Help - grubs for stream smallies

[GreenGhostMan]

Hey guys,
With my new kayak, I plan to do more stream fishing this 2nd half of the summer (green river, beech fork, and elkhorn creek). I'd like to start using the grub more. I know it's a classic for smallies but I honestly have never really used them much. I'm curious to know how people like to fish them in streams and small rivers. What size? What colors?

Any advice would be appreciated!

[timmbur22]

I like Kalin grubs in smoke and also pumpkin colors on a round Owner jighead. You really can't fish em wrong......just swim em and bounce em off the bottom every now and then. I'm more of a tube guy, but also use the grub quite often as well. Both are quite effective and probably my top two smallmouth plastic lures, along with the Yamamoto Senko and the Zoom Superfluke.

[eddie_m]

Grubs and bass jigs with crawdad trailers are my go-to baits on small creeks. I use the cheap, unpainted in a fairly light size, maybe 1/8oz. Pretty much, you just want it heavy enough to cast well. Then, I rig it with either white/pearl or smoke colored 2-3" grub.

I reel it as fast as I need to to keep it out of the rocks on the bottom of the creek. You'll feel occasional ticks when the lure hits a rock. That's a sign to speed up a little. You don't need to put much action into the lure, like hopping or bouncing it, because the tail movement does that for you.

Have fun out there!

[Fntsyfbgod]

I don't use many grubs alone honestly. If i want something to swim and get reaction strikes I use a swim jig with a grub trailer. If i want to fish on the bottom I use a shakey head. Not saying grubs won't catch fish but they really excel at swimming dragging along clean gravel and suspended fish and that's not something you see in creeks.

[GreenGhostMan]

Thanks for the replies guys... Wouldn't have gone with those colors initially, so looks like I'll be stopping at Cabela's after work. My go to colors in just about all soft plastics are normally watermelon/red, green pumpkin and junebug. So I'm assuming based on smoke/pearl colors, you're going for a minnow imitation over a crawfish. Sweet!

Thanks guys!

[smashdn]

tiny brush hawgs are my go-to lure for stream fishing. Texas rigged with a wide gap #1 hook and a 1/8 bullet weight.

[sweetwater]

They've been around a long time for a reason, in my opinion it's hard to beat a Mister Twister curly tail grub. 2 or 3 inch size in white, yellow and chartreuse is all you should need. The 1 inch size works well for panfish like crappie, bluegill, redeye etc. You can use either painted or plain jigheads and use the lightest one that you can to get the job done. They work best when fished as close to the bottom as possible. The jig head/curly tail combo is very inexpensive so it's not a big deal if you lose several of them and you can rig and tie them on in a matter of seconds. To give the rig more action I buy regular crappie jigs and cut off the feathers and wrapping. That way the keeper that most jigheads have is not there to interfere with the grubs action. Also, the painted head of the crappie jigs come in a variety of colors so you can mix up jighead color/grub color combos.

[GreenGhostMan]

Thanks smash and sweetwater.
I have a pack of tiny brushhogs... not sure if I have #1 hooks tho.
And I actually picked up a couple packs of 3" mister twister grubs in white and chart the other day. Went looking for smoke colors but I didn't see any at the Cabelas. Do you use jigheads with larger hooks, or the jigs with smaller hooks for panfish?

[sweetwater]

Thanks smash and sweetwater.
I have a pack of tiny brushhogs... not sure if I have #1 hooks tho.
And I actually picked up a couple packs of 3" mister twister grubs in white and chart the other day. Went looking for smoke colors but I didn't see any at the Cabelas. Do you use jigheads with larger hooks, or the jigs with smaller hooks for panfish?

I like the hook to have enough clearance from the grub so it will stick the fish easily but not so much that it will hang up constantly in the wood and rocks. That's another reason why the trimmed crappie marabou jigs work well, their hooks are typically sized just right for use on a mister twister curly tail grub.

[MrSplitshot]

A 3" Yamamoto grub is hard to beat. My favorite Kentucky stream smallmouth color is #284, which is root beer with red and gold flake. Fish it Texas rigged on a 1/8oz Charlie Brewer Slider head. Classic rig that catches smallies.

Use that same head with a Zoom Tiny Brush Hog or a 4" or 6" finesse worm.

[smashdn]

A 3" Yamamoto grub is hard to beat. My favorite Kentucky stream smallmouth color is #284, which is root beer with red and gold flake. Fish it Texas rigged on a 1/8oz Charlie Brewer Slider head. Classic rig that catches smallies.

Use that same head with a Zoom Tiny Brush Hog or a 4" or 6" finesse worm.

Those weedless slider heads are good too.

Most creeks I fish I am wading or out of a kayak. I rarely lose anything because you can wade or paddle over and get it unhung.

I use owner or gamakatsu #1 wide gap hooks.
"J" Hooks here > http://www.ownerhooks.com/products/h...hooks.htm#5140
http://www.gamakatsu.com/fishing-hooks.php?pid=1156

The straight tail 4" and 6" slider worms are good creek baits as well. I like a root beer or smoke with red fleck. Avoid anything with a different color tail as the blue gills will nip it off. You don't have to use the wide gaps for these. A regular #1 offset worm hook will work. You can put them on a regular jig head as well but then you have to deal with hangups.

I like crawling those texas rigged plastics over limbs and through tree tops.