SECRETS FOR BOATING SMALLMOUTHS
Jerry Crook always uses spinning tackle for this angling, and he suggests keeping a finger on the line while you fish.

"When you feel that shad jumping around, you know something is about to eat him, but you can't feel the shad moving if you don't have your finger on the line," Crook instructs.

When the smallmouth takes the bait, Crook advises that you drop your rod tip, let the fish take the slack out of the line, and then use a sweeping motion to set the hook. But be aware that hooking a big smallmouth does not mean you will boat that fish.

"Usually when you hook a smallmouth, it will come up, jump and then dive for the bottom," Crook says.

Most anglers lose their fish right after the bass makes that run for the bottom.

"The smallmouth will turn around and run at the boat," Crook relates. "You have to take up line quickly. Just as the smallmouth gets to the boat, it almost always dives under the boat."

When the fish heads beneath the boat and turns sideways, it combines its strength and the force of the current to often break the line or pull the hook free.

ANGLING ON WILSON LAKE To learn more about fishing for smallmouth bass on Wilson Lake go online to www.dcnr.state.al.us. Next follow the prompts for Fishing, then Reservoirs and finally Wilson Lake. To book a day of guided fishing for smallmouths on the impoundment, contact Jerry Crook at (205) 608-0933 or (205) 243-6198.

"To solve this problem, I flip the anti-reverse switch on my reel so I can reel the spinning wheel backwards and give up line," Crook explains.

That allows him to not only maintain pressure on the fish, but also to be able to play out more line as needed and at a faster rate than the drag would allow.

If you manage to compensate for the hard charge of the smallmouth under the boat, do not think the fight is over. A big smallmouth usually makes two or three such runs downcurrent or under the boat. And these fish often suddenly go airborne anytime during the battle.

"I've had on a smallmouth I've been fighting under the boat come up and jump in the boat behind me!" Crook noted.

ABOUT THE BAIT
"The threadfin shad is the natural forage of the smallmouths at Wheeler," Jerry Crook says. "The threadfins in this area of the Tennessee River seem to grow faster and get bigger than they do on any other lake in the state."

Ordinarily, you can use a cast net to catch the threadfins where they run in schools along the riprap on the south side the lake at the dam. Unfortunately, anglers find getting threadfins below Wheeler Dam in June difficult. This is because these shad are very tough to keep alive in captivity, so bait shops do not sell them. In the wild, this is the time when they usually go up the feeder creeks to spawn.

If you cannot locate live shad, Crook suggests making do with live minnows, which you can purchase at bait shops. The most convenient bait shop is at Fishermen's Resort, just below the dam and about a half-mile inside Big Mance Creek.

"I fish the shiners or the shad on 10-pound-test line," Crook explains. "I use plain shank hooks, and the bait dictates the size of the hook. Depending on the size of the bait, I fish with either a No. 1/0 or a No. 2/0 hook. I hook the live shad or minnow from the bottom lip up through the top lip. About one to two feet up the line from the bait, I'll have a No. 4 split-shot. Depending on the current, I may use from one to three split-shot up the line."