# Smithwick success



## hoffman24 (Jan 26, 2011)

Saturday 3/24/18 
Central Ohio river 
Temp: 30 and falling 
Eastward wind
Water clarity: about 1 foot 
Lures: smithwick super rogue clown & P10 blue and chrome 

Decided to hit the river and man was it a good choice. Got on the water at 6:45pm. Took my five favorite sticks and chucked them in the water to get them accustomed to the temp. Started throwing a joshy with no luck. Went back to my lures, spent the 15 minutes to tune each one and got back to work. 
First let me start by saying, if you made me choose one stick bait for saugeye, I’m picking smithwick clown every time! 

Within 5 minutes of throwing, it was on! 
I Was fishing the deeper slack water leading into the current seam. Fish were feeding up and wanted the bait right on the edge of current. First fish of the evening went 21” and fat. Proceeded to catch two more jacks. 

Decided to reposition myself out of the current and to fish the deeper pool of water. The Fish were extremely aggressive! I kept the bait moving a little faster than the current. 1 moderate speed wrist roll and a good aggressive twitch. Went with that tactic all night and threw some 1-2 second pauses in. Caught my limit on the clown and then lost my only one with me  
It didn’t matter though, switched to the P10 blue and chrome and they kept going for another hour. Very few few chased the bait in. Most hits were 15-30 feet away from me and eating the front of the bait. 

Went 10 of 12 and the two I lost were the biggest eyes I have hooked in quite some time. I have caught my share of 26-28” eyes and they were flirting around that size. 

7 of 10 eyes went 21”-23”. One of the three males was milking good but female eggs didn’t seem ready to drop yet. 
All fish went back except for a small jack (I wanted a snack) 
Great to see a local river holding a bunch of fish Ohio eyes. Hoping some of those turn into 28”+ one day. 

Knowledge gained from this experience: always have two of your favorite bait.


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## hoffman24 (Jan 26, 2011)

Crappy pics... flash wouldn’t work on the phone. 

The last pic I had to jump in the water after. Caught her by the tail before she got away


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## Skippy (Dec 2, 2009)

Real good report
. Thanks.. If you like the clown color you have to try the p10 in the sunrise color. A new color for me but it's been putting a hurting of some eyes. That and those dam J5's in electric shad color with a stinger hook. Oh yea, lime crush rogues also.
The weathers warming up, the lakes are clearing up and the spillways are mostly back to normal,, at least where I'm fishing. Going to be getting real good out there. Mother nature just has to call off those darn east type winds..


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## hoffman24 (Jan 26, 2011)

Skippy said:


> Real good report
> . Thanks.. If you like the clown color you have to try the p10 in the sunrise color. A new color for me but it's been putting a hurting of some eyes. That and those dam J5's in electric shad color with a stinger hook. Oh yea, lime crush rogues also.
> The weathers warming up, the lakes are clearing up and the spillways are mostly back to normal,, at least where I'm fishing. Going to be getting real good out there. Mother nature just has to call off those darn east type winds..



Thanks! That’s a color I need to purchase. Looks great.. 
love the lime crush and was close to pitching out the j5 last night but the stick bait bite was too good! 
Everything is about back to normal around here. The flow was perfect last night. 
Should be a very good week of fishing.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Very nice! We stunk it up yesterday,only hitting 10/11 smaller sized eyes...


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## hoffman24 (Jan 26, 2011)

Saugeyefisher said:


> Very nice! We stunk it up yesterday,only hitting 10/11 smaller sized eyes...


Just never know with saugeye. I could go back and do the same thing tonight and get skunked. But I guess that’s what keeps us coming back. It’s one pesky fish


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## hutch (Apr 29, 2010)

Great report!


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## Skippy (Dec 2, 2009)

It's a super hard thing to do BUT the best time to try something different is when your really on the fish and there hitting. You can end up with 4 or even more real go to lures and or colors. I've even left good bites and moved to other spots just to see if I could find active fish there.
Now I love to catch fish but there's something about taking a lake apart and finding out what makes it tick..


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Great work Hoffman24 those are the evenings and trips we long for and always remember. Actually wonder if it was the same night mine was last Tuesday night got into the same scenario just one girl after another 17 fish Ohio's that evening it was unbelievable they were knocking stick baits left and right never threw a swim after dark because was having too much fun. Glad you got into them I know you do well I like the advice you gave at beginning you let them baits get used to the water temp and tune them up that was key for me as well good fishing buddy.


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## hoffman24 (Jan 26, 2011)

fishslim said:


> Great work Hoffman24 those are the evenings and trips we long for and always remember. Actually wonder if it was the same night mine was last Tuesday night got into the same scenario just one girl after another 17 fish Ohio's that evening it was unbelievable they were knocking stick baits left and right never threw a swim after dark because was having too much fun. Glad you got into them I know you do well I like the advice you gave at beginning you let them baits get used to the water temp and tune them up that was key for me as well good fishing buddy.


Thanks Troy, only reason I left was because my feet couldn’t bare the cold water anymore. I definitely had to leave biting fish. 

When it comes to tuning baits, I learned from the best! 
It’s absolutely worth the little bit of extra time. At least while the water is still this cold.


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## BWW (Oct 28, 2017)

I have been fishing x-raps & husky jerks for years. P10s always looked too big to me. After reading this string, I went out and bought a few Smithwicks (2x P10, 1x Elite 8, 1x Pro Rogue). Went to the St. Joseph River (Michigan) over the weekend and I am a believer. I fished my x-rap (Hot Steel) and caught one decent walleye. Finally decided to try the Smithwick Elite 8, Blue Chrome. Tuned it per FishSlim's seminar at the Fishing Expo. It was like turning on a switch. No walleye -- but the smallie were on fire. Like Hoffman24, only reason I stopped fishing was the cold. Thanks OGF!


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## HappySnag (Dec 20, 2007)

BWW said:


> I have been fishing x-raps & husky jerks for years. P10s always looked too big to me. After reading this string, I went out and bought a few Smithwicks (2x P10, 1x Elite 8, 1x Pro Rogue). Went to the St. Joseph River (Michigan) over the weekend and I am a believer. I fished my x-rap (Hot Steel) and caught one decent walleye. Finally decided to try the Smithwick Elite 8, Blue Chrome. Tuned it per FishSlim's seminar at the Fishing Expo. It was like turning on a switch. No walleye -- but the smallie were on fire. Like Hoffman24, only reason I stopped fishing was the cold. Thanks OGF!


moust of time i use size HJ #14 suspending.


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