SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE FISHING
July 2018
DALE WILSON’S
SML GUIDE SERVICE
PHONE NO: 540-297-5650 / 540-874-4950
www.captaindalewilson.com
[print_link]
OVERVIEW- There has been lots of boating activity on the lake the past several weekends! Largemouth bass fishing has been good 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 for stripers.
Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass will be good this month. Best lures will be large plastic worms, jigs, drop shots, crank baits, top water lures, Carolina rigs and shaky heads. Points, brush piles, rocky areas, ledges and deep docks will be the best areas to try your luck. Best depths will be from surface to 25 feet deep. Remember to take care of the bass and release them! Fishing will be good at night if the shad are up in the middle of the night. Best lures at night are wake baits, crank baits, large plastic baits and heavy jigs.
Smallmouth Bass- Fishing will be fair. Best areas will be humps, ledges and rocky areas. Best lures will be tubes, jigs, top water lures, hair jigs 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 ledges next to deep water. They feed heavily on crawfish around the full moon. Smallmouth will be hard this month.
Striped Bass- Fishing will be good this month. Stripers will be caught in the mid sections of the lake and the lower sections towards the dam 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, early morning, night time (when the shad are shallow) and late afternoon. The best depths will be from the surface to 60 feet deep. Live bait fished on down lines and planner boards work this month. They will constantly be on the move. Find the largest concentration of shad. Night fishing will be fair this month. Lures like Red Fins, Thunder Sticks and large Rapalas work when the shad come to the shoreline at night.
Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be poor this month. The best depths will be 10 to 20 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 bass will be caught at night. Try to find the areas with the largest concentration of bait fish. 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 TAKE A KID FISHING!