Tips tricks and secrets: Smallmouth Bass (cont.)

Other things that work great for small mouth are craw cranks, topwaters in the spring, crawdad cranks, craw scented-colored tubes, and live bait. The live bait that would typically be used during the spawn is probably a bluegill, shad but you could use a big swimbait. With swimbaits you should try to make it look like it's raiding the nest and eating the eggs/fry.Smallmouth Bass will go for any minnow imitation that looks like a danger. Remember though, with minnows in the spring, they shouldn't have extremely erratic action because the water is still a bit cold. In the summer, bass will often hide under docks because the fry can now take care of them selves and its cooler in cover. They usually come out at night or when they see a big meal.