Scale down for smallmouths? Not a chance

New Hampshire pro Rick Lillegard scoffs at the notion that in order to catch quality smallmouths from clear lakes, you have to use smaller baits, lighter line and a finesse approach. He does just the opposite.

“I like 3/4-ounce spinner baits with chartreuse or white blades tied on 20-pound green Silver Thread line,” Lillegard said. “The line size doesn’t matter when you are working a bait really fast, which is how we use those big spinner baits.”

Lillegard also likes full-size Zara Spooks (he uses them all day, even when the sun is high and bright) and 6- or 8-inch plastic lizards on a Carolina rig. Smallmouths, he says, are just like largemouths in the sense that larger baits typically catch larger bass.

Of course, that may just be another myth.