SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE FISHING REPORT
July 2017
DALE WILSON’S
SML GUIDE SERVICE
PHONE NO: 540-297-5650 / 540-874-4950
www.captaindalewilson.com
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Picture: Tom Brook from Pennsylvania with a nice large mouth bass caught while fishing with Captain Dale Wilson last month.
OVERVIEW- The fishing has been slow the past several weeks! The water conditions have changed from the heavy rains and the above average air temperature. Fishing for bass has been fair at night this past month! Water temperature will be in the upper 70’s to low 80’s. Best times will be early morning, late afternoon and at night. July is usually a good month to fish at night, for most species of fish, except stripers.
Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass will be fair this month. Best lures will be large plastic worms, jigs, drop shots, deep diving crank baits and Carolina rigs. Main points, brush piles, deep rocks, ledges and deep docks will be the best areas to try your luck. Best depths will be from surface to 20 feet deep. Remember to take care of the bass and release them! Fishing will be fair at night when the shad are shallow. Best lures at night are wake baits, spinner baits, jigs and shallow running crank baits.
Smallmouth Bass- Fishing will be fair. Best areas will be humps, rocky areas and long main channel points. Best lures will be tubes, jig & pig, hair jigs, drop shots and medium diving crank baits. Best areas will be in the mid to the lower sections of the lake. Cloudy days with wind and at night are good times to try your luck! Look for areas with rocks, stumps and deep ledges close to the creek channels. Look for humps and isolated rocks near deep water. Smallmouth bass feed heavily on crawfish around the full moon.
Striped Bass- Fishing will be good this month. Stripers will be caught in the mid to lower sections of the lake and in the large creeks. Best lures will be swim baits, buck tails and Zoom flukes fished on 1/2 to 3/4 oz. lead heads. Best time to fish is cloudy days and early mornings. The best depths will be from the 25 to 60 feet deep. Live bait fished on down lines and planner boards work good this month. The stripers will constantly be on the move. Find the largest concentration of shad. Night fishing will be poor this month. Look for large schools of stripers with your electronics.
Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be poor this month. The best depths will be 10 to 25 ft. deep. Crappie will be found around deep docks, brush piles, and fallen trees. Docks with brush piles are usually good areas to hold crappie. 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. Best areas are the main creeks and the upper section of the lake.
TIP OF THE Month- Always wear your life jacket. Most fish will be caught early morning and at night. When fishing at night you need to fish with a partner, for safety! Find areas with the largest concentration of bait fish. You can also hear reports about local fishing on the website: THE BASS CAST RADIO SHOW & WSLK radio each month. Make sure your running lights are on after dark! Remember to TAKE A KID FISHING!