Plenty of the typical smallmouth techniques have been utilized this week at the St. Croix Rods Bassmaster Open at St. Lawrence River, but Elite Qualifier pro Jamie Bruce has used an under-the-radar presentation to catch the majority of his 24-pound, 8-ounce Day 2 bag.
With his 23-5 Day 1 performance, the Kenora, Ontario native entered the final day in third place with 47 pounds, 13 ounces.
Making the long run down towards the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, Bruce has thrown an underspin, specifically a 1/4- to 1/2-ounce Smeltinator Underspin and a 3-inch Z-Man Slim Swimz swimbait, at pelagic smallmouth.
“They seem to like eating that thing,” he laughed.
While other anglers are targeting pieces of cover, the smallies Bruce is targeting aren’t relating to structure. Instead, they are roaming in the top 20 percent of the water column.
“These pelagic ones are in the first 20 feet and they don’t care how deep it is below them,” he said. “There is something more than gobies that they are feeding on. I don’t know what it is. I haven’t seen any bait balls. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I hope they keep doing it.”
A couple of these smallmouth are in groups with other species of fish, including a 5 ½-pounder he caught out of a school of walleye. He isn’t sure exactly what they are feeding on other than his lure, but he has been able to get the quality bites he needs with that bait.
“I am getting denied by a lot of fish (too). It is a lure that is working for me and I haven’t found anything else that is working as good, but I am not even catching 10 percent of the ones that are out there,” Bruce said.
While it isn’t the traditional “moping” technique that his buddy Jeff Gustafson used to win the 2023 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic at Tennessee River presented by Toyota, his underspin technique requires a lot of the same precision.
That was difficult in the windy conditions he faced on Day 2.
“It is a really finesse presentation,” he said. “Your casts have to be 100 percent accurate. You have to be perfect on them or you aren’t going to catch them. The underspin does give you a little bit of cushion if you miss by a little or if they are on the move and that extra little flash kind of turns them sometimes.”
Using a 7-3 medium-heavy 13 Fishing Envy spinning rod, he combated the wind on Day 2 by using the ½-ounce version. Bruce said it is almost like bed fishing. Each smallmouth reacts differently to the underspin and he has to experiment with his retrieves.
If the smallies are with schools of walleye or drum, he keeps the bait above their heads to pull them out of the group. If it is a lone bass, he said they are usually easier to catch.
“Sometimes it is a straight retrieve, (especially) if you are pulling them out of the pack. Sometimes I have to pull it right up to the surface and twitch it, like how you see Kyoya (Fujita) fishing. It’s not like they are smoking it. It is just a really subtle bite and then it is on.
“They don’t want it right in front of their face. They want to work for it. It may not seem like a reaction bite to many, but it is all reaction.”
Bruce and the rest of the Top 10 are scheduled to return for weigh-in beginning at 2 p.m. ET. You can catch all the action on Bassmaster.com.
