Raritan river MEGA float 8/10/18:

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

All you need for SMB anywhere is plain old Mr Twister tails on 1/8 to 1/4 oz plain unpainted jig heads.. Thats been my best lure for them for decades.. best colors have been chartreuse, or a brownish/crayfish color... small FinS or Sluggo style plastics in a natural shad/silver are almost as good, and provide a bit of variety that help in certain water/weather conditions..
Also have found small plastic crayfish clones deadly as well, natural color.

Slow is often the best retrieve for them, some days painfully slow. Right in the rocks.. You will hang up a lot of course, but thats where the fish are. The smallest,lightest jig heads that will get to the bottom will hang up a lot less.
I have had several days when they would hit best in streams/rivers on an almost non moving lure.. Throw it out let it sit barely moving and they snap it right up.. Especially when the water starts getting cold..
SMB are active predators when they have to be, but in most rocky steams they eat crayfish and various nymphs almost exclusively. Stuff that resembles little stone dwelling critters are deadly for them.

Yes at times they will nail spinnerbaits, or blow up on surface lures, but small jigs are the most successful lures for them under most conditions simply because they resemble what they actually eat most of the time.. bob

Thanks for the input, Bob. Getting down into rocks is definitely something Ive noticed about catching them.