Live Baiting Smallmouth Bass with Brad Whitehead

October 31, 2024

Live Baiting Smallmouth Bass with Brad Whitehead

Phillip Gentry

 

Veteran fishing guide and B’n’M pro-staffer Brad Whitehead loves to fish for crappie on his home waters near the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama. With big name lakes like Pickwick, Wilson, and Wheeler just a short drive from his residence, Whitehead has his pick of top-quality fisheries to choose from.

As a well-known guide, Whitehead caters to his vast clientele the best way he knows how – by catching lots of fish. Over the course of his career, he discovered that some of the “side fishing trips” he enjoys taking on his own time for a variety of fish species, are also very appealing to visitors to Northern Alabama. One such trip is one he’s been doing since he was a teenager, catching monster smallmouth bass on live bait in the tailrace behind Wilson dam.

“This is a great trip and I’ve been taking a few clients over the years to the point that most of them want to come back every year now,” said Whitehead. “I guess when you’re catching smallmouth bass that average over 4 pounds, that’s a trip worth repeating.”

By cast betting his own bait in the same water he’s fishing, Whitehead assures he has the liveliest, freshest bait he can get.

Whitehead said during the fall, smallmouth bass that live in Lake Pickwick migrate to the headwaters behind Wilson dam. The pattern begins around mid-September and will last until well into December depending on how cold it gets. The purpose of the bass’migration is to feed on the schools of shad that move into the headwaters to fatten up for the winter.

“I start by throwing a cast net and catching enough 3 – 5-inch threadfin shad to fish with for a day,” he said. “I keep these in a big Xtreme bait tank on the boat. The cast net is smaller 3/8-inch mesh so I don’t have to pick the shad out of the net, the weave is tight enough that they slide out of the net without getting hung up in it.”

As a B’n’M pro-staffer, Whitehead has used a number of different rods to catch these fish, but a recent fishing trip with Jason McDuffie from B’n’M has led him to what he believes is the perfect rod for this type of fishing.

“B’n’M makes a rod for just about every kind of fishing out there,” said Whitehead. “When I was explaining how hard these big smallies fight in the heavy current, Jason suggested using the one piece B’n’M 75^th Anniversary rod. After a day of making a lot of long casts with live bait, keeping a close feel on the line as the bait skimmed along the bottom, and then making solid hooksets and fighting some big fish in a 2-mph current, I was convinced this was the perfect rod for the job.”

Eagle Claw drop shot hooks, paired with hi-vis 8-pound line and the right amount of weight, allow the angler to make solid hookups when fishing for smallmouth bass.

While smallmouth bass migrate upstream, they tend to hold in seams out of the current behind rock outcroppings on the bottom. To target these areas, Whitehead motors up into the current area and spot locks the boat with the trolling motor. Using hi-vis 8-pound Vicious line, the best way to get a bite is to cast perpendicular to the shoreline and let the current bring the bait back along the bottom.

“You have to play with the weight a little bit to get the right balance. I use a single split shot somewhere between a #5 and BB size crimped about 18 inches above the hook,” he said. “Like the rod, I’ve experimented with a number of hooks and by far the best I’ve used is an Eagle Claw drop shot hook in size #2. The water here is only about 10 – 12 feet deep, so everything needs to look natural and bump along the bottom without hanging up.”

At the end of the day, Whitehead’s goal is a 20-pound bag for each of his clients.

Whitehead said newcomers often try using store-bought shiners to catch smallmouth bass using this tactic, but the difference in the way the bait acts when it’s impaled upward through the lips is night and day. He said you can feel the threadfin shad fighting the hook whereas a storebought shiner just drags along like a wet rag.

“This is something every die-hard angler should try at least once,” said Whitehead. “I don’t care if you’re a bass guy, a crappie guy, or a catfish guy. You cast that shad out there and start slow reeling and then wham! that big smallmouth grabs that bait and heads downstream, you got a fight on your hands you won’t soon forget.”

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To contact fishing guide Brad Whitehead, give him a call or text at (256) 483-0834. Brad can assist with travel and accommodations to make your fishing adventure complete.

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With fishing tackle to meet your every need, B’n’M Fishing has everything you need to make your next fishing trip one to remember. Check out our website at bnmpoles.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest at B’n’M Pole Company

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