October 2016 Smith Mountain Lake Fishing Report by Captain Dale WIlson

SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE FISHING REPORT October 2016 DALE WILSON’S SML GUIDE SERVICE PHONE NO: 540-297-5650 / 540-874-4950 www.captaindalewilson.com

Picture: A couple from Pennsylvania holding 2 of the stripers they landed while fishing with Captain Dale, on their first trip to Smith Mtn. Lake.

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OVERVIEW- Fishing will improve this month! Water temperature will be in the 70’s. Best times will be early morning, late afternoon and cloudy days this month. Fishing the past few weeks has been good. Cooler and shorter days will make for better fishing as the water temps start to go down.

Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass should be good this month. Best lures will be jigs, drop shots, medium diving crank baits, Texas rigged plastic worms, football head jigs, Carolina rigs and shaky heads. Most largemouth bass will start to move to their fall patterns this month. Brush piles, rocky points, humps, main points, secondary points and docks will be the best areas to try your luck. Best depths will be from the surface to 20 feet. Remember that baitfish will start to move up river and into the large creeks and coves.

Smallmouth Bass- Fishing should be fair. Best areas will be humps, ledges and long main channel points. Best lures will be tubes, jigs, drop shot rigs, jerk baits and deep diving crank baits. Best areas will be in the mid to the lower sections of the lake. Cloudy days with light winds and night time are good times to try your luck! Look for areas with rocks near ledges on points next to deep water. Look for humps and isolated rocks near deep water. Most smallmouth bass will suspend around baitfish this month.

Striped Bass- Fishing should be good this month. Stripers will be caught in the mid to upper sections of the lake and the large creeks. Best lures will be swim baits and Zoom flukes fished on 3/8 to 3/4 oz. lead heads. Stripers will start surface this month. Best time to fish is cloudy days, early morning and later afternoon. The best depths will be from the surface to 60 feet deep. Live bait fished on planner boards will also work this month. Most fish will be suspended and will constantly be on the move. Find the largest concentration of shad. Night fishing will be fair this month.

Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be good this month. They will be found 5 to 15 ft. deep. Crappie will be found around docks, deep brush piles, and fallen tree tops. Small live minnows and 1½ 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- Water temperature will fall this month causing the baitfish to move to the coves, creeks and up river. Try to find the areas with the largest concentration of bait fish. Night fishing will still be fair.You can also hear reports about local fishing on the website: THE BASS CAST RADIO SHOW each month. Make sure your running lights are on after dark! Remember to be courteous and obey all the boating laws. TAKE A KID FISHING!

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