The Dagger Minnow With TUcker Smith

The Bassmaster Elite Series Event on the St. Lawrence River was a true smallmouth bass slugfest. Yamamoto Pro, Tucker Smith, weighed in a total of 107 -1 lbs of smallmouth bass over the four day event to capture third place. At the center of this amazing feat was the new Yamamoto Dagger Minnow designed by Smith himself. Measuring 4.75” and available in eight proven colors, the Dagger Minnow is something different than every other minnow bait. The Inside Line caught up with Smith as he was traveling back home from the event and he was super excited to share the juice on the Dagger Minnow.

• I really wanted to design this minnow for a lot of smallmouth applications as well as for spotted bass. I grew up on the Coosa River and they've (spotted bass) always eaten that 4 ¾” to 5” size minnow really well. I've always wanted something like that as well for the smallmouth because they eat the same size bait, so the size of the bait was really key.

• The way the tail is designed, it has those bulbs on the tail and they give the tail a secondary action. That action is really something that smallmouth and spotted bass really key in on. They are sight feeders, so they're constantly looking at what they are trying to eat rather than sensing it like a largemouth does with their lateral lines. They are sight feeders so they like secondary action.

• The key to the Dagger Minnow is that we really tried to incorporate the right profile with that secondary action. Off of that secondary aciton we gave the minnow more of a rocking action rather than a tight roll like traditional minnows. A lot of times you want a bait that has more of that rocking and swaying action.

• The way we measure the salt content, we added different salt formulas to make the plastic a little bit more durable so that you can catch more than just one fish with a single bait. The salt formula allows the bait to do more of a rocking action than a complete roll. I have found that the rocking action and the tail movement works best at higher speeds. You can also slow the bait down and it has more of a slower rock but if you speed that thing up, the way the tail flickers and the body rocks back and forth it really attracts fish. I was able to test it out on the St. Lawrence and I've tested it out back home too and caught a bunch of fish on it. It's just a really great all around addition to the arsenal.

• I use tungsten jig heads and when I'm fishing shallow I will go anywhere from 1/8 oz to 3/16 oz. When I start to get a little deeper, that mid section 20' – 30' range, I'll go up to a ¼ oz and any deeper than that I'll go with a 3/8 oz. My favorite size hook is a 4/0 medium wire.

• I like to fish the Dagger Minnow on a 6'10” ML spinning rod with a 3000 size reel filled with 15lb braided line to a 12lb fluorocarbon leader. I don't tie to the jighead with a loop knot, I always have felt I have better direct action to my bait by tying direct to the eye.

• At the St Lawrence, I was throwing a ¼ oz and a 3/8 oz jig head. I was targeting post spawn smallmouth that were moving out offshore once they got done spawning. Some of them were in groups around rocks and some were on specific rocks or boulders. Most of the fish were in 15' – 30' and that's where I was using the ¼ oz. I did have some deeper fish in the 40' – 55' range and that's where the 3/8 oz.came into play

• In the tournament I was using the Electric Shad color. It is a really good two tone color. Most of the Dagger Minnow colors are two tone which when you are rocking the bait, allows the colors to basically kinda change to a fish's eye and that's a different reaction and drawing power for them.