Brown Fish on JPP

[TNtransplant08]

Anyone catching any smallies recently on JPP? If so, what areas, depth, baits?

Watching the pros at the BASS Elite series on Lake St. Claire catch big smallies is making me long for one on the end of my line. In my opinion, pound for pound, nothing is more fun to catch than a smallie! I'd love to be more efficent at finding and catching them. I know they can be tough in the summertime. Is it better to look for deep flats with schools of baitfish or along bluffs in the channel? If so, what type of baits? I'm sure some of you will probably say cranks, but I've never been good at fishing them, so its not one of my confidence baits. Any alternatives? I got plenty of tubes though in various natural hues (green pumpkin/chart., green pumpkin with orange flakes, etc.) Should I drag the tubes or jig them? Places they work well? If anyone is chasing them and has a spot on their boat they want to fill, I'd be happy to tag along and learn!

I hit the Pooles Knob area this morning and got skunked. The conditions weren't really ideal to begin with with bluebird skies and practically no wind. I decided to try new spots I hadn't fished before without any success. Got couple of light taps on a finesse worm, probably bluegills. Than I decided to try trolling for crappies and didn't get any strikes. I varied my trolling speed and different baits. I was marking some nice schools in 15-16 feet of water though. Left the water around 9:30 after the pleasure boaters started showing up.

Hope some of you have had better luck today!