November 2014 Smith Mountain Lake lake Report by Captain Dale Wilson

Picture: Tim Ward holding his first striper in a long time, while fishing with Captain Dale last month.

SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE FISHING REPORTNovember 2014DALE WILSON’SSML GUIDE SERVICEPHONE NO: 540-297-5650 / 540-874-4950www.captaindalewilson.com

OVERVIEW: Fall is a great time to be on the water! The leaves are changing and the fish are usually feeding as they prepare for winter. Water temperature will be in the 50’s. Fishing for stripers, bass and crappie should be good this month. Stripers will start to feed at night this month.

Largemouth Bass- Fishing will be good. Best lures will be Carolina rigs, crank baits, Texas rigged plastic worms, football head jigs, drop shot rigs, spinner baits and shaky heads. Most largemouth bass will be caught on rocky points, humps, brush piles and docks. Top water fishing will be fair this month. Best depths will be from the surface to 25 feet deep. Schools of shad will start to move towards the back of the creeks and to the head waters of the rivers.

Smallmouth Bass– Fishing should be fair. Best areas will be rocks, humps, ledges and main channel points. Best lures will be jig & pig, top water lures, hair jigs and crank baits. Best areas will be in the mid to the lower sections of the lake. Most smallmouth bass will start to feed on crawfish this month. Cloudy days are good times to try your luck! Light line and smaller lures will increase your chances to catch smallmouth bass.

Striped Bass- Fishing will be good. Stripers will be caught in the upper sections of the lake and in the larger creeks. Best lures will be top water poppers, Alabama rigs, swim baits, buck tails, and Zoom flukes fished on 1/4 to 3/8 oz. lead heads. The best depths will be from the surface to 40 feet deep. Try to find areas with the largest concentrations of baitfish. Casting to schooling stripers will be a good method to catch stripers this month. Live bait and trolling is also a good method this month. Some stripers will feed at night.

Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be good this month. They will be found 5 to 15 feet deep this month. Best areas will be in the main creeks around docks, fallen trees, and brush piles in the mid to upper parts of the lake. Small live minnows and 1 ½ to 2 inch tubes or shad shaped plastic lures fished on 1/32 to 1/16 oz. lead heads will work best to catch crappie this month.

TIP OF THE Month: Don’t overlook fishing at night this month. We will still have warm days and clear water. Make sure you wear your life jacket. You can never be too careful when boating. Remember to be courteous and obey all the boating laws. Please practice catch and release. Take a kid fishing!

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