Smith Mountain Lake September Fishing Report - Small bait, schooling fish and covering water

Chilly mornings, lots of fog and cooling water temps are going to get things moving this September. Each year is different with how the weather will advance the move to the shallows, but this year is getting a kick start with lows in the 50’s right at the start of the month. The fish are going to be schooling for the next few weeks before moving to the backs of creeks and into the riprap to chase crawfish.

Striper fishing should be great this month. The fish are already schooling, but now will get even tighter together as they make their way from the main deep channel to the main lake points and secondary points in the pockets. The bait has been high in the water column for a few weeks now and that has made for some great fishing. Keep a topwater or fluke handy for when the fish decide to start coming up.

The largemouth are a little scattered in September on Smith Mountain Lake. You can catch them from 2 feet on a buzz bait to 30 feet on a jig and everywhere in between. Take your pick on how you want to target them. It’s fairly easy to find schooling fish similarly to the stripers but harder to find the size you may be looking for doing that. I always have a shaky head ready this time of year for dragging around stumps and brush on transition spots to the backs of the pockets. Also, its super fun to run around with a buzz bait. It can produce a large fish, but you must cover water quickly and a good amount of it. Look for rocky shallow banks where bluegills may be hiding.

The smallmouth should start chewing this month on the lower end. Like every fishing report I write a small Swimbait is key on this lake and September is no different. Look for long rocky points on the lower end or choke points where the fish have to travel through. Topwater can be great on the lower end of the lake this time of year.

Panfish are back on the banks and some docks with brush can hold some giants this time of year as they start to feed up.

Crappie are starting to move from the main channel back to under the docks and on brush as well.