SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE FISHING REPORT
December 2016
DALE WILSON’S
SML GUIDE SERVICE
PHONE NO: 540-297-5650 / 540-874-4950
www.captaindalewilson.com
Picture: Rich Hutchens from Arizona holding a couple of stripers caught while fishing with Captain Dale.
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OVERVIEW- Fishing will be better this month! Water temperature will be in the upper 40’s to lower 50’s. Best times will be early morning, late afternoon and cloudy days this month. Striper fishing the past few weeks has been poor. Cooler water temperatures hopefully will make for better fishing this month.
Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass will be good this month. Best lures will be jigs, rattle traps, drop shots, shallow running crank baits, Texas rigged plastic worms, football head jigs, Carolina rigs and spoons. Most largemouth bass will be moving to their winter patterns this month. Rocky points, ledges, creek channel banks and deep docks will be the best areas to try your luck. Best depths will be from the 2 to 35 feet deep. Baitfish will be on the move trying to find the warmest water. The areas with the largest concentration of bait fish will be the most productive areas. Bass will feed heavily on crawfish this month.
Smallmouth Bass- Fishing should be good. Best areas will be humps, ledges, rocky areas and long main channel points. Best lures will be tubes, jigs, drop shot rigs, jerk baits and floating-fly-rigs. Best areas will be in the mid to the lower sections of the lake. Cloudy days with wind and night time are good times to try your luck! Look for areas with rocks on ledges and points next to deep water. Look for humps and isolated rocks near deep water ledges. Most smallmouth bass will suspend around baitfish this month. They also feed heavily on crawfish.
Striped Bass- Fishing should be good this month. Stripers will be caught in the upper sections of the lake and in the large creeks. Best lures will be swim baits, top water poppers, spoons and Zoom flukes fished on 3/8 to 3/4 oz. lead heads. Sea gulls will help you locate schools of feeding stripers. 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 down lines and planner boards will also work this month. Most fish will be caught in 20 to 60 feet of water. They 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 10 to 25 ft. deep. Crappie will be found around deep docks, brush piles, 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- Never fish alone during the cold months. Try shallow points just before and after dark. Try to find the areas with the largest concentration of bait fish. Night fishing will be fair this month. 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 wear your life jackets and obey all the boating laws. TAKE A KID FISHING!
