How confident do you feel targeting smallmouth during their spawning season? Many anglers love sight-fishing for largemouth in the spring, but chasing smallmouth offers a different challenge entirely. Smallmouth typically spawn before largemouth and often – but not always – will spawn in much deeper water. Largemouth often spawn in under five feet of water, whereas smallmouth will go on the bed as deep as 20 feet or more. In this on-the-water seminar, Pete Gluszek breaks down his approach to finding and catching bedding smallmouth. While catching fish on the bed is difficult, finding them can be even more time-consuming. When looking for smallmouth, Gluszek likes to target rocky flats, which provide a large area for fish to build their nests. One of Gluszek’s most reliable tools when finding fish is his eyes. He recommends finding the right pair of tinted sunglasses to help you better spot fish. Meanwhile, he typically fan casts a black hair jig across the flat while looking for fish with his eyes. Once Gluszek locates the fish he relies on a combination of small creature baits, a drop shot, and a Senko to help generate a strike. Gluszek also provides insight on how to find smallmouth during the spawn, and how to approach them without scaring them off. 

  • 1:30 How To Locate Spawning Smallmouth
  • 4:15 Importance Of Proper Sunglasses
  • 6:20 Key Baits For Targeting Spawning Smallmouth
  • 12:40 Why A Strong Trolling Motor Matters
  • 14:00 On The Water Chasing Smallmouth With Pete Gluszek 
  • 24:30 How To Approach A Bedding Smallmouth

Related Bass Fishing Topics

bed fishing creature baits dropshot on the water pete gluszek senkos sight fishing smallmouth spawn

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