Smith Mountain Lake
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Smith Mountain Lake Fishing Reports
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Reports from all past years within a 60-day time frame
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
Points
Water Temperature
55°
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Hard Swimbaits
Structure
Docks
Forage
Shad
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
Laydowns
Forage
Shad
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Finesse Jigs
Structure
Docks
Forage
Crawfish
Species
Striped BassSeason
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Umbrella Rigs
Structure
Ledges
Forage
Shad
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Texas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)
Structure
Laydowns
Caught bass up shallow on beds flipping a rage craw.
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
Points
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Shakey Heads
Structure
Docks
Forage
Crawfish
Water Temperature
62°
Bass were on the shade line of docks
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Structure Jigs
Structure
Docks
Water Temperature
62°
So I am learning a lot with each lake outing, to start the day off we launched at parkway marina and drove to the closest islands. around 9:38 I picked up a glidebait and slowly worked it around the shallow stump field surrounding the islands I had a lot of big bass follow it to the boat but they just would not commit to it! I ended up accidentally setting the hook on a giant stump and when I went to get my glidebait off it there were like 3-4 five pounders waiting for it to come off! After trying many methods to get it to my bait to come loose I figured I had to go over to it and get it unsnagged. We sadly couldn't get those fish to bite so we thought we would hit the banks looking for spawning fish! I could be wrong but in my new opinion, unless it's the first few weeks of the bass spawning do not just go looking for bass on beds that will seriously hurt you! We went all over the place from Penhook to way past Scruggs boat ramp and had only seen small bass! after passing up one off a bed I Skipped a white jig and trailer up under a dock and missed a bass. Now this got me thinking, I had seen plenty of empty bass beds and the bass are in all stages of the spawn, we had started the day main-lake on prespawn bass and found spawners in the shallow of coves! That means the post-spawners should be still somewhere near where they spawned... Docks of course! why hadn't I thought of this? so after adding a new skirt on my destroyed white jig and tying on a green pumpkin (orange accent) jig with a green and blue flake rage craw on a second rod, I started skipping docks! And started to see bass on every dock suspended I ended up catching one two-pounder on live bait, and another smaller one on that green jig. As I skipped docks I also looked for bass that were still on a bed, I ended up making my way into the back of another cove, and as I was skipping docks with my jig. a man (a lake resident) was sitting on his dock and called me over because he had been fishing for a bass that was on a bed and couldn't get it to bite! So I slowly trolled over and since the fish was in open water I decided to skip my bait to it! I started off with the white jig but he would just nose down on it, so I skipped a fluke to it, and he would just chase it off the bed but would not eat it, so I skipped a ned rig to the fish, and after a few tries I was able to catch that fish. He was another two in a half-pounder! After I had released the fish, I thanked the elderly man and continue to work my way out of the pocket! I ended up making a run from the Scruggs area to Craddock Creek. I saw a few more spawners but I couldn't get them to bite before my time on the water came to a close!
