Cooper Gallant’s Streamlined Smallmouth System
Canadian pro Cooper Gallant acquitted himself exceptionally well on tour during his Elite Series rookie season of 2023. He earned three $10,000 checks in the first six events before turning on the gas in the campaign’s final three derbies. Those concluding events took place on Lake St. Clair, Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River, and he finished 4th, 18th and 18th, respectively, to climb to 17th in the Angler of the Year standings and thereby qualify for his second consecutive Bassmaster Classic.
To illustrate the steepness of that late season climb, note that he entered the St. Clair tournament in 43rd place in the AOY race, at that point outside of the Classic cut. With the top ten finish he climbed to 25th, then to 18th after Champlain, and eventually to 17th after the St. Lawrence.
All of the fish he weighed in during those last three tournaments were smallmouths. You might assume that he had a highly varied approach, using all sorts of hard-to-find or specialized gear, but he attributes much of his success to keeping it simple. To that end, he relied heavily on the following single rod, single reel and two lure choices.
The Rod
When chasing brown bass, Gallant may have multiple rods on the deck, but typically 80% of them will be a single model: A G. Loomis IMX pro 7’5” medium action (Model 892).
“A lot of guys like a 7’, 7’1” or 7’2” rod for techniques like dropshotting, Ned Rigs and little swimbaits,” he said. “If I can get away with it, I’ll use that longer rod. Lots of smallmouths get skin-hooked, and that rod absorbs a lot of the shock. You want a soft, parabolic rod. It keeps them pinned.”
The Reel
Gallant could choose from any reel in the Shimano lineup, up to the ultra-premier Stellas, but most of his smallmouth fishing is done with Shimano’s upper-middle range Vanford spinning reels. Most of the time it’s a 2500-size, but occasionally he’ll go up to a 3000 with hair jigs or spy baits when he want to make longer casts. The larger spool provides faster line pickup.
“A good drag is the most important thing,” he said. “Those smallmouths are super-mean, so you need the best drag you can get. I only broke off 1-2 fish all year and it was an error on my part. It can be a matter of 1-2 clicks on the drag.”
The Line
Main Line: 8-10 lb. test Power Pro Braid
Leader: 6-12 lb. test Shimano Mastiff Fluorocarbon
The Lures
This is where things get really simple. Of course he keeps his boat stocked with everything he might need, and he’ll power fish on occasion to keep ‘em honest, but two seemingly very basic soft plastics get the call in most circumstances.
Usually in Green Pumpkin Blue Flake, nose hooked
Most often Size #2
Again, Green Pumpkin Blue Flake is often his first choice, but he’ll supplement it with Green Pumpkin Black Flake
Green pumpkin ¼ ounce gets the call the most.
Cooper Gallant 2023 Smallmouth Notes
Despite finishing a remarkable 17th in AOY in his rookie year, Gallant was 4th in the Rookie of the Year race, behind fellow phenoms Joey Cifuentes, Kyoya Fujita and Bryant Smith. Will Davis Jr., Cole Sands and David Gaston will also fish the 2024 Classic in Tulsa.
Gallant finished 52nd in the 2023 Classic in Knoxville, a tournament won by fellow Canadian Jeff Gustafson.
Gallant qualified for the 2023 Classic by winning a 2022 Southern Open on Tennessee’s Cherokee Lake, where most of his fish came on the Hot Shot Minnow – both on a dropshot and a Damiki Rig. He was 2nd behind Keith Poche in the 2022 overall Opens standings,
He prefers the Ned Zone for Ned Rigging because of the “little nub” on the end – “The bait floats and that little nub has a subtle movement to it, a little something extra to trigger the smallmouths.”
“The biggest mistake people make when smallmouth fishing is moving a bait too quickly,” he said. “That particularly affects the big ones, whether you’re dragging it too fast or hopping it too much.”
Patience is critical for landing these often-spastic fish on light line. Gallant said he “will let them swim around the boat for 10 minutes” because that #2 BKK dropshot hook “tends to stay pinned.”
