Rods for Smallmouth Featuring Michael Neal
If you follow professional bass fishing tournaments, then you know that this is the time of year when tournaments are held up north where giant bags of smallmouth bass are caught. While they are usually only about half the size of largemouth bass, there is no doubt that smallmouth bass have been known to fight much harder.
Because of this, the rod is one of the most important pieces of equipment to handle those giant surges that smallmouth love to make. When it comes to smallmouth, they love finesse lures like ned rigs, drop shots, small swimbaits, neko rigs, and Damiki/strolling rigs. These lures are usually used on spinning rods, but they can also be used on BFS-designed bait caster rods like the Kovert Series 6-foot 8-inch or 6-foot 10-inch ned rig rods. These rods are lite and medium lite powers, but both have a fast action allowing the angler to make accurate casts and work the bait effectively. Rods such as these are suggested to be paired with small compact reels like the Shimano Curado BFS casting reel spooled with 6-10-pound test braided line tied to a 6-10-pound test fluorocarbon leader.
One of the most successful smallmouth anglers is Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour angler Michael Neal as several of his top 10 finishes with MLF have come up north, including his Bass Pro Tour win on Lake St. Clair in 2021, his 3rd place finish at Mille Lacs in 2022, and his 10th place finish at Cayuga in 2022. All three of those northern top 10 finishes were performed with a drop shot rig.
For drop shotting, Neal uses a 1/0 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Worm Light Hook w/ Tin Keeper and a 1/4 or 3/8 ounce Denali Kovert Tungsten Drop Shot Weight. Neal’s go-to smallmouth rod is the Denali Kovert Series 7-foot 6-inch medium power spinning rod. The longer rod helps him with making longer casts, better hookups, and more control over the fish when they make their long runs. The moderate action tip of the longer rod acts as a shock absorber when setting the hook and when the fish starts to make its run.
Neal spools his spinning reels with a 10–pound test Sunline Overwatch braid tied to a 7–12-pound test Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon leader. For shorter rods, Neal suggests the Denali Lithium Pro Series 6-foot 10-inch medium lite power finesse spinning rod. The medium lite power allows for an angler to throw lighter lures for those bass that love smaller presentations. Neal loves using the medium lite power rod for Damiki rig/strolling techniques as the soft tip gives the lure a better rolling action. Note, however, the Kovert Series 6-foot 10-inch medium power spinning rod and Lithium Pro Series 7-foot medium power drop shot spinning rod are both great options as happy mediums for an angler who would still want a medium action in a shorter spinning rod.