on rivers, buzzbaits work really well for covering water and locating fish. Even on days when plugs will drum up more action or attract strikes from bigger fish, buzzbaits help anglers find hot banks or types of banks that are holding fish.
On glassy-calm mornings or evenings, one of the best ways to bring big smallmouths to the top is to slowly wobble a floating jerkbait like a Bomber Long “A” or a Storm ThunderStick across the surface. This “finesse” topwater approach, which sends out a subtle but distinctive wake, is especially good in very clear water.
Early and late in the day, many types of areas are likely to produce good topwater action on reservoirs. Bluff banks, tops of points or humps and waters near specific cover features, like boulders, docks or brush all offer good prospects.
Prime spots generally will be close to deeper areas that have been holding fish during the day, often on the lake’s main body or in the far lower ends of creeks. Anglers generally work a lot of water until the fish reveal themselves, whether by hitting a lure, breaking the top or spooking some baitfish.
Through the middle part of the day, the bulk of the topwater action that occurs on reservoirs is over main-lake structural features like humps, ledges, saddles and major points. The same fish most anglers target with Carolina rigs and crankbaits will sometimes hammer surface plugs, especially if a lake has some current running through it.
Occasionally these bass will push baitfish to the surface, making the call for topwater obvious. Other times, the only way to find out whether they will come up is to throw a Spook or a big popper from time to time and make some noise on the surface.
Whether the smallmouths have been busting on top or not, veteran anglers always have a topwater bait or two tied on during June. It’s hard enough to maintain the composure to make a decent cast when smallmouths are scattering baitfish, let alone trying to find the right plug and tie it on in the heat of the moment.

By Jeff Samsel

Cajun Cuisine: Want to get a smallmouth’s attention? Tie on a crawfish

Served fresh on a bed of gravel and garnished with moss, a live crawfish has the same appeal to a smallmouth bass as does the last boiled crawfish on an appetizer platter at a south Louisiana festival.

Smallmouths eat crawfish – lots of ’em. In streams and lakes alike throughout Kentucky, crawfish are at or near the top of the smallies’ favorite foods list. Therefore, if you want to catch your share of smallmouths, be sure to incorporate plenty of crawfish imitating lures into your bait selections.

Because crawfish are such important forage for smallmouths (and various other species), lure manufacturers make many different kinds of lures that imitate crafish in one way or another. Most fall into the broad category of crankbaits, soft-plastic lures or jigs.

Probably best known of the crawfish lures is a Rebel crawfish. One of the best-selling lures in the nation, as it has been for many years, a Rebel Crawfish imitates a craw in its swimming posture (claws tucked in), which is when a live crawfish is most vulnerable.

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Smallmouth fishing on Elkhorn Creek looks good this year

Frankfort, Ky. – Elkhorn Creek, one of the premier smallmouth streams in Kentucky, produced fantastic smallmouth bass fishing from 1998 to 2002. Anglers could expect to catch a few dozen smallmouth in a day’s fishing. A couple of these fish were usually longer than the 16-inch upper limit of the 12-16 inch protective slot limit in effect for largemouth and smallmouth bass in the creek.

Fishing flattened out on the Elkhorn in 2003 and the downward trend continued through 2006. It isn’t pollution, disease or development that caused this trend. It’s rain.

“When we have really wet years, it impacts the spawn in a negative way,” said Jim Axon, former assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Drought years are good years for smallmouth spawning on streams.”

Fishing on the Elkhorn flourished from 1998 to 2002 because drought years in the late 1980s and early 1990s encouraged great reproduction of smallmouth bass. The better smallmouth bass breed, the better the future fishing.

The same positive development that created the good fishing is taking shape again. Smallmouth fishing on the creek began to pick up in 2007 and improved again in 2008 until last summer’s drought made the fish lethargic. This coming year should be the best year for fishing on Elkhorn Creek since the 1998 to 2002 boom.

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Float-n-fly feeds smallmouth addiction during winter

There’s nothing wrong with TV fishing shows – after all, they placate many avid anglers through long, cold winters.

