I am fishing for Smallmouth in 25' to 50' of water and want to know your opinions/recommendations on what lures to use and what company makes them.The forage is; Alewife,Golden Shiner,Rainbow Smelt, Blueback Herring,Yellow Perch,and White Perch.The water is clear (you can see down to 10' - 20')or more.The lake is rocky with
short grass (3" - 5")off the bottom but seems to be sparse and the lake gets carolina rigged all the time.Would you match the hatch or because it is deep go with a larger bait to allow the smallmouth to see the bait better?The Rainbow Smelt and the Yellow Perch seem to be the favorite of the smallmouth on this lake!Will be fishing in the fall.
Thanks in advance!
:-)

A#1) Why aren't you fishing NOW?!?! #2 Are there crawfish in the lake? If so target patterns that imitate them too, as they are usually the primary forage of Smalley's anywhere they are found together.
Lastly to answer your question, Usually by fall the baitfish have gotten fairly good size for each species. If I were looking for numbers of Smalleys I'd go with 3-5" standard drop shot lures in clears, and light colors. Try both straight and wackie rigging and start aggressively shaking it at 5-10 second intervals. If the Aggressive approach doesn't work tame it way down. You might also try marking up your lures with scented pens to match what you think is being eaten at the moment or add a trigger color like a Chartruese tail.
If I were going for trophies I'd go bigger with 5-8" baits and start tame then go aggressive.
Tight lines,
Wade

I try to keep my dropshotting simple by really only using Roboworms and sticking to only 5 colors. You cant go wrong with Roboworms, I dont think anyone would argue that. They make 4.5", 6", and 7" worms, all of which I would use in the fall for smallies.

As for your swimbait question, hmmmmm, I suppose the Mattlures would work for you on smallies. But they are smaller and it would take them forever to get down to 50'. But Mattlures has a Konkanee pattern that would look just like the alewife. What state are you in anyway?

I am in Massachusetts and have not made a cast yet this year and
will not be fishing anytime soon:( Yes the lake has crawfish but the smallies seem to be favoring the Smelt and Yellow Perch.

I did a lot of drop shotting for small mouth in Oregon. We used tubes, 3" Senkos and Yum Dingers (3-4" Senko like bait). Roboworms are definately a good choice for drop shotting as well. Several color options and sizes.