Smith Mountain Lake November Fishing Report - Praying for cold!

VA weather has been so up and down the last two falls. We seem to get a great cooling trend in October that kicks fall off then a warming trend and high pressure systems keep unusually warm air temps and low chance of rain. This causes the water temps to dip at night and rise as much as 4-6 degrees during the sunny days which can cause the fish to have a small bite window and suspend. I like being an honest guide and know that the fishing has been tougher on a lot of the local anglers. However!!!!!! I’m writing this mid November (sorry for the delay) and we just got a few colder raining days from a tropical storm that moved up from Florida. This is going to raise the water level and get the fish moving around. We have a massive cold snap on the way and with how loaded up these suspended fish are the next few weeks of fishing are going to take off!

For bass it’s been about covering a lot of water and junk fishing. This is a fun way to fish because you can learn a few new techniques and it challenges you to become a better angler but it can also cause you to spin out if you go hours without a bite. I have caught good bass on damiki rigs in 40 feet the last few weeks over tree tops on the main lake and isolated big ones super shallow on a shaky head. With the bass suspened out on most points on the main lake I would be sure to have a topwater on, jerkbait, fluke and spoon. These fish will start committing to baits as the water temp chills. For the shallow fish a crankbait and jig are going to start to come into play. Look for stained water up the two rivers or windblown banks on the main lake section. Once the water temps drop into the mid 50’s its game on for some of the best fishing of the year.

Stripers are LOADED on points. We are catching a lot of fish on 3.3 swimbaits on a 1/8 or 1/4 jig heads or a fluke if they are closer to the surface. If you have forward facing sonar just keep an eye out for schools of fish that are bigger than 10 fish. If you don’t have front facing just point hope as quick as you can and start shallow moving deeper on each point until you get a bite. On a calm day keep you eyes out for schooling fish.

Crappies are starting to stack in piles in 12-20 feet on the main river section. We had one 14.5” crappie in early October from a brush pile in 18 feet.

If you’re interested in getting out in the boat send me a message or give me a call. If you can handle some colder weather it can be a great time at a giant bag of bass with these cooler temps.