But come mid-January in Kentucky, many of those pent-up anglers have heard Roland Martin say, “Son, that’s a big fish,” so many times they begin to wish harm on the noisy old fishing pro.

With freedom in mind, and despite an admonition – “You’re crazy!” – from a co-worker, Lee McClellan and Chad Miles set out last Monday to get their smallmouth fishing fix on Lake Cumberland.

It doesn’t get much tougher than it was Monday – 20 degrees outside with winds of 10 to 15 mph, the water 41 degrees. It’s only a few small steps removed from ice fishing.

But McClellan, associate editor of Kentucky Afield Magazine, and Miles, administrative coordinator for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, have the winter blues worse than most; after all, they spend their days listening to fishing stories.

On this day they’re going to try to perfect their float-and-fly technique, a go-to method for catching sluggish smallmouth when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees. That’s when smallmouth “suspend” in the water column and move as little as possible to preserve energy; it’s also when baitfish suspend and, in some cases, die off.

Float-and-fly is effective because it mimics baitfish in the throes of death by dangling a small hair jig on light, ultra-clear line 7 to 15 feet below a bobber. The jig’s hair puffs out, and the waves or the angler’s twitching of the rod makes the jig jitter like a dying shad. Most experts think that action triggers an instinctual message in the smallmouth’s thumbnail-size brain: “Eat that thing; it’s the best you’re going to get for a while.”

At 8:15 a.m., McClellan, Miles and the author were the only ones on the lower end of the lake, in Guffey Creek near Wolf Creek Dam. That’s one of the things McClellan likes about float-and-fly fishing in 20-degree weather.

“We have the place to ourselves,” he said.

He also likes it because he’s had success. He and Miles have thrown everything at smallmouth in the depths of winter – spoons, blade baits, crawfish jigs, grubs. And, like most in winter, they’ve been skunked more times than they’d like to count.

They’ve also been skunked throwing float-and-fly. But more times than not, the method has proved successful.

Given the conditions, and depending on definitions, Monday was successful: three smallmouth, each about 2 pounds, after about eight hours of fishing.

All were caught about 9 feet deep along shady bluff walls in the back of Guffey Creek. As water temperatures hit the low 40s and fish have less energy, McClellan finds that bluff walls produce more fish. When water temperatures are a bit warmer and fish move more, McClellan also finds fish on deep lake points.

Each fish was caught using slightly different action. One angler dipped his jig in lots of “fish dope,” a petroleum-based gel laced with garlic or other fish scents. Another found it too cold to be applying “dope” and did without. One angler tended to twitch his rod a bit more.

Each had a number of “pull downs.” When a smallmouth grabs the jig, the action of the bobber varies. Sometimes the weighted bobber will lie on its side. Other times it will dive straight down. Last Monday, it went straight down on each strike.

McClellan chose Guffey Creek for several reasons. One was safety. On a frigid day, there might not be other boats on the water. If something goes wrong, it pays to be close to the ramp. Guffey is a two-minute run from a new ramp near the dam.

He’s also had success there, as well as in Beaver and Indian creeks. All have bluff walls and are near the deep water at the lower end of the lake. He said Harmon and Difficulty creeks also can be hot spots.

McClellan and Miles worked their way along virtually the entire creek, spending extra time on steeper walls and on points. It took patience to catch fish. But when they did, the excitement provided enough warmth to get them through the next hour.

Their last stop – about 5:30 p.m. – was the mouth of the creek. By this time, the wind had kicked up and the boat was getting tossed around.

But there were big fish and baitfish all over Miles’ sonar screen.

As the boat tossed and Miles fought the trolling motor, the wind whipped up more and more. The sun dipped behind the hill, adding to the chill. And the little bobbers struggled to stay above water.

Eventually, Miles gave it up, even though he was sure there were fish on that point.

On the ride home to Frankfort, as core body temperatures got back to normal, thoughts turned to food, warm drinks and spring fishing.

The anglers began to tell fishing stories again. One fell asleep, hoping to catch up on fishing shows he had taped over the weekend.

