Fishing them at night really is a no brainer. Slow and steady on top is just hard to beat. Sometimes they want it subsurface but I only try that if the surface retrieve is really not working. You can let them sit before you start retrieving them. Sometimes fish will just blow up on the bait out of no where when you do that. I usually only do that if its really calm out. Smallmouth will definitely hit the slammer. I have a few friends who have caught smallies at night on it. Fish in general will hit it at night, you'd be amazed. I've heard a bunch of stories of big catfish eating them at night and I personally have caught several bluegill and crappie on the 9" Slammer at night. Always an odd surprise when you get a 4" bluegill on a 9" bait lol.