# Looking forward to Spring, anybody???



## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Heck Yeah, I am!!! 

Last year was sweet, I really expanded myself as a smallmouth fisherman. I've got a large list of things I'd like to accomplish this year and huge expectations as well.

I can&#8217;t wait to get out there and try a few new things and perfect some of the things I learned last year. 

I just got Huddleston&#8217;s Hand Painted Huddle Bugs in today. These things look great!!! I believe fooling the Smallies just got a little easier . . . and I can use all the help I can get, my name don&#8217;t end in Linder and Smallmouth don&#8217;t just bite on a whim. 

These things are Smallmouth bite size too, at 2-3/4" it&#8217;s just the right size. Hands down the best soft plastic craw-bug/crawfish imitation I&#8217;ve ever put on a hook. When spring arrives I hope to say the best I&#8217;ve hooked a pig SMB with!  They backordered the HP Green Purple ones, but they look even better than these HP Black ones and these look killer , see pic below! 

Thanks to QueticoMike, last year I got hip to using soft jerk baits for smallies! I can&#8217;t say enough about this presentation. This year I am excited about try this again, but also experimenting using them in tandem. I found a YouTube video of KVD doing this and it looks like a winner. I think this is going to be big time for me this year in the river, check it out:





Hit up the poll and describe what challenges await you this year: New Lures, New Techniques, New Equipment, or just the same Old, same Old????????? 

There&#8217;s so much more to write about, but I talk to much as it is, see you on the boards!


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

No I cant wait either; Ive thought about heading out for the past week or so but Im just too darn busy. 
I finally got the hang of fly casting last spring and smallmouth on the fly are really something. Fly fishing opened up a whole new line of thought for me. 
I got a fly tying kit for Christmas so thats my new project; I thought that it might keep me occupied until spring but I think its making it worse. Ive tied several wooly buggers.some of them actually look like wooly buggers (lol). This year I plan on fly fishing more, my biggest SMB on a fly was ~ 15 Id like to beat that this year, I dont think I even caught a LMB on a fly last year. Hybrids and carp are on my fly rod hit list this year too.


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## Mason52 (Aug 21, 2009)

SMBHooker, does a fat baby s--- yellow, is the Pope a, well you get my drift. I don't do a lot of river/creek fishing anymore but, I used to kill the smallies on them Gulp craws in the 3" size.... You ever used them I can't find um anymore (at the stores) but they were like using the real thing. I'm sure you can find them on the web... Worth checking out and fairly cheep, I think they come 10 to a bag.......


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Mason52 said:


> SMBHooker, does a fat baby s--- yellow, is the Pope a, well you get my drift. I don't do a lot of river/creek fishing anymore but, I used to kill the smallies on them Gulp craws in the 3" size.... You ever used them I can't find um anymore (at the stores) but they were like using the real thing. I'm sure you can find them on the web... Worth checking out and fairly cheep, I think they come 10 to a bag.......


Mason52, I understand completly,

Did the little piggy go wee, wee, wee . . . all the way home?  

Nope never, tryed those, but there on the list now. 

Being a smallmouther I tend to collect a ton of craw imitations.  more than my fair share!


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## Mason52 (Aug 21, 2009)

SMBHooker said:


> Mason52, I understand completly,
> 
> Did the little piggy go wee, wee, wee . . . all the way home?
> 
> ...


I used to fish them like live bait almost. Texas rig with a 1/0 or so hook, cast um in a likely looking spot and wait for the tug, let them have it for a few seconds and then let um have it. Best craw type bait I ever used by far. Found them by accident looking for some tubes one day and thought what the heck. bought one bag on my way to float the Stillwater. That day the fishing was suckin bad so I thought I'd try one of those stupid baits I bought on the way to the river. Long story short I pounded the fish on them things and went through all 10 craws in the bag and caught fish up to around 17". Ran out of them and the fishin pretty much sucked again for the rest of the trip. They were had to find even then so every time I found some I'd buy every bag they had. That's been 5-6 years ago (muskies all the time now) but I still have 4-5 bags of um left form then.