The end-of-the-day, unbearable cold was soon forgotten, and thoughts turned positive and hopeful.

Maybe Roland Martin isn’t such a bad guy after all.

—By Chris Poore

Look for hot smallmouth fishing in winter

We have experiences in the outdoors that can be transcendent, although the conditions are rough. Catching crappie after crappie in cold March sleet, bagging your biggest turkey ever in a chilling April downpour or taking a limit of ducks in weather so cold hot coffee quickly freezes on the rim of your cup make great memories.
Although these encounters test your mettle and enrich your life, few outdoor pursuits compare to December fishing for smallmouth bass in the snow. The activity seems incongruent – floating in a boat on ice-free water with white frozen snow lining the banks. You seem completely out of place, casting a hair jig, the float and fly or a shiner with snow in your eyelashes. You feel you should be at home; that it is dangerous to fish in such weather.

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Questions and answers with: Dave Stewart, Bass Buster Guide Service

Kentuckyfishing.com: How did you get started as a guide and why?

Dave Stewart: Actualy, I got started after I retired from the military in 1995. I moved to Kentucky Lake and I was living at a resort. People at the resort asked me if I could take some people out who weren’t catching fish. I helped them catch fish and this eventually became a business.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What do you like about the job?

Dave Stewart: I like he people. Outdoors people, especially anglers, have got to be some of the best people to be around. For me, watching clients catch fish has become more fun than catching the fish myself.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What do you not like so much about the job?

Dave Stewart: Winter. I hate the off season. I get bored.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What is your favorite tactic?

Dave Stewart: I primarily guide for bass; it makes up probably 95 percent of my business. For smallmouth, I love to fish crankbaits and jerkbaits in teh spring. In the summer I fish for largemouth and I love to use Carolina rigs. Kentucky and Balrkley are good Carolina rig lakes. I love to fish tubes, too. That’s kind of a trademark of mine, tube fishing.

Kentuckyfishing.com: Why do you like to fish for bass over other species?

Dave Stewart: I started ot fishing fo bass in clubs and tournaments. It just seems to be the most challenging of the fish here to catch. I enjoy taking people out, especially those who are having trouble finiding fish. I started out guiding as much crappie as I did bass. But I turned to bass. That’s where my reputation is. Ninety-five percent of my business is tournament preparation.

Kentuckyfishing.com: Are tournament anglers tougher to deal with? Are they more difficult to deal with?

Dave Stewart: Not really. You ahve to take each client as they come. Probably my most favorite clients are children — fathers and sons. But tournament types are not that hard to work with.

Kentuckyfishing.com: Do your clients have special tactics they want to try?

Dave Stewart: I find that for the majority of them, since I do a lot of tournament preparation, most people will leave it up to me. They realize one tactic is not a catch-all. But I do have a lot of people who want to try Carolina rigging.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What is your favorite lure?

Dave Stewart: As a go-to lure I’d have to say a tube. I’ve been fishing them for years and years and years. They’ve just become popular down here in the last few years. I’m not sure I’m happy about that. (laughs) My favorite lure to throw, though, is probably a Carolina rig or a crankbait. But a tube is definitely the go-to lure. When nothing else will work a tube will get you some fish.

Kentuckyfishing.com: When do you most like to fish?

Dave Stewart: I love spring. I love the early smallmouth and the pre-spawn largemouth. It’s got to be the most productive and the most fun fishing there is. Those are the days of the big numbers and the big fish.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What kind of cover or areas do you like to fish the most?

Dave Stewart: The obvious would be stumps. Old stump fields are the most productive. I also like brush piles. If you find those brush piles you can score fish. But fish like to cruise open water. So it changes all year long.

First published in The Kentucky Fishing Journal, February 2003

Teen catches state record, 47-pound muskellunge

Frankfort, Ky. – A 14-year-old freshman at Montgomery County High School landed a 47-pound muskellunge while fishing with her family on Cave Run Lake Nov. 2. Sarah Terry’s fish is now Kentucky’s state record muskellunge.

