Soft plastic leeches will definitely work for smallmouth bass. Give the leeches a lot of action to make them look as similar to the real thing as possible and you’ll catch some bass.
What Sizes are Best for Smallmouth Bass Fishing?
The 3 to 4 inch leeches are perfect for targeting smallmouth bass. The smaller ones will usually get you a lot more action, but the size of the bass will be smaller on average. The 4 inch leeches are perfect for action and the chance to catch a bigger smallmouth bass. If you want to target bigger bass without all the little bass bites, try using the 5 inch leeches.
How to Rig Soft Plastic Leeches
You don’t need a bunch of different rigs to fish with soft plastic leeches. Just use your favorite jighead or a drop shot rig and you’ll do just fine. You can fish it on other rigs as well, but you don’t really need to for most situations.
Best Techniques
Hop Them Along the Bottom
Smallmouth bass are often found swimming just above the rocky bottoms as they search for crayfish and other food to eat. Use a jighead or drop shot rig to hop soft plastic leeches along the bottom with some pauses mixed in and you’ll get bites.
Shaky Technique
The shaky technique works great for drawing strikes from smallmouth bass that are not in the mood to chase a faster moving bait. A well place soft plastic leech can work great for targeting these inactive bass. The drop shot rig is a great way to create some action with this technique.
Vertical Jig Them
Working a soft plastic leech over deeper water is a very productive summer and early fall technique for smallmouth bass. Rig these baits on a jighead and jig them up and down around the rocky bottoms.
Dead Stick Them
Some leeches work great with the dead sticking technique. When the smallmouth bass suspend over deeper water, you can catch some of them by dead sticking a leech that looks great with minimal action. With this technique, you will usually get more bites by fishing with leeches that have some type of scent added to them.
