I am very surprised the smallmouth were still that deep. 25 to 30 foot yea I can see but 50 feet, hmmm. I'm no Dale expert but if they really were that deep I would vertical fished a 3/4 to 1 ounce spoon on'em. One ounce jigs will work that deep to but man it's hard to stay in touch with the jig bite that far off the end of the rod, or at least it is for me. Spoon would have probably been your best bet, you may have been marking Walleye??