Smallmouths are a simple sort – treat them as such

Somehow, the word “simple” became an insult. Depending on how it is used, simple can refer to a lack of skill, a planned approach, or a willful choice not to complicate. 

When it comes to smallmouth fishing, it’s easy to go to the other extreme and discard proven – simple – tactics for the sake of trying something different. It’s an internal struggle many anglers have waged. 

Count Bassmaster Elite Series pro Jay Przekurat along with Canadian native Joey Teofilo and his tournament partner, Joey DiCienzo, among them. 

Przekurat cut his teeth fishing his various lakes and rivers around Wisconsin, chasing smallmouth in every weather condition imaginable. They all led back to a hard, mud bottom transitioning into good grass. 

Teofilo is obsessed with chasing smallmouth, especially on the famed St. Lawrence River, where he’s set records and won three major tournament titles with DiCienzo targeting specific sand/rock transitions. 

As experience has taught them all, simplicity is often rewarded with success.

The “Joeys” Recipe 

Transitions are everything when it comes to smallmouth, according to Teofilo, who alongside DiCienzo has won nearly $100,000 over the past three years. Their 32.02-pound stringer of smallmouth on day 1 of the 2024 Canadian Sport Fishing League's 1000 Islands Cup at the St. Lawrence is recognized as the Canadian record for a one-day limit of smallmouth. The 61.88 pounds they amassed over two days at the same event stands as the record for 10 fish, all smallies. 

The “Joeys” recipe involves boulders scattered 15 to 20 feet apart from each other. This creates a gauntlet, of sorts, for the baitfish, crayfish, and gobies that hold on them. As the forage wanders into the open, sandy areas between the boulders, smallmouth are often waiting to devour them. 

The Joeys prefer to hole-sit on proven big fish areas, maximizing key feeding windows rather than milk-run a host of spots. It’s an approach learned over time and has instilled a confidence when it’s tournament time. 

“We fish against the fish,” Teofilo said. “You need five bites (so) when you get those bites, make them count. Those bigger fish are smarter and harder to trick.”

Using the depth shading feature on their fish finder’s GPS, they identify unique structures in key areas conducive to big fish. In a 500 square-foot area, the juice might only be a 50-by-50 patch, but they’ll surgically dissect the areas to cycle between. 

“Smallmouth like warmth,” Teofilo added. “Sand, rock, and limestone all heat up throughout the day with that sun, and they digest in that shallow water. They're not really searching; they're just moving around, but when something passes by that they want to eat, they will.”

Smallmouth feed upward, so they’ll start out casting a half-ounce white spinnerbait and a 3/8-ounce white/chartreuse bladed jig on a 7-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy G. Loomis NRX+ casting rod paired with a Shimano Metanium reel spooled with 14-pound fluorocarbon. 

Both inside and outside the gauntlet of targeting the boulders and the sand/rock transitions, Teofilo also fishes a half-ounce white spinnerbait rigged with a trailer hook. If they do not smash the spinnerbait on its way down, he’ll let it hit bottom before retrieving it through the water column. Smallmouth usually strike within the first few cranks and drawing them too close to the boat will blow your cover. Have a finesse set-up like a dropshot rig or small tube as a follow up to pick off spooky fish.  

No Grass, No Current, No Problem 

Teofilo despises fishing current and grass. Both negatively impact his ability to place precise casts consistently. Even when the wind howls in his face, the line must be pointed at the target. Decoding shallow smallmouth requires stealth and surveilled information only available from Teofilo scouting from his trolling motor, verifying what the forward-facing sonar displays, and evaluating the quality of fish it reveals.

He and DiCienzo developed an antidote to those stubborn pelagic smallmouths – the X Zone GBO dice bait. Resembling a pyramid and featuring 10 hand-threaded silicone strands, this entry into the dice bait craze shines for the Joeys when rigged on a dropshot tied to red 8-pound PowerPro braid finished with a 6- to 8-pound fluorocarbon leader. They opt for a G. Loomis NRX+ 902 spinning rod – Teofilo’s “everything rod” – paired with a Shimano Exsence 2500 reel. That combo is also effective for downsized swimbaits and spybaits.  

