In Cold Water, Heavy Metal Reigns Supreme

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If you target open water Northern smallmouth, one of the best windows on the calendar to target trophy smallmouth is during the early winter through early spring. With water temperatures ranging from the mid 30s to the mid 40s, smallmouth are less active, only feeding opportunistically. With that in mind, ensure that your boat insurance matches your obsession to chase those fish in those conditions. Dress for warmth and safety with warm beverages on hand and pack your gear as advised. Ace smallmouth anglers Larry Mazur and Neil VandeBiezen might change your mind on the best way to trigger sluggish smallmouth into biting. 

Why not just fish a tube?

Both Mazur and VandeBiezen agree that smallmouth need to be prodded into biting during the colder months, and they believe that the vibration produced by a heavy blade bait, jigging spoon or a lipless crankbait are the best options to counter their cold-water lethargy.

Wait! No tube or swimbait or grub? How can that be? Both experts agree it’s a time-and-place scenario. Those presentations have their respective windows, but in the winter heavy metal rules.

Though they live at opposite ends of Lake Erie – Mazur hailing from New York, VandeBiezen from Michigan – both have won enough money in tournaments to validate their like-minded theories. 

“It is all about the vibration when it’s cold,” VandeBiezen said. “Those baits trigger strikes.” 

Mazur concurs, but believes the triggering properties are rooted in “the flash and more erratic action of the spoon, blade or lipless crank, as opposed to a tube that just hops up and straight down.”

Find the Bottom, Find the Fish

Another key variable in the formula is the bottom composition. Obviously, the fish must be there, but during the colder months, they are often glued to the bottom and even with the best electronics it can be difficult to decipher if the fish are actually present. Mazur uses down- and side-imaging modes to identify smallmouth hidden between rocks, buried in sand or clay, where smallmouth often rest on the bottom until their next meal is delivered naturally or by current. 

For VandeBiezen, his Humminbird Apex units depict the rock/sand transitions that smallmouth travel along. He prefers to utilize MegaLive 2 to monitor how fish relate to structure, but also his baits. 

Choose Accordingly, but Fish it Slow

Water temperatures will dictate both lure selection and cadence. The warmer the water, the more action both anglers will impart in their retrieves. That said, if your bait does not touch bottom consistently, made the adjustments needed to make sure it does. Forget about any suspended fish you may stumble upon; if they’re hungry, they will swim down and strike it off the bottom. 

Mazur recalls a day of fishing with a friend who initially refused his advice, resulting in Mazur out-catching his companion 12-1. Frustrated, his friend begged for advice, and Mazur simply repeated his initial guidance – watch the slack form in your line before closing their bail, then impart short hops either vertically, or when working the bait back to the boat. 

Especially on the Great Lakes, drifting is required at times to cover large areas and produce bites, Mazur keeps his bait within 20 feet to avoid snagging. Similarly, VandeBiezen imparts short hops while mixing in a violent snap every so often to help trigger following fish. Both agreed that as water temperatures drop, strikes come just as a bait is lifted off the bottom, never on the fall. Additionally, they say fish won’t move much more than a few feet to chase a bait. The short hops keep the bait right in their face. 

Warmer water temperatures (near 50 degrees) mean Mazur opts for a 3/4- to 1-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS jigging spoon in silver or chrome. He prefers a 7-foot, 5-inch medium-heavy action casting rod, with a soft tip and plenty of backbone. A G. Loomis IMX PRO 893C paired with a Shimano Curado 200M reel spooled with 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon allows for long casts when the water is calm, and he needs to work the bait back to the boat to trigger bites. 

When they are feeding aggressively, smallmouth will swim to strike it on the fall, but there is no need to rip the jigging spoon aggressively. Sure, it catches fish, but it might deter more bites it triggers. 

As water temperatures descend towards 38 degrees, both anglers slow their cadence, pausing the bait up to 5 seconds, to trigger a bite. Both anglers only need a couple of rods on deck in this scenario. 

Mazur starts with a blade bait in a purple/white hue, and mixes in silver and gold/black versions until the smallmouth show him what they prefer. He throws a 3/4-ounce Cabela’s Mean Eye Blade most often, but he’s found that the longer profile of the SteelShad keeps the line from getting fouled around the hooks. Mazur prefers a parabolic medium action spinning rod, like the G. Loomis Conquest 902S SJR, paired with a 3000 series Shimano Exsence reel spooled with 15-pound high-vis Seaguar Smackdown braided line joined to a 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon leader. He’ll lock the drag down and only back it off once the battle is on. 

VandeBeizen has a trick or two up his sleeve, also. He grew up fishing a 5/8-ounce Silver Buddy blade bait, and it’s still a bait in his rotation. In conditions where a heavier bait is overpowering, the Silver Buddy gets the nod. 

He’ll also reach for a 3/4-ounce Berkley Vibrato, initially developed by Patrick Sebile. It’s a spoon style bait with the line tie positioned along the edge of bait rather than the end. The result is a unique action and vibration profile. He prefers to doctor his blade baits with gold prism tape, and he’ll replace the stock hooks with #4 Mustad Triple Grip EWG short-shank hooks. He fishes the bait on a Lew’s Andy Montgomery Bladed Jig casting rod paired with a Lew’s HyperMag reel spooled with 17-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS or Strike King Contra fluorocarbon line. To fish the Silver Buddy, he’ll use the same setup with 14-pound line instead. 

In Vandebiezen’s mind, this isn’t just a big water deal. He’s done well in the St. Joseph River, a tributary along the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, fishing a Vibrato in 17 feet of water in a swift current. 

“There have been times that the (Vibrato) has got a different vibration than the Silver Buddy does and out-produces it,” he said.  

Words to the Wise

One benefit of forward-facing sonar is that, more than ever before, anglers can witness how fish react to different presentations, but also how they are presenting their lures to the fish. To that point, both Mazur and VandeBeizen suggest the average angler throwing the aforementioned baits tend to work them far too aggressively. Much like Mark Zona cracks a tube on fluorocarbon to work it in its place, both anglers agree with his logic and use fluorocarbon for most of their presentations. While Mazur uses braided line for his blade bait, he fishes it on a medium-action rod to absorb the power of the fish and control the movement he is imparting to the bait. Less is more should be the mindset. Remember, injured baitfish are often targeted first, so adjust your cadence accordingly.

If you have done everything right, followed their words to a tee and still have not been able to get a bit, Mazur offers this little nugget: When the heavy metal lets him down, he’ll reach for a ghost-coloured Nishine Lures Simcoe 75 HW lipless crankbait, weighing 7/8 ounce. As it falls, it shimmers much like a blade bait and emits a unique vibration. Mazur attributes its slower fall and wobble-like action to triggering those fish that wouldn’t fire. He’ll swap out the hooks for #4 EWG style hooks, and he’ll get some custom-painted in patterns that have produced well. Mazur uses the same set-up as his jigging spoon, but instead opts for a heavy-action G. Loomis CBR906C crankbait rod.

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