One of the most popular lures used by smallmouth anglers today is the tube jig. These simple soft-plastic lures come with or without trailing skirts, and they can resemble crayfish or minnows. Brown tube jigs resemble crayfish, but they also look like a small goby. Both mean dinner to a hungry bass. Besides brown, productive tube jig colors include pumpkin, smoke, green and variations of these colors with gold or black flecks.

Most smallmouth bass caught by boat- and shore-anglers range in size from 10 to 14 inches, but there are literally thousands of bigger fish out there, too. Bass in the 2-pound size-range (about 16 inches) are fairly common, and 3-pounders don't raise many eyebrows. There are even quite a few 4-pound fish taken by anglers throughout the warm weather months. If you catch a 5-pounder, though, you have caught a trophy.

These days, the smallmouth bass fishing on Lake Michigan is better than ever. To help keep it that way, it is important to handle fish carefully and to practice catch-and-release whenever possible.