Smith Mountain Lake Fishing Report August 2016 by Dale Wilson

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

PICTURE: Eddie Burnette of Huddleston, Va. with a nice striper caught 7/26/16 while fishing with Captain Dale.

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OVERVIEW- Fishing will be fair this month! Water temperature will be in the 80’s. Best times will be early morning, late afternoon and at night this month. Fishing the past few weeks has been fair! Extremely hot dry weather has slowed the striper fishing. Night time is the best time to try your luck for bass.

Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass will be fair this month. Best lures will be jigs, drop shots, deep diving crank baits, Texas rigged large plastic worms, football head jigs and shaky heads. Most largemouth bass will be caught near deep water ledges, brush piles, rocky points and deep water docks. Best depths will be from 10 to 30 feet deep. When fishing at night most bass will be caught in deep brush and rock piles. Remember hot water temperature slows the metabolism of most species of fish.

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 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 stumps and isolated rocks on flats near deep water. Most smallmouth bass will feed after dark this month.

Striped Bass- Fishing should be good this month. Stripers will be caught in the lower to mid sections of the lake and the large creeks. Best lures will be swim baits and Zoom flukes fished on 1/2 to 3/4 oz. lead heads. Stripers will surface some later this month. Best times to fish is cloudy days, early morning and later afternoon. The best depths will be from the surface to 80 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 poor this month.

Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be poor this month. They will be found 15 to 30 ft. deep. Crappie will be found around docks, deep brush piles, standing timber and fallen tree tops. Small live minnows and 1½ to 2 inch tubes or shad shaped plastic lures fished on 1/16 to 1/8 oz. lead heads will work best to catch crappie this month.

TIP OF THE Month- It’s a good idea to always fish with a partner at night. Dark colored lures seem to work best on dark nights and using a black light really helps you see at night. 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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