(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
When Jonathon VanDam talks about trophy smallmouths, he’s not referring to 3- and 4-pounders. Those are good fish, to be sure, but bronzebacks seemingly become another species altogether when they surpass the 5-pound mark. He should know, as his biggest weighed 8-04, and in his best bronze limit the smallest fish of the five weighed 6-15, all caught on jerkbaits in the spring.
“It was one day where all of the stars aligned,” he said. “That’s what you want to look for.”
While it can be magical when the puzzle comes together, smallmouths also have a reputation for being unpredictable and finicky. “The only thing you can count on with them is that you can’t count on them,” he quipped. If it’s a big one you want, he suggests that you focus on the pre-spawn period of the spring, when they’re fat and staging – up north that often means May or June – and then again in the fall when they’re feeding up for the winter.
He said that while he’ll occasionally catch a big smallmouth on a dropshot, most of the true trophies come on moving baits. His favorite tool early in the year is a jerkbait, most often the Strike King KVD 300, a nearly 5-inch long model that casts long distances and features three treble hooks. He relies on two colors much of the time: crystal shad, which is natural but has a bold dash of chartreuse flash on the dart, and strobe shad, which is translucent and better in sunnier conditions. He most often throws it on a G. Loomis 812 JBR baitcasting rod and a Shimano Albedaran reel with 10-pound XPS fluorocarbon, but when he needs to drop down to lighter line and make longer casts, he’ll go to a spinning build of the same G. Loomis blank.
In the fall, he dotes on the umbrella rig to catch big bronzebacks, except of course in B.A.S.S. competition, where it is prohibited. The Michigan record of 9-04 was recently set on the rig, and JVD prefers the smaller version of the Strike King Squadron most of the time. He rigs it with 1/4-ounce jigheads and 4-inch Strike King Swin N Shiners. Make sure that the middle bait is a different, gaudier color, he advised, even if you just dip the tail in chartreuse dye.
“The key is in the retrieve,” he continued. Let the rig sink to the bottom and then start a slow roll, but every two or three turns speed it up considerably for half a turn, which “makes the whole Christmas tree of lures flare.”
When searching for big bronze, no matter the season, he’s typically looking for shallow areas with deep water close by. The same areas that the bass used to stage in the spring will once again be transited in the fall. You also want to key in on the food, often gobies. If you have your choice of days, “weather conditions are a big player.” While you don’t want to go out on the Great Lakes in a 30-mph wind and 10-foot waves, some chop helps, particularly with power fishing presentations. Water temperatures in the 50s to 60s are when he seems to catch most of the true giants, and if you can schedule your trip for the week before or the week after the full moon, that tilts the odds in your favor even more.
If you want to know some of JVD’s favorite waters for trophy smallmouths, check out his full video seminar about how to target big brown fish, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
