Smallmouth

Fished the SD Open Bass tournament 5/30-31/09. If you’re looking for a chance to catch a smallmouth then Sharpe’s the place to go. With everything between 12″ and 18″ in a catch and release slot there are so many nice smallies You could actually get tired of catching them….. Well, maybe not tired of catching them but your thumb will get so chewed up taking them off the hook you’ll have to stop.

Right now I don’t think it matters much where or what on. We caught’em from the dam to 30mi up the river. Crankbaits, jirkbaits, spinnerbaits and every 4″ plastic bait in the box on any type of jig head. Don’t think color matters much to them either; pink, purple, green, brown, chart, they all chaught fish. The only colors I didn’t catch fish on were the ones I never threw.

What was your biggest?? It’s a sleeper fishery, along with Oahe. I’ve had some 5lb + fish on before out there. That was years ago, so I wonder just how big the genetic strain is out there.

Think big fish for the tournament was 4something. Biggest we had was 3.68 with most fish in that 2pound range. Heard storys about the big ones biting better in the fall but I’ve never tried it. For numbers of nice quality smallmouth though I’m pretty sure you couldn’t beat it right now.