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Hi,
I'm planning on fishing some small streams for smallmouth & I will try a small Rebel Craw.
Should I use a slow retreive,bounce it off the bottom, or fast? Is it hard to tell when they bite, or do they smash it? If I can find some live crayfish, would I probably have better luck with them? I recently caught my first decent smallmouth(13 inches) on a nightcrawler at Otter creek. I was very impressed with how hard he fought.
Thanks,
Kurt, Louisville, Ky.
Bounce it off the bottom in spurts and then pause your retrieve after a big bump, repeat. If they hit it while the lure is in action they usually smash it and it's an easy hookset (like a crankbait). A lot of times they will hit on the pause so you have to pay attention to your line and set the hook if your line jumps. Always keep a semi-taut line on the pause.
New to the forum, but had to comment on this because this is my go to bait in shallow streams and have had great success with this technique.
IF the water permits...Catch a few live ones and look at the color. You match the color halfway decent them the retrieve is easy. Throw it out and reel it in.
Picture a craw, think like a craw, look like a craw and act like a craw. This will help you catch fish in the creek using a Rebel Craw.
I caught them in Pike Co. throwing a rebel craw brown with orange belly under shade trees and letting it drift for about 5 seconds. You could see the smallies nose up on it, then with s SLOW retrieve they would **** it in like a bug on the water. This worked this time of year with bluebird skies and 90 temps. Cloudy days or windy days where the bass would be activly feeding I would throw it out and reel it in with pauses like a crayfish swimming.