Smith Mountain Lake Fishing Report May 2016 By Captain Dale Wilson

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

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OVERVIEW- Fishing should be good this month! Water temperature will be in the 70’s. Best times will be cloudy days and at night the month. Fishing the past few weeks has been good! The baitfish has moved to the shoreline late at night as they are trying to spawn. The warmer weather has caused fishing patterns to change. Most fish are feeding at night!

Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass will be good this month. Best lures will be jigs, drop shots, crank baits, top water lures and shaky heads. Most largemouth bass will be caught near shallow coves, stumps, shallow brush piles, secondary points and shallow water docks. Best depths will be from 2 to 15 feet deep. Most largemouth bass will have spawned by the end of the month. When fishing at night, most bass will be caught on wake type lures such as Thunder sticks, fished close to rip rap points.

Smallmouth Bass- Fishing should be good. Best areas will be humps, stumps and shallow secondary points. Best lures will be tubes, jigs, top water lures and shallow to medium running crank baits.. Best areas will be in the mid to the lower sections of the lake. Cloudy days with wind are good times to try your luck! Look for areas with rocks, on points next to deep water. Smallmouth bass will continue to spawn in shallow water. Look for stumps and isolated rocks on flats near deep water.

Striped Bass- Fishing should be good this month. Stripers will be caught in the lower sections of the lake and the large creeks. Best lures will be top water, Red-fins, Thunder Sticks and Zoom flukes fished on 3/8 to 3/4 oz. lead heads. Casting early and late day can be productive. Stripers will surface during the month of MayBest times to find schooling fish is cloudy days, early morning and later afternoon. The best depths will be from the surface to 30 feet deep. Live bait fished on planner boards will work well this month. Most fish will be suspended and will constantly be on the move. Find the largest concentration of shad. Night fishing will be good this month. Mid to lower end of the lake seems to work best when night fishing.

Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be good this month. They will be found 2 to 10 ft. deep. Crappie will be found around docks, brush piles, stumps 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. Most crappie will continue to spawn this month.

TIP OF THE Month- Shad constantly move to the shallow water at night to spawn this month. Best time to fish is from 11 pm to 2 am. Most species of fish, especially bass and stripers, will feed 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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