SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE FISHING
SEPTEMBER 2018
DALE WILSON’S
SML GUIDE SERVICE
PHONE NO: 540-297-5650 / 540-874-4950
WWW.CAPTAINDALEWILSON.US
Picture: Captain Dale Wilson with a nice striper caught & released 8//25/18.
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OVERVIEW- Fishing has been good the past several weeks! Largemouth bass fishing has been good during the day and night time this past month! Water temperature will be in the upper 70’s to lower 80’s. Best times will be early morning & late afternoon. September is a good month to fish for stripers.
Largemouth Bass- Fishing for largemouth bass will be good this month. Best lures will be plastic worms, jigs, drop shots, crank baits, Carolina rigs and shaky heads. Points, brush piles, rocky areas, humps and 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 fair at night.
Smallmouth Bass- Fishing will be fair. Best areas will be humps, ledges and rocky areas. Best lures will be tubes, jigs, jerk baits, top water lures, hair jigs and deep diving crank baits. Best areas will be in the mid to the lower sections of the lake. Cloudy days with light wind and at night are good times to try your luck! Look for areas with rocky ledges next to deep water. Smallmouth will feed on top some this month. Most smallmouth bass will suspend near schools of baitfish.
Striped Bass- Fishing will be good this month. Stripers will be caught in the mid sections of the lake, the lower sections towards the dam and in the large creeks. Best lures will be swim baits, buck tails and Zoom flukes fished on 3//8 to 3/4 oz. lead heads. Best time to fish is cloudy days, early morning 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. The stripers will constantly be on the move. Find the largest concentration of shad. Night fishing will be fair this month.
Crappie- Fishing for crappie will be fair 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 1/32 to 1/16 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- This month will be a transition time of the year. Look for fish to move shallow towards the end of the month. 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 & WSLK radio each month. Make sure your running lights are on after dark & wear your life jackets! Remember to TAKE A KID FISHING!