Smith Mountain Lake August Fishing Report - Where i’ve been and what the fish are doing!
DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE LATE SUMMER TACKLE
I USE
Life is crazy and in a great way! As many of you guys know that follow me on my social media stuff life has changed for me. We have an amazing little 7 month old girl already and life has been so cool seeing her grow. On top of activating DAD mode I have been quietly working on a massive life changing launch of a company that I am proud to say is now in the public and growing super fast! Don’t worry I am still going to guide.
That company is called paddleBOX. A very close friend and engineering wiz have created a company that offers paddle board rentals at a self service, completely solar powered tower that can be placed anywhere there is water. We have created some great relationships over the last year and we are hoping to have these at a ton of lakes in VA and in other states ASAP. If you’re interested in getting involved with a tower system near you swing over to the website and shoot us an email.
As for the FISHING…. man it’s a fun time of year in my opinion. A lot of guys hate this late summer into fall transitions due to the frequent changes you have to make, but I love that puzzle solving on the water every day, hell every hour. Now I will say this is a time of year where you are having to go through a good amount of dinks before you’re smashing on some giant ones, but each day brings us closer and closer to all out fall fishing and the bigs still have to eat.
Junk fishing for bass is the name of the game for basically the next 60 days. I am not joking when I say I am catching big ones in 6” of water and 60’ feet deep. The lake still has a massive amount of schoolers out on the main lake points, humps and channels swings, but some of the bait is already making its way back into pockets and some bass are hot on their tails. If late August thru September is super tough on you here would be a few tips that I would keep in mind when you’re getting out on the water.
Water color. This can be the time of year where the lower and mid sections of the lake are going to be the clearest it will be all year. Keep an eye going from the bank to the deeper water to see how clear it is. The big adjustment here is downsizing line. In most cases I am having clients throw 6lb or 7lb Sunline Sniper for leaders on everything from dropshot, shaky head, neko and swimbait fishing. You would be surprised by how many more fish you will catch going from 10lb to 6lb.
Bait location. I already mentinoed that there are some smaller bait balls in the backs of pockets all ready, so take the time to look there. Also, when spending some time graphing on your way back to the ends of guts keep an eye on your side scan and down scan to see how deep the bait is. This can change everyday, but is a good give away for what baits to start with. For example if the bait is super high in the water I pick up a topwater almost every time. If it’s mid depth the crank bite could be firing off that day and if they are down near the bottom it’s time for the jig.
Speed is key. I mention this every fall. Speed is the biggest part to the puzzle this time of year. Jig fall rate is a huge deal when going from catching nothing to giant ones. I like to start heavy and work back from there. Bass are going to start getting more and more aggresive so tossing a 3/4 oz Missile Baits headbanger is where I start. I like a big jig right now when looking for that giant bite.
The striper fishing is about to be lights out. I am seeing massive groups of fish getting together on main lake points and above tree tops. They should start moving back into pockets soon and the schools will get even bigger. Remember this time of year when you are running down the lake to keep an eye out for tons of fish blowing up.
Again, sorry for the missed July report and a late post for August but things are getting back on track over at the Kohls house lol.
Check out the links in the report for the baits I would be throwing this month.