Funcie Muncie Smallies

By Coltin Gresser

I attend Ball State University for Natural Resource Management major and two minors one in wildlife biology and the other in history. This is in Muncie Indiana. Of course, the first thing you do when you choose a college to go to is to make sure there is some sort of body of water nearby to go fishing in. I am a lucky fella, Ball State had a field I wanted to study for school and has the WhiteRiver that runs right through town so that after classes and my off days I can hit the river.

For one of my internships, I did in the summer of 2022. I worked for the Bureau of Water Quality as a fish biologist electro-fishing the White River and the surrounding tributaries. Conducting fish surveys would help indicate the health of the rivers and streams. Not only was the job fun as heck, playing with fish all day, but you really got to learn some great spots for certain game species of fish.

I grew up fishing mostly for Largemouth like many people in the Midwest and heck even around our country. As for Smallmouth, I fished for them every once and a while and fell in love with them pretty quick. With that internship, I was able to find some really good Smallmouth spots and even sampled some absolutely stunning-looking smallies while electro-fishing. I’ll give y’all a little bit of information on what I use and when I fish the river in town.

From my experience with targeting smallmouth bass, they are not a super hard species of fish to target. They are so aggressive to the point where you must ask yourself are these fish mentally okay. They will hit the same lures and bait as a Largemouth bass does. So jerk baits, crankbaits, soft plastics, and all the live bait choices as well. What I have noticed though is that for soft plastics, Largemouth love black and blue coloration while Smallmouth do not care for it as much. I am not saying this is true everywhere, but just within the waters that I fish.

Setup

For my setup, I am running the light to a medium-weight spinning rod and reel. I have always said this a 2 lb small mouth feels like a 4 lb large mouth. Especially on lighter rods the fight is one of the best. The company of rods and reels I mainly use are Shakespeare and any Bass Pro brand equipment. They are easy on the wallet, and they perform well for me.

Lures

I will give one lure that has changed the game of fishing for me. Whether the water is 2 feet deep to 5-7 feet deep I use the Bitsy Minnow. It is a formidable weapon against any fish. This thing is a multiple species killer, it will attract all species of sun fish Long ear, green sunfish, bluegill, red ear, etc. I have caught walleye on it, white bass, yellow bass, yellow perch, and crappie. Largies and smallies especially love it too. It is a little 1.5-2-inch square bill crankbait. Dives 2-4 feet and has a pretty tight wobble to it. The coloration I use depends on what body of water I am using but if I am fishing the White River in Muncie, I am using the craw colors with red, black, and a sort of greenish yellow on there. Also, the traditional shad color and then my third choice is the fire tiger coloration as well.