Smith Mountain Lake Fishing Report by Captain Dale Wilson – December 2014

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

Picture: Jim Ott with a large crappie caught while fishing with Captain Dale a few days ago. 

OVERVIEW: Fishing has been good the past two weeks. Water temperature will be in the upper 40’s to lower 50’s. Fishing will be good as the fish feed heavily for the winter. Stripers will be the best species to fish for this month.

Largemouth Bass- Fishing will be fair. Best lures will be crawfish colored crank baits, football head jigs, drop shot rigs, spinner baits, spoons and jerk baits. Most largemouth bass will be caught on rocky points, creek channel banks, brush piles and deep docks. Best depths will be from 2 to 35 feet deep. Most schools of shad will have moved 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, jerk baits, hair jigs and crank baits. Best areas will be in the mid to the lower sections of the lake. Most smallmouth bass will 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 the larger creeks. Best lures will be jerk baits, Alabama rigs, swim baits, buck tails, and Zoom flukes fished on 3/8 to 1/2 oz. lead heads. The best depths will be from the surface to 50 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 trolled using planner boards is also a good method this month. Spooning with 3/4 oz. Hopkins spoons will work later in December.

Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be good this month. They will be found 10 to 25 feet deep. 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 1/16 to 1/8 oz. lead heads will work best to catch crappie this month.

TIP OF THE Month: Don’t overlook fishing for crappie this month. Try fishing deeper brush piles and fallen trees. We will still have some warm days and clear water. Make sure you wear your life jacket during the winter. 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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