“I saw it come to the boat,” she said. “It went under the boat and then came back out and hit it. It really chomped that bait. If I had a dollar for every time I said ‘Oh, my God,’ I would be rich.”

Terry and her stepfather, Scott Salchli, were fishing the edge of a weed bed near the Claylick Boat Ramp late in the afternoon when the fish struck. Terry caught the record muskie on a Double Cowgirl in-line spinner with two size 10 gold blades and a purple skirt.

The 54-inch fish succumbed as Terry made a figure eight in the water with her lure. Muskellunge that follow a lure but don’t strike often fall for this old trick.

“She did the figure eight perfectly,” Salchli said. “She made really good, wide circles. The fish struck just as she was making her second figure eight.”

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Targeting Kentucky Lake smallmouth in early summer

Before we went down to fish with Dave Stewart, a guide on Kentucky Lake, my fishing buddy called one of his brothers for some advice on where to stay.

“What are you going to fish for?” his brother, a long-time Kentucky Lake angler, asked at the end of the converstation.

“Smallmouth.”

“You mean largemouth,” his brother said.

“No, we’re going after smallmouth.”

Stewart wasn’t surprised later when he heard the conversation rehashed.

“A lot of people are thinking about largemouth because that’s what the laek is known for,” Stewart said. “I spend a lot of time convincing people to go after smallmouth.”

Stewart, who retired from the military and started guiding in the mid-1990s, has developed a busy service as one of the few who focus mainly on bass fishing.

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For Kentucky smallmouth in the heat, turn your back to the banks

“We’re going to live or die on one hole,” Lynn Lane had told a tournament partner. By noon, the latter was looking more likely, with neither a bass in the livewell nor a missed hit to lend hope. Lane stuck with his guns, however, and at 12:30, after six hours of fishing, he got his first bump. By 2:30, when he and his partner had to head for the weigh-in, they had an 18-pound limit in the boat.

The difference?

Current.

Tennessee Valley Authority began running enough water to create current over the bar that Lane was fishing, and the fish turned on as if someone had hit a switch. Such is the nature of summer smallmouth fishing on Kentucky and Barkley lakes, where Lane guides and competes in tournaments and has fished all his life.

Lane, who typically fishes for largemouths and smallmouths together more so than he targest one species, does most of his summer fishing with his back to banks. “Out on the deep structure near the main river channel is where you’ll find the most fish — and usually the best fish — on these lakes,” he said.

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Hellgrammites: best live bait in Kentucky?

Above left: By turning rocks with you feet just upstream of a seine with poles, it’s possible to net hellgrammites with only one person. Hellgrammites and crawfish, both of which will show up in seine nets in many Kentucky streams, also make great trout bait. Above right, Hellgrammites, which are dobson flies in their larvae stage, make excellent bait for various fish species in streams.

Grampus, Go-Devils, Conniption Bugs, Hellgrammites…. Call ‘em what you want. Fish think the larvae of dobson flies are candy, so I simply call them great bait.

Hellgrammites, to use the proper common name, abound in cool-water streams through much of Kentucky. Fierce-looking critters, with oodles of legs, big pincers at one end and a hook at the other, they inhabit rocky runs in cool, clear streams, spending most of their time tucked under rocks.

Hellgrammites may stay hidden under rocks because virtually everything that swims will eat them, which I’ve witnessed every time I’ve used hellgrammites for bait ina  cool-water stream. Smallmouth bass typically are the official sought-after species, but somehow the rock bass, largemouths, channel catfish, bluegills, longear sunfish and other fish never get that message (which I don’t mind at all).

My brother-in-law, Jerry Perry of Danville, grew up in Frankfort, fishing Elkhorn Creek and other streams in Franklin County. Perry is strictly a stream fisherman, and he fishes almost exclusively with hellgrammites (plus the occasional soft-shell crawfish that shows up in his seine). He catches his bait upon arrival and then wades up through the creek, drifting hellgrammites thorugh promising-looking runs.

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