Smallmouth secrets with Feider

The 2021 Bassmaster Angler of the Year, Minnesota’s Seth Feider, won the title being a versatile angler.

He has proven he can catch bass anywhere, anytime.

But if you watch him fish on Bassmaster LIVE on the northern lakes, you can tell that he dearly loves catching smallmouth. And he’s quite good at it too.

With that in mind, we want to showcase some of the equipment that helps Seth capture smallmouth, and then get him to give us “the juice.” The baits and colors he uses almost everywhere he goes while he’s targeting those bronze fish we all love.

We caught up with Feider at Lake Oahe, and if you are wondering why his boat looked a little dirty, Oahe’s dusty roads are the culprit.

Seth runs a Ballistic .204, which as you may guess is a 20-foot, 4-inch boat.

Feider has some great sponsors that keep him going.

A reminder what he’s on the water to do.

He ran a neat contest this year where you could win a shopping spree with him. I think it’s over, but we may see what he would have told you to buy later in this gallery.

Here are some critical hardware for loading up your livewell.

Feider runs three Humminbird units up front.

And a couple more in the back.

For this kind of fishing, an Ultrex is not optional.

…

Like I said before, it was pretty dusty so don’t judge him! But the business is in the back starting with a 250 horsepower Mercury.

There are also Minn Kota Raptor shallow water anchors.

As this was the second-to-last event of the year, his skeg has definitely seen some things.

On the water at Oahe, Feider fished next to Matt Robertson for a lot of the tournament.

And much like the sticker we saw earlier …

… he “commenced with the whacking.”

Here’s the setups that he used, and also which colors he recommends for anyone targeting his favorite prey.

Seth was doing quite a bit of drop shotting at Oahe, and he loves the Trick Shotz bait from Z-Man.

These are his three color choices for almost any situation — Bad Shad, Green Pumpkin and Shiner.

He had a couple more Z-Man baits that were working for him on Oahe — the Hula Stickz and Scented Jerk Shadz

For the Hula Stickz, he loves Green Pumpkin.

The Scented Jerk Shadz he likes the most is Shiner.

His drop-shot setup is a 7-foot Medium/Light rod, with 8-pound braid and an 8-pound leader.

For Damiki or Ned rigging he goes with a 7-foot Medium rod with 8-pound braid and a 10-pound leader.

That may be what he tied on, but as a storm approached (look at those clouds!) we pressed Feider on other must-have smallmouth baits, and what colors he always has at the ready.

Finesse TRD is his go-to Ned rig bait. Goby Bryant, Yoga Pants and Green Pumpkin are his favorites.

When he wants to upsize, he goes for the Giant TRD, and he keeps the same colors. Now keep in mind, he may find situations that use other colors, but these are the ones he gravitates back to.