Smith Mountain Lake Fishing Report September 2016 By Captain Dale Wilson

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

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OVERVIEW- Fishing will be good this month! Water temperature will be in the 70’s to lower 80’s. Best times will be early morning, late afternoon and cloudy days this month. Fishing the past few weeks has been fair! Hot dry weather has slowed the fishing. Later this month fishing should improve.

Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass should be better this month. Best lures will be jigs, drop shots, deep diving crank baits, Texas rigged large plastic worms, football head jigs, Carolina rigs and shaky heads. Most largemouth bass will start to move to their fall patterns later this month. Brush piles, rocky points, humps, main points and docks will be best areas to try your luck. Best depths will be from 10 to 25 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 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 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 fair this month.

Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be fair this month. They will be found 10 to 25 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- When the water starts to cool, look for the shade to start moving up stream and into the large creeks. Try to find the areas with the largest concentration of bait fish. 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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