With all the 'Beaver' hype, I stumbled on something a little different that really kicked butt on early season smallies up on the Winnipeg River at Rough Rock Lodge. After playing around with Smallie Beavers and a lot of different knockoffs, I put on a Gambler Little Otter and never looked back. Instead of being a really subtle bait like a beaver, they are a high action bait with a lot of wobble and movement.

Simply rigged Texposed with a 2/0 Gamakatsu Superline Extra Wide Gap hook, the bait would slowly sink and flutter. When reeled or pulled, the little 'shad tails' on the side really thump and force the whole bait to really wobble. If you split the tail, you really eliminate the wobble so I would recommend you leave it intact unless the fish are really finicky.

The big surprise was that it is awesome as a buzzbait (like a Horny Toad). I caught countless smallies by buzzing it, but caught more and bigger fish (up to just over 21"!) by pulling it a foot and then pausing. The pike really liked it buzzed and I was constantly retying. I will be bringing some Tyger wire with me when I head up the next time!

Like all the beaver-style baits, you can also Texas rig it, Carolina rig it or peg it (the new Florida rig weights work awesome for both of these techniques. They are a silicone filled bullet weight that stays put where you put it and are easily adjustable), you can also flip it, skip it and jig it. The Fin-Tech Title-Shot jigs are ideal for these style of baits.

I was after smallies and used the 3" Little Otter but they will also work on largemouth. There is also a 4"Big Otter if you really want to target largies.

Give them a try and I hope they produce for you like they did for me.
Brett Erickson

Nice photo of my WIFE! back in North Channel Brett!! We need to talk!! ASAP! Rog is in the channel as we email, more to follow, are you coming up this weekend!

Hope I can get some more photos of her next week--only with a bunch of smallies bigger than the 20"er in the photo!!! I will try and post some of the pictures when I get back from this coming trip. It is hard to get past the first portage lake when the smallies are that big, but I need to get back into 2, 3 and 4! I should be up late Sunday night. See you then.
Brett Erickson

Another year has gone by and the smallies are still loving the Little Ugly Otters. Just got back from Rough Rock Lodge and in 3 hours yesterday landed 8 over 19" with a 21-1/4" and a 20-1/2" on back to back casts. Most were on the White Lightning, but also got a couple on Hurricane Craw.
Brett Erickson