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Smallies @ Chester Woods


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Hi all. I am new to the forum & honestly realtively new to fishing. Anybody have any tactics/hot spots to find smallies @ chester woods. Have been having good luck w/ plastics (texas rig). Any thought/locations or tips appreciated!

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Nellie, you have come to the right place to get just the answers your looking for. Welcome to FM-HSO!

I believe Chester has so much structure it's almost impossible to not catch fish out there. This spring was actually my first open water trip out there. Ice fished it before but never open water.

The bass should be hitting surface plugs now. Baby Torpedo, floating Raps, and Jitterbugs.

A couple other things about Chester, they have a minimum size on the bass and the bluegills are managed also. In my opinion Chester has the best gill fishing around. I caught my personal best out there in June. 10 1/8"

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Nellie great to have you. you will learn so much from here it is unbelieveable. Anyway aobut your question. I don't beleive actually that there are smallies out there. Now maybe you know something i don't but i have spent 300+ hours of fishing out there in 3 year and have yet to boat a smallie. But here is what i will tell you for the largies. Fish where people don't fish for them. This means right by the Public access and as far from it as possible. Also if you are willing to fish some of the deeper structure you will also benefit as to most fellas are bank beaters. i have had really good luck with buzzbaits and frogs this time of year and even if you don't get the hook ups the blow ups are a good time. good luck and please do post results and we all like pictures. ike

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Thanks for the info boys!! Ike you're right they are large mouths... told you I am still pretty green crazy.gif

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Nellie,

Welcome to FM-HotSpotOutdoors.com. I think you’ll find this website to be an excellent source of information and hopefully it helps you catch more fish.

Chester Woods is a diverse body of water with tons of natural structure and deep water.

Get yourself a heavier plastic like an Exude Comida (I’ve been having great luck with the Christmas Tree color) and rig it wacky. For deeper water, I usually put a 1/32 oz bullet split shot above the 5/0 hook so it drops a bit faster.

Good luck and let us know how you did.

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