Smith Mountain Lake August Fishing Report - A Summer free of boat traffic, roaming schools and deep brush
DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE SUMMER TACKLE
I RECOMMEND
Smith Mountain Lakes Low Water is still here, media outlet coverage like once a week and hell even the Governor decided to show up. What felt just a low water spring and early summer is now evident the low water is here to stay, but not all is lost or bad. We have been creeping up in level the last two weeks with some pretty consistent rains and some heavy downpours and AEP just decreased their output number so things are moving, even slowly in the right direction. The other positive to the water is the boat traffic is almost non existent. I’m taking seeing maybe five boats at most ramps during the week and the weekend boat traffic feels like almost nothing compared to years past. This is also allowing the fish to get a break from the pounding of anglers we get each summer. It’s definitely changing some of the fish behavior and the bait locations so let’s get into it!
For one, the off shore bite has been staying hot for a lot longer this year. On top of less pressure we have also been getting some nice cool overcast mornings and windy days which has dropped the water temperatures back into the high 70’s. This has kept the Fluke bite and the topwater bite firing off most days and throughout the day. We have been focusing on schools below the state park and below Gills Creek and long points that drop fast into the main river channel. Standing timber has been the key for finding the large bait fish schools and schooling bass and stripers. The fish are staying much higher in the water column focusing on pushing baitfish to the top. I am starting to see the baitfish size start to get smaller and smaller so downsizing to something like a Dirty Jigs Tactial Bassin Mini UnderSpin paired with a 2.8 Fat Swing Impact has been a great go to bait. We are also having great luck on the Megabass Karashi as a super small sub surface topwater. Both lures are getting tossed on 6lb-8lb Seaguar Gold Label leaders on light spinning rods to be able to get them casted further. If you’re lucky enough to be around some bigger bait fish a Missile Baits Eye Roll head 1/8oz 3/0 with a Missile Baits Freedom Flyer in 4.25 Live Minnow color has been pulling up some big smallmouth and stripers on these same areas. Each day if you have FFS you can find out quickly how high up the fish want to be for the day and decide to either drop to them or throw that topwater or fluke over their heads.
The second bite has been a great shakyhead/dropshot bite in brush and deeper docks. However this year is unique as most the better brush is a little to shallow for the bass to really gang up in. I’m having to move out to some more isolated and deeper piles and docks that have close to that 20ft range near them. If you know of or have rock close by that’s an even better area. I have started to really get dialed that these fish are not moving around a lot to each. We are having to deadstick the dropshots a lot and downsize to the 4” Missile Baits Magic Worm almost every day. On the shakyhead I’m slowing the fall rate down by having clients toss 1/16oz heads with bulkier profile baits like the baby D-stroyer or a Zoom Mag Trick worm. Name of the game has been slowing down a lot. The dock pattern is actually not specific to an area it’s more just focusing on the docks that have the water under them so move around a lot.
Last is one of my favorite ways to fish which is tossing the MAGNUM Spoon down on them. This works very well at SML due to the large Gizzard shad we have present. This can be deployed on schooling fish, single floaters, stump fish and even over the tops of brush piles. Beef up your rod and line for this because they rip it out your hand every time.
Striper Fishing is all about the river channel. There are still large schools on the lower end of the lake but man they swim around a lot. You have to be super quick on the draw to get your baits down. It’s jigging time so you don’t need much besides a heavy 3”-5” spoon or a heavy 3/4oz jig head with a fluke on it to get down to them. The channel swings up the Roanoke seem to be holding some massive schools if you can take the time to scan and find them.
If you’re looking or know anyone looking to check out SML as a possible HOME or second HOME please feel free to reach out to me for info on the market and changes due to the lower lake levels.
