Ohio Game Fishing banner

favorite creek lure

8K views 43 replies 39 participants last post by  One Legged Josh 
#1 ·
Id like to know what everyones favorite creek lure for small bass? My son and I have just started fishing creeks and in the process of trying to figure out this creek fishing , any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
#3 ·
I like floating rapalas ( or any other floating lure). You will catch fish with them, but if you get hung up give the line slack and you have a good chance to save your $5 investment.
I'm confused as to why anyone would buy crayfish. Invest in an aquariam net and turn some rocks over and you can quickly find all the bait you need.
 
#5 ·
you can catch craws while you're fishing;)
when i used to wade,i'd do just that.they're usualleasy to find in rocky streams and a 1 1/2 - 2 inch crawl drifted with just eneough shot to get it down and keep it moving is deadly on stream smallies.
 
#6 ·
A little one inch white grub with a white head with black eyes. IT catches numbers and everything from 2inches to 12.
 
#10 ·
I will give you my top two suggestions for summertime smallies. The first is some type of fat crank, depending on your setup. If you're fishing a medium action rod, go with the Wally Marshall cranks in light green. It has caught me 4 or 5 smallies 13" - 17 1/4" here in a small stream. It has also caught me the most smallmouth this summer. All I'm doing is reeling steady, with pauses here and there. IF fishing a light action rod, go with either Bomber ultralight cranks from Walmart or Strike King Bitsy Minnow in brown. The Bitsy Minnow caught me several Hocking River smallies before moving.
The second recommendation is the Zoom Fluke and Zoom Fluke Jr in white. The last two trips with the Fluke Jr has resulted in about 12 smallmouth, with the biggest going 16". I work the lure with erratic twitches and no weight. It can be tricky in areas of faster moving water, but really effective.
This time of year, DO NOT overlook the shallow riffle areas for smallies. On my trip today, using the Fluke Jr., that is where I caught the vast majority of my fish. At one location, I was throwing into 3-4" of water and twitching Fluke into faster area probably 3 feet deep or so. I had 4 smallies in about 15 minutes hammer the Fluke as soon as it the dropoff of the faster water. Definately exciting because all strikes were on top.
 
#12 ·
I'm probably starting to sound like a Yum evangelist about now since every time this comes up that's my answer, but such as it is, still my answer :)

Yum crawbug rigged weedless. I normally use the 3.5" variety in pumpkin flake I think the pattern's called.

I also like a black jitterbug during the summer, especially at dusk and on into dark.

I also normally throw a soft jerkbait (like a senko) and a tube jig as well. I also sometimes use the Rebel Wee craw thats been mentioned already, but also an original Rapala floating minnow works well at times.

CW
 
#13 ·
best creek lure i've ever used is the beetle spin, great on any size stream. caught everything from 1 inch panfish to a 14 inch sm on it. can be used as a spinner or jig(very effective for the sm). use it all the time and it def gets the numbers and variety(crappie, sm, lm, saugeye). bright green has been my best color, great little classic lure.
 
#14 ·
I am still very old school. I still find myself going back to the usual standby for my, jig and twister tail. In fact I went last evening for a couple of hours and filled my small belt tackle box with all sorts of lures - several cranks, Mepps spinners, small spinner bait, tube jigs. When I finished up I had only used the jigs and a small bit of time with a Mepps Aglia. Jigs just are so versatile and are effective on fish of any size. If I am getting into much smallmouth action with sizable fish I will opt for other baits such as cranks but I did not find anything last night to change my approach. In a couple hours of fishing I landed 3 little smallies and nearly a dozen rock bass all on jigs with 3" twister tails in white.
 
#15 ·
1/16 rooster tail in black or chartreuse is my go-to lure, but everything that has been mentioned works well, too. Sometimes it just depends on the day.
 
#17 ·
I fish a local creek near my home very often and only take a few lures. Rebel Wee Craws are by far #1 (Brown/Orange), small floating rapala's, a couple of 1/8 rooster tails (black, white and rainbow only), and a couple jigs and twisters. Its hard to beat 1.5-2" fresh craws during summer months, especially when fishing rocky cover and moving water. If you can't catch a smallie on a wee craw, my guess is that you are fishing the wrong body of water, they are impossible to beat.
 
#18 ·
i fish Darby alot and i am a huge fan of inline spinners. my favorite brand is definitely Panther Martin because the shape of the blade makes it alot easier to get the balde spinning. rooster tail also has a line of spinners with the bulged blades. they should catch anything and everything in the stream including bigger sm.

i also agree with fratfish, beetle spins work great too.
hope this helps and good luck :)
 
#19 ·
I'm a little late on this, but not too much mention of the topwater bite. I am a topwater junkie and I have found some generic 1/8 oz buzzbaits at Gander Mountain that have worked great on creeks. They are so light that they can be pulled relatively slow and still stay on top. I have caught everything on these: largemouth, smallmouth, wipers, rockbass and even a northern. Also, the smallest size skitterpop is great for smallies.
Bdrape
 
#21 ·
Ive fished creeks for a long time with spinners, small cranks, and jigs only. Using ultralight spinning gear. I caught tons of fish and occasionaly some up to 16 inches.

I switched to Buzzbaits, 4 inch black senkos, 4 inch black sickletail powerworms texas rigged with a 1/16 oz weight. Sometimes a skitterpop.
all on 10lb test baitcast gear. Fished in pools and riffles, and the same places as usual.

THE RESULT ___ I only catch about a third of the fish that I used too.
averaging from 10 - 18 inches and several up to 21 inches.

The thing is big fish like bigger bulkier lures, and smallies aren't shy at all about smashing a buzzbait in the middle of a shallow riffle.
 
#22 ·
i have been fishing both of the darby creeks b/c i live on the little this year i found a lot of success w/ bright colored rooster tails u will get a lot of rock bass w these and small mouth but traditonally i like the pumpkin seed and watermelon zoom u can put a rattle inside and it works very well
 
#26 ·
i definatley would go with any bright colored rooster tails. i have had great results with these in the Darby creeks.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top