SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE FISHING REPORT
January 2018
DALE WILSON’S
SML GUIDE SERVICE
PHONE NO: 540-297-5650 / 540-874-4950
www.captaindalewilson.com
Picture: Captain Dale Wilson with a 6+ lb. small mouth bass caught 12/17/17. One of the largest I’ve caught at Smith Mtn. lake.
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OVERVIEW- “Happy New Year” & great fishing! The bass fishing has been great the past several weeks. The water temperature is dropping and will continue to make the fishing better! Fishing overall has been good this past 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. Striper fishing will pick up soon!
Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass has been great this month. Best lures will be jerk baits, jigs, spinner baits, spoons, blade baits and Carolina rigs. Main channel points, brush piles, rocky areas, ledges and deep docks will be the best areas to try your luck. Best depths will be from 12 to 40 feet deep. Remember to take care of the bass and release them! Bass fishing should continue to be good during the cold months. Crawfish are a big part of their diet during the winter. Baitfish will be constantly be moving as the water temps fall.
Smallmouth Bass- Fishing will be good. Best areas will be ledges, humps, and rocky points. Best lures will be tubes, jig & pig, hair jigs, drop shots, blade baits, floating-fly-rigs 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 this time of the year. They will also suspend around schools of baitfish.
Striped Bass- Fishing will continue to improve this month. Stripers will be caught in all sections of the lake and in the large creeks. Best lures will be swim baits, buck tails, spoons, Alabama rigs and Zoom flukes fished on 3/8 to 3/4 oz. lead heads. Best time to fish is cloudy days, early mornings and late afternoons. Night fishing will be poor. The best depths will be from the surface to 60 feet deep. Live bait fished on down lines and planner boards work well this month. This is also a good month to troll as the stripers can 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. Seagulls have started to show up. The seagulls will help you locate feeding stripers.
Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be fair 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 sections of both rivers.
TIP OF THE Month- Look for diving seagulls to locate feeding stripers! Don’t fish alone during the cold months! Remember to always wear your life jacket!!! Fishing will improve as the water temperatures fall! 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!