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## QueticoMike (Sep 25, 2008)

SMB, you are welcome. During certain river conditions (low water, lesser current) the Zulu is hard to beat. I watched the KVD video, he was the person who actually started me using the Zulu back in 2005. It's funny how both of our favorite colors are the blue glimmer pearl color. I also noticed he is using red hooks now like I do. He does use a bigger hook size than I do but there are advantages to both using a 1/0 or a 4/0 hook. I have seen the double Zulu presentation before on several different fishing shows, but they always tied directly to the line, I like the way KVD is using two swivels. If you plan to use this presentation in the river, go with smaller swivels like size 2 instead of a size 5. I think this presentation is more geared toward deeper lake fishing than shallow river fishing. You also need to use a heavy line, because if you do hook into two pigs at one time you are going to wish you had heavy line on. I bet KVD is using 20 lb test on that rig. Another good reason to give this presentation a try is this makes it good to experiment with colors. You can try 2 different color Zulus on one presentation which might give you insight on which colors the fish prefer to bite on. Next time I am in Canada I will have to give this double swivel set up a try. I like the pics. of the craws, they almost look real. Not much of a jigger, I hate being snagged


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## FSHNERIE (Mar 5, 2005)

I'm not in a hurry for spring. I travel for business and I get to spend a few weeks on the Gulf Of Mexico Fishing starting in a few weeks....Just glad I was not down that way the past few weeks..


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

Those pics made me hungry for some Louisianan stir fry...thanks for making me hungry! Now, why stop at a double zulu? I think you should be the first to throw a triple-Z. Kevin Van Dam wouldn't have anything on you then, SMB! Hell, why not make the first ever KILLA GORILLA-SMB-Mega-Zulu rig!!!
chomp!









I've thrown a coaxer rig before with a spinner followed by a crankbait. I think the concept is still the same, the bass see one fish chasing another and think it's an opportunistic meal to catch the distracted chasing fish. This might be a fun rig to drift in East Fork along flats leading into the coves looking for spawning bass come spring time. Thanks for the KVD video, he's awesome 

-House


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

QueticoMike said:


> I have seen the double Zulu presentation before on several different fishing shows, but they always tied directly to the line, I like the way KVD is using two swivels. If you plan to use this presentation in the river, go with smaller swivels like size 2 instead of a size 5. I think this presentation is more geared toward deeper lake fishing than shallow river fishing. You also need to use a heavy line, because if you do hook into two pigs at one time you are going to wish you had heavy line on. I bet KVD is using 20 lb test on that rig. Another good reason to give this presentation a try is this makes it good to experiment with colors.


Yeah, huge thanks to you for sure, love this technique! I was impressed with the swivel technique that KVD uses as well. Good tip on the line test, wouldn't want to catch two fish only to have the bigger one break off leaving you with the dink!


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

FSHNERIE said:


> I'm not in a hurry for spring. I travel for business and I get to spend a few weeks on the Gulf Of Mexico Fishing starting in a few weeks....Just glad I was not down that way the past few weeks..


I am jealous yes, yes I am!!!


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

WAREHOUSE said:


> Now, why stop at a double zulu? I think you should be the first to throw a triple-Z. Kevin Van Dam wouldn't have anything on you then, SMB! Hell, why not make the first ever KILLA GORILLA-SMB-Mega-Zulu rig!!!
> chomp!
> 
> 
> ...


House that's hilarious!!!!

*"LMAO"*

I guess my vote in the poll will have to be for a new technique now!


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

Hey SMB, 
I was reading through Kevin Van Dam's forums and stumbled upon these two threads which made me think about you and your crawdads: 
http://www.kevinvandam.com/forums/viewthread/3399/
http://www.kevinvandam.com/forums/viewthread/3748/

-These guys reverse hook crawfish and lizards in the coming spawning period and make it look like the lure is feeding on their eggs. I've not had a chance to sight-fish for smallies in the rivers, but the theory sounds like it just might hold water. What do you think? Maybe you could put a wacky jig head in a zulu and dig its head around in a nest since the tail floats up.


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