Dice baits aren’t the answer to every situation, hence why Teofilo Ned-rigs a 2.5-inch X Zone Stealth Craw rigged on a 3/16-ounce jig head fished on a 7-foot, 4-inch medium-action spinning rod. Long casts are paramount as are sure hook sets and a parabolic action to keep hard-charging smallmouth pinned. A small swimbait fished on a 1/8-ounce head can upgrade a limit quickly. Long casts, light heads, and light line are part of the game the Joeys like to play on the big river.

Przekurat Gets Lost in the Weeds

With three consecutive top-10 finishes in the Elite Series Angler of the Year race, Przekurat has applied his midwestern roots across the diverse set of fisheries he faces on Bassmaster’s top trail. He’ll be a name to watch next August when the Elite Series visits Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence. 

At Champlain, he’ll be on the lookout for smallmouth relating to grass, a tactic he honed back home in Wisconsin. Looking for muddy basins that come up into a hard sand bottom where healthy slime-free grass grows, he says it best attracts the perch, pike minnows, and crayfish that smallmouth crave. Curly pondweed and coon tail are his favorites since hydrilla is rare up North.

Smallmouth prefer to sit on top of the grass, so avoid any grass that is topped out. He’ll target those fish with a half-ounce green pumpkin Strike King Thunder Cricket with Blade Minnow trailer on 17-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon. He favors the 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy Lew’s Andy Montgomery Thunder Cricket casting rod paired with a Lew’s Custom Pro casting reel (7.5:1 ratio). He’ll also rotate through an ayu or pro blue colored Strike King KVD J300D jerkbait fished on 12-pound fluorocarbon and a medium-action rod.

Green, healthy weeds can take anglers to water 20 feet deep due to the heat, causing weeds in the 5- to 10-foot window to get slimed over. During the fall, shallow water is the first to clean up. Points and inside turns are a bonus, not a prerequisite. Przekurat sees it as a summer/fall deal because most hard structure gets slimed over during the warmer months. Sand/rock transitions are more predominant patterns during the spring due to the vegetation die-off. 

Finding the Juice

Figure out where the fish spawn and live during the spring, Przekurat says, and you’ll uncover a key ingredient to the recipe.

“They're not going to stray far because they want easy access to the deepest water, regardless of the size of the lake,” he said. “During summer, smallmouth use tight contours to slide into those grassy areas to eat but then slide down the 25-foot break until they’re hungry again.”

Przekurat catches most fish on a hollow spot in the middle of the grass bed because it houses the bigger, more active fish. Anyone can fish a weed edge, and those fish get pounded and conditioned. Irregular weed lines are more of a player on lakes like Lake St. Clair, which is famously devoid of changing bottom contours. 

Przekurat searches for unique spots inside the weed line. 

“Whether it's a clean spot, or even if you have a straight flat of 5-foot grass and there's one clump that comes up to 8 or 9 feet, sometimes those fish will congregate around that higher clump just because of shade for the baitfish,” he said. 

This season, he’ll utilize the 16-inch Garmin GPS ECHOMAP Ultra 2 to display his forward-facing sonar with the amber palette. Setting the gain between 65 and 68 percent facilitates a clean screen to paint out that barely visible smallmouth in the grass.

A dropshot rigged with a 5-inch worm, like the Strike King Filler Worm in green pumpkin or morning dawn, is effective for pinpoint casts to these openings. Rotating through 3/16-, 1/4-, and 3/8-ounce cylindrical Woo! Tungsten dropshot weights, he’ll opt for the lightest possible that can still sink to the bottom. Seaguar PE X8 braided line with a 12-pound leader of Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon gets the nod in this scenario.

When the wind howls, smallmouth will concentrate in numbers near the grass bed. Przekurat will offer up a Carolina-rigged creature bait, like the Strike King Scounbug or Structure Bug in green pumpkin hues. Finding orange pincers in his livewell suggests he’ll dye his baits likewise. Interestingly, he throws a lighter rig starting with 1/4-ounce and topping out at a half-ounce while keeping his leader around 12 inches. It’s easier to cast, especially on 17-pound Seaguar InvizX, he added.

Przekurat warns anglers that grass fish aren’t predictable – or simple.

“You could have the best stretch of grass one evening,” he said, “and go back the next night and not see a bass on it for two weeks.”

---