The tail-out section of the long, moderately deep Allegheny River pool had a proven record for producing smallmouth bass, including big ones.

So, it was no great surprise when Scott Stewart set the hook, his medium power spinning rod bending into a deep bow. A few minutes later, he was proudly posing with a 19.5-inch smallmouth bass, a thick one that pulled the scale to 4.1 pounds.

It was a personal best smallmouth bass for Stewart, an Atlanta-area native and current resident that doesn’t get to pursue smallies often. When Stewart traveled north, he brought with him experience in finesse bass fishing, honed in part on Georgia’s Lake Lanier, along with some of his favorite baits, including Z-Man Fishing’s Finesse Wormz.

It was the Finesse Wormz that duped his biggest smallmouth along with several others of more modest size.

The experience illustrates a couple key points. One, tail-out sections of pools often hold gamefish, in this case, smallmouth bass. But such areas are also held in high esteem by walleyes and trout. Secondly, when bass are not in a chasing mood, are not willing to move for a bait, putting a more diminutive offering in front of them will often get them to strike.

Tail-out are those zones where a river or stream transitions from a slower, deeper pool before spilling into a riffle. The water becomes shallower and the current increases. Some tail-outs occur abruptly, others stretch out for a considerable distance.

In the case of the former, gamefish will tend to be more concentrated, where in the latter they are often scattered. The more character a tail-out features — scattered rocks, weeds such as eelgrass, scoured out depressions in the streambed, imbedded wood — the more likely gamefish will use them as feeding stations.

The tail-out where Stewart caught his big bass features a curb of river cobble that lines the east bank of the river for about 30 yards, one that quickly drops into two to three feet of water. Big brown bass hold tight to the bank along this ledge, which provides a great ambush point for any prey that passes in front of them. Over the years we’ve taken dozens of 18 to 20-inch-plus bass from the spot.

Typically, bass holding in this spot (and similar ones) are willing to intercept larger, offering such as a five-inch fluke-style soft jerkbait, ones fished a few inches under the surface. But in general, this summer, river bass have been less inclined to do so. Put a small finesse style worm or craw imitation down on the bottom, however, and they’ve eaten it.

Stewart fished his Finesse Wormz on an 1/8-ounce shakey head jighead. As the name implies, a shakey head is designed to have the angler impart subtle rod twitches that gives the offering a shakey action.

We’ve had excellent success this summer fishing other finesse soft profiles on light 1/16- and 1/8-ounce worm head (mushroom shaped) jigheads. This includes Z-Man’s Crawz and Hogz. Most of -Man’s soft baits, including all the ones mentioned here, are made of Elaztech, a gummy, stretchy material with characteristics that differ from conventional soft baits.

For example, hooks and jigs that feature corkscrew style screw locks don’t work well. It’s very hard to get the screw lock to bite into the gummy material to thread it into the bait.

Jigs with sharp bait-holder barbs work OK, though you have to really jam the bait up tight against the back of the jighead to get the barbs to bite. I like to add a drop of Loctite superglue gel to secure the bait.

Though Elaztech baits can be more challenging to get rigged, they rarely wear out. We’ve caught over a dozen bass on a single bait. You’ll likely lose it to the bottom before having to replace it.

Another profile that works extremely well as a finesse bait is the standard curly tail jig. I prefer Galida’s Grubz, which can be worked along the bottom as a finesse bait, and also off the bottom with a steady retrieve as a soft swimbait.

Finesse baits aren’t limited to flowing waters. They work well on our area lakes as well, particularly when the bite is tough. Z-Man’s Hula Stickz, fished on a light worm head jig, is one of my favorites.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle