However, deeper portions of Smith Mountain Lake are also home to channel catfish, and you’ll also find the occasional walleye. The waters even feature white bass, muskies, rock bass and the redbreast sunfish.
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Where is the best fishing on Smith Mountain Lake?
Coves in the upper ends of the reservoir should be the most productive especially near fallen trees or brush piles. Sunfish and catfish are also popular sport species at Smith Mountain Lake. Sunfish are abundant but competition with shad prevents good growth so most of these fish are small.
What is the best time to fish at Smith Mountain Lake?
Typically the largemouth bass is most abundant in the spring, and the striped bass are best caught in the summer. Stripers are found in the lake all year-round. The best time for fishing on Smith Mountain Lake would be the early morning or the late evening when there are fewer people on the lake.
What’s the best bait to use on Smith Mountain Lake?
Small live minnows and 1½- to 2-inch tubes or shad-shaped plastic lures fished on 1/32- to 1/16-ounce lead heads will work best to catch them. Always use light line. Tips of the month: Night will be one of the best times to catch fish in shallow water areas as the baitfish start to spawn.
How do you catch stripers at Smith Mountain Lake?
What’s the biggest fish in Smith Mountain Lake?
Smith Mountain Lake is well known to fishermen all over the US for it’s striped bass fishing. The current state record for the fish is 53 lbs. 7 oz. caught in 2000 from below the SML dam in Leesville Lake.
Can you eat the fish from Smith Mountain Lake?
Fish on Smith Mountain Lake’s Do Not Eat List: Flathead Catfish over 32 inches. Fish on Smith Mountain Lake’s No More Than Two Meals a Month List: Striped Bass, Gizzard Shad, Carp, Redhorse Suckers, Largemouth Bass, and Channel Catfish.
Can you fish from the shore at Smith Mountain Lake?
Access to shoreline for fishing from the bank is available at numerous locations around the lake. Several VA fishing guides offer guided fishing trips on Smith Mountain Lake with all fishing gear included. Marinas, stores, restaurants, camping and lodging choices surround the lake for convenient access.
What is the best striper bait?
Some days stripers will eat any live bait thrown at them, and other days, they’ll key in on one specific type of bait. In the northeast Atlantic region, some of the better striper baits are bunker (menhaden or pogies), mackerel, eels, bloodworms, sandworms, clams, squid, and porgy (scup).
Are there alligators in Smith Mountain Lake?
Q: Are there alligators in Smith Mountain Lake? A: According to Virginia’s Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) there are no wild alligators in SML – or anywhere in Virginia except the Dismal Swamp in southeastern Virginia. The state’s wintertime water temperatures are inhospitable to alligators.
What are bass hitting on Smith Mountain Lake?
Look around the lower end of the lake around main and secondary rocky points. These fish will be the first to pull up into flats to spawn. These fish are super aggressive right now and will be hitting jerkbaits and swim baits on windy days and ned rigs on those slow no wind days. Largemouth are chewing.
How do you catch fish on Smith Mountain Lake?
Best areas will be rocks, stumps and secondary points. Best lures will be jig and pig, Ned rigs, hair jigs, topwater lures and square-bill crank baits. Best areas will be in the mid- to the lower sections of the lake. Most smallmouth bass will start spawning later this month.
What depth do you catch striped bass?
Keep the bait at the right level. Tube and worm trolling works best in water 3 to 7 feet (0.9 to 2.1 m) in depth, though it’s possible to fish as deep as 20 feet (6.1 m).
Are freshwater striped bass good to eat?
Stripers are widely considered one of the best-eating fish in the northeast Atlantic region, but it depends who you’re speaking with. Many people prefer black sea bass, fluke, or tautog over stripers.
What is the best part of Smith Mountain Lake?
Two of the lake’s most popular Smith Mountain Lake developments are Mariners Landing and Bernard’s Landing. Both are designed like a resort, combining vacation homes and permanent residences.
What’s the biggest catfish in Smith Mountain Lake?
Peter Faber of Hardy caught this monster 29+ pound flathead catfish late at night April 23 fishing on Smith Mountain Lake. The flathead catfish measured 39 inches long and weighed 29 pounds 4 ounces, earning Peter a Virginia Citation Award from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
Do you need a fishing license at Smith Mountain Lake?
You need a Virginia fishing license to fish at Smith Mountain Lake; licenses are available online or at bait shops and sporting goods stores in the state. As of 2011, an annual license costs $18 for Virginia residents, $36 for nonresidents.
What is the largest catfish ever caught in the world?
The Mekong giant catfish is the official freshwater heavyweight champion of the world. According to the Guinness Book of Records, a nine-foot-long individual caught in northern Thailand in 2005 weighted an astounding 646 pounds, making it the largest exclusively freshwater fish ever recorded.
Can you fish on Sundays in VA?
Fishing is permitted 24 hours a day unless otherwise posted at Department-owned lakes, ponds, streams, or boat access sites.
How often can you eat crappie?
For crappie, gar and largemouth bass, adults should limit consumption to no more than two eight ounce meals per month.
Can you eat white perch?
White Perch and Yellow Perch are two of the most delicious Panