2 days, over 30 fish, and only 1 smallie

[MetalFish513]

I've probably spent a total of about 6 hours in the creek between yesterday and this morning. I've been throwing Strike King Bitsy tubes most of the time and I lost count of how many fish I've caught. These Bitsy tubes are dynamite in the creeks but the biggest problem I have with them is they are small enough for just about anything other than a minnow to bite it. So I'm ending up with a ton of Rock Bass, Sunfish, and Bluegill. In the past two days I've only had 1 smallmouth which was 13 inches and 3 largemouth from 10 to 12 inches.

So my question is... Are any of you other creek smallmouth anglers experiencing a "shut off" on the smallie bite? Or do you think it's just because I'm using these small tubes and the smaller fish are just getting to it quicker?

Don't get me wrong I'm still having a blast. I even went 5 for 5 casts on a school of rock bass that also had a small largemouth mixed in it today which was pretty cool but I'm having trouble finding the smallmouth.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[raincheck]

Went friday and only caught 1 spot & 3 SM 3 of them on buzz bait & 1 on horny toad.The bigest was 21 1/2 inch & weight was 5 1/2 lbs
River Basser
Terry Adolph


On a side note i throw big baits so i only catch a few but i say go big or go home,my float partner started too catch some small fish when he put on the right plastic

[MetalFish513]

Went friday and only caught 1 spot & 3 SM 3 of them on buzz bait & 1 on horny toad.The bigest was 21 1/2 inch & weight was 5 1/2 lbs
River Basser
Terry Adolph


On a side note i throw big baits so i only catch a few but i say go big or go home,my float partner started too catch some small fish when he put on the right plastic

That is a monster smallie! Nice job!

And I do agree with big bait=big fish. I was just amazed that of all the fish I caught, only 1 was a smallmouth. Especially since these are the same holes I've been catching them out of for months now.

[MetalFish513]

Well shortly after my last reply I decided to head back out to the creek. And raincheck was right... Bigger is better. I upsized from the 2 3/4" tubes to some Yum 3 1/2" tubes and caught 4 smallies in about an hour and a half. My biggest was this 17 incher.
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/w...l/8e1a58b5.jpg

And the best part was no wasted casts on bluegill or sunfish!

[bplgocards]

Well shortly after my last reply I decided to head back out to the creek. And raincheck was right... Bigger is better. I upsized from the 2 3/4" tubes to some Yum 3 1/2" tubes and caught 4 smallies in about an hour and a half. My biggest was this 17 incher.
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/w...l/8e1a58b5.jpg

And the best part was no wasted casts on bluegill or sunfish!

If you like catching smallies, go buy some dark colored crappie crank baits.. i've had good luck on them in the creek I fish, my best there is 4lbs.

[redneckshadrap]

Find you a white skirted 1/8th or 1/4oz buzzbait.....fish slack water...

[RGriffith]

We've been creek fishing pretty hard over the last couple of weeks, went last Saturday and caught 21 fish, probably 15 of those were smallies, we went again on Wednesday and caught 22 again around 15 of those were sm's. Then we went yesterday, and we only caught 7 fish, 3 smallies, 3 red eyes, and 1 bluegill. It was extremely slow hoping it turns on again this week.

[slackdaddy]

Went friday and only caught 1 spot & 3 SM 3 of them on buzz bait & 1 on horny toad.The bigest was 21 1/2 inch & weight was 5 1/2 lbs
River Basser
Terry Adolph


On a side note i throw big baits so i only catch a few but i say go big or go home,my float partner started too catch some small fish when he put on the right plastic

I'm glad to see that I am not the only one who doesn't believe that you have to throw microscopic baits because you are in a creek. I live in Stamping Ground and fish Elkorn alot. The smallest thing I throw is a Bandit 100 crankbait. I don't even own any "Wee or Tiny" anything.

I went up the mouth of Elkorn from the KY River a few weeks ago and caught 4 smallies in the first couple of pools 9"-15" on a strike King 4s crankbait 2 1/2 inches long and 3/8 weight.