Straight-forward tactics, plus insider tricks that consistently turn fish in good conditions and bad.

Just cast it out and reel it in. Experiment with jig sizes, grub sizes, and speed, but don’t drop it, hop it, or stop it. The key is a steady, horizontal retrieve. Determine depths bass are using by starting high and fast on the first cast and ending up low and slow until a pattern develops. Cast out, drop the rod tip, count the jig down to the target depth, and start reeling slowly. Or quickly. I recently won a tournament reeling chartreuse Berkley Power Grubs over the top of rockpiles and reefs as fast as my hands and the reel handle would allow.

In spring, a 1/16- to 1/32-ounce head combined with a 2- to 5-inch grub retrieved slowly across flats adjacent to spawning areas produces giant bronzebacks for me. Later in summer, suspended smallmouths (rarely positioned more than 30 feet below the surface) will at times rise 10 to 15 feet for a 5-inch grub on a 1/4- to 3/8-ounce head retrieved at moderate speeds over 30- to 70-foot depths. Use a 7- to 71⁄2-foot, medium to medium-light spinning rod (I like Red Barn wooden-handle rods with G. Loomis blanks), a spinning reel with a large spool (such as the Team Daiwa 1600), and 6- to 8-pound line for long casts that cover as much water as possible.

Colors should imitate pelagic minnows. Smoke, smoke with pepper, white, clear with metal flake, rainbow trout, and shad patterns are the best options I’ve found. Uncover the right combination of color, size, speed, and weight, and suspended smallies can’t seem to resist the slow but steady progress of an augertail grub, even when they seem to refuse everything else.

Weeds And Wood

Certain jigheads on the market are designed to produce weedless presentations with shorter plastic bodies like grubs. The Legacy Lures Legacy-Lok jig and Bobby Garland’s TR Head are examples of designs that bury the hook point in the plastic while delivering a level horizontal presentation. These jigs also work well as drop baits when fishing pockets, and when dragging twintail grubs on bottom along a weededge.

In spring, smallmouths invade reed beds in sandy lakes and hold atop rock humps in shallow bays. Isolated wood cover can hold dozens of smallmouths during prespawn. In lakes lacking rock, reeds, cabbage, and wood are important to smallmouths all summer.

A spinnerbait might be the right call when bass are active. But they can be spinnerbaited to death on key spots. When that happens, or when cold fronts reduce the aggressiveness of smallmouths in reeds or surrounding cabbage beds, try replacing the spinnerbait with a 4- to 5-inch grub on a weedless head. Or rig it Texas style with a Gambler Florida-Rig sinker. Just cast into alleyways and pockets in the reeds and slowly reel it out past the edge.

This tactic replaces the spinnerbait with something similar but far more subtle. It slides horizontally through reeds and cabbage tops, like a spinnerbait. But instead of calling bass to the bait with a bright flash and heavy vibration, a grub hides and emits a soft pulse. It isn’t felt by a bass until it’s close, piquing curiosity. When the grub emerges, it’s so close that it tends to trigger reflex strikes, even at slow speeds.