SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE FISHING REPORT
October 2017
DALE WILSON’S
SML GUIDE SERVICE
PHONE NO: 540-297-5650 / 540-874-4950
www.captaindalewilson.com
Picture: Captain Dale Wilson with a citation striper caught & released last month.
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OVERVIEW- The fishing has been good the past several weeks! The water temperatures are still above average. Fishing for bass has been fair this past month! Water temperature will be in the 70’s. Best times will be early morning, late afternoon and cloudy days. Fishing usually picks up later during the month of October.
Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass should get better this month. Best lures will be large plastic worms, top water lures, shaky heads, crank baits, spinner baits and Carolina rigs. Points, coves, brush piles, rocky areas, ledges, stumps and docks will be the best areas to try your luck. Best depths will be from the surface to 25 feet deep. Remember to take care of the bass and release them! Bass fishing should improve with the cooler water temperatures. Some bass will start to follow schools of shad.
Smallmouth Bass- Fishing will be fair to good. Best areas will be ledges, humps, rocky areas and long main channel points. Best lures will be tubes, jig & pig, hair jigs, drop shots, top water, and 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 and ledges close to the deep water. Look for isolated rock piles near deep water. Smallmouth bass feed heavily on crawfish around the full moon each month. They will also suspend around schools of bait fish this month.
Striped Bass- Fishing will improve later this month. Stripers will be caught in the mid to upper sections of the lake and in the large creeks. Best lures will be swim baits, buck tails, spoons and Zoom flukes fished on 1/4 to 1/2 oz. lead heads. Best time to fish is cloudy days, early mornings and late afternoons. The best depths will be from the surface 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. Night fishing will be fair later this month. Look for large schools of stripers with your electronics. Vertical jigging is a good method to catch stripers this month. Some schools of stripers will surface this month.
Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be good later this month. The best depths will be 5 to 20 ft. deep. Crappie will be found around 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 1/32 to 1/16 oz. lead heads will work best to catch crappie this month. Best areas are the main creeks and the upper sections of the lake.
TIP OF THE Month- Fishing will improve with the cooler water temperatures! Schools of shad have started to migrate up stream and into the creeks. Always wear your life jacket. Slow down and make sure your running lights are on after dark!!! You can also hear reports about local fishing on the website: THE BASS CAST RADIO SHOW & WSLK 98.3 radio. Remember: TAKE A KID FISHING! SEE YOU ON THE LAKE!!! GOOD FISHING!