What are you looking at??

This smallmouth bass looks kinda pissed at the camera but, if you look more closely at his mouth, you’ll see the true object of his ire…there’s a 1/64-ounce tube jig stuck in his lip.

I hooked this guy and a bunch of his buddies along the…

North Fork of the American River near Auburn, CA, which gets extremely warm this time of year. All the trout have long since bailed upriver, leaving that stretch of water to the pint-sized smallies in the late summer months.

While the bass rarely get over 15 inches, they’re fun to catch on light gear. All you need are some small jigs, spinners, spoons and a few dinky plugs and you can handle just about every situation you’ll encounter.

I like to throw these little baits on 4-pound test with a Shimano 2500 sized Stradic reel and a GLoomis SR 841.

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