SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE FISHING REPORT
November 2017
DALE WILSON’S
SML GUIDE SERVICE
PHONE NO: 540-297-5650 / 540-874-4950
www.captaindalewilson.com
Picture: My son Chris & my granddaughter Addi Wilson with her first striper caught while fishing with grandpa (Captain Dale Wilson) last month.
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OVERVIEW- The fishing has been fair the past several weeks! This is a transitional time of the year for fishing! The water temperature has started to drop. Fishing for bass has been fair to good this past month! Water temperature will be in the 60’s. Best times will be early morning, late afternoon and cloudy days. Night fishing can be good this month. Fishing usually picks up later during the month of November.
Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass should get better this month. Best lures will be large plastic worms, top water lures, shaky heads, shallow running crank baits, jigs, spinner baits and Carolina rigs. Points, coves, brush piles, rocky areas, ledges, stumps and shallow docks will be the best areas to try your luck. Best depths will be from the surface to 30 feet deep. Remember to take care of the bass and release them! Bass fishing should improve with the cooler water temperatures. Most bass will start to follow schools of shad as they migrate back into the coves and up stream.
Smallmouth Bass- Fishing will be good. Best areas will be ledges, humps, stumpy areas and rocky points. Best lures will be tubes, jig & pig, hair jigs, drop shots, top water and 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 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 in the main lake.
Striped Bass- Fishing will improve 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. Night fishing will be fair. The best depths will be from the surface to 50 feet deep. Live bait fished on down lines and planner boards work good this month. This is also a good month to troll as the stripers will be shallower. The stripers will constantly be on the move. Look for large schools of stripers with your electronics. Some schools of stripers will surface this month. We should have some seagulls this month. The seagulls will help locate feeding stripers.
Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be good this month. The best depths will be 5 to 15 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- Start looking for seagulls! Fishing will improve as the water temperatures fall! Schools of shad are migrating up stream and into the creeks. Always wear your life jacket 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!