If you’re hoping to catch smallmouth in the summer, you need to know the type of structure and cover on which the fish are holding, and the way the smallmouth want the bait presented. Try these tactics to locate the fish and identify a pattern. Fish a fast-falling bait like a 1/2-ounce jig in the summer months when most lakes are relatively clear. To increase the speed of the jig on the fall, feed line to the jig when you cast it out to allow the bait to fall vertically. If the smallmouth doesn’t take the bait on the fall, hop the jig up off the bottom about 3 feet. Let the bait fall back on a slack line, watching your line as the bait falls for any interruption in the drop of the lure.

Snatching the jig up off the bottom really fast and then allowing it to fall back to the bottom as quickly as it can drop triggers numbers of strikes from smallmouth, even if they’re not hungry. Make short casts, and rip the bait up off the bottom. The closer you are to your jig when you rip it, the more vertically it will jump up off the bottom. If you make a long cast and try and jump the bait off the bottom, the bait only may hop 3 or 4 inches, instead of jumping straight up off the bottom and falling back more vertically.

Make longer casts when you locate a flat that holds a large number of scattered stumps to try and feel the objects with your jig. Use a dragging tactic until your jig hits a stump. Then, jerk the jig up to hop it over the stump, and let the jig fall vertically to get a smallmouth to bite.