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Small Ikas for Winter Smallies
Dear Inside Line writers,
I was wondering if the small Ika's would work well for winter smallmouth. I fish a cooling water lake for a nuke plant but when you get away from the warm water discharge area the temp's can be in the low 40's. I try to fish on fairly calm days and use a vertical, dead-stick presentation. The Ika's look like they might work for this. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Stan Kerbs |
Brian Marshall says:
When the winter gets too long (and if I can get my boat through the snow to the water) I have fished the outflow from the nuclear plant on Lake Ontario. When doing so, I have had good success with both Ika's and double-tailed Hula Grubs. Due to the low water temperature, the fish tend to be sluggish and while I've taken fish 'dead-sticking', I've found that the longer the bait is suspended, the higher the ratio of strikes. I rig my bait so that it falls as slowly as possible. Keep in mind that as the temperature goes down, the water becomes more dense and you'll need to do some experimentation (each time out) to find the right amount of weight to achieve the optimum slow fall. Once it hits bottom, deadstick it for a few minutes then slowly lift the bait off the bottom about eighteen
inches or so, hold it up for a moment, then allow it to fall again. Remember, the key is SLOW . . . slow fall, slow lift and slow fall.
Good luck!
Stan Scott says:
Without a doubt, the Ikas work well on cold water smallmouth. I just went out today and caught a few (up to 3.5 pounds) on Ikas and on a 4-inch skirted double tail (93-series) that I fished backwards with a splitshot hook. The water temp here in the Northwest is 47 degrees, which is very warm for this time of year... a good indication of how mild our winter has been so far. By the way, if the cover you’re fishing will allow you to get away with it, I would also recommend using the Yamamoto Split-shot hook on a Carolina rig.
Good fishing!
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