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Largemouth Bass Techniques for River Bronzebacks (Guest Article)
by Charley W. Workman II

Growing up in West Virginia I spent most of my spare time catching smallmouths with traditional river techniques. After spending several years in southern Virginia fishing for largemouths I wanted to try something on the bronzebacks that they were not used to seeing. My favorite technique is fishing Carolina rigged worms and lizards, so I took this method to the New River and Greenbrier River in WV. To the amazement of the older river rats, my ideas worked. Let me pass on some tips to try when the bite is slow on your favorite lure.

I prefer to use either a pumpkinseed or black metal flake 6" lizard rigged Carolina style with a 2/0 True Turn hook. Fish this lure weightless to get a more natural action from the bait. Cast up river and let the current float the lizard around rocks or grass beds. Care must be taken to keep slack out of the line because occasionally the fish will catch and hold the lizard, but for the most part when they grab it they head for their honey hole.

As most of you know, you can catch your limit fishing the cover out in the river, but a lot of the bruisers are back in eddies and shaded shallows. Casting the weightless lizard to the bank and swimming it out into the river will create some awesome action. I have caught 4 pound plus smallmouths in less than 8" of water using this technique. Anytime you can cast your lizard onto structure and slowly let it hop off into the water the natural life like sinking action will almost surly get a strike.

Remember, fish ethically and practice catch, photo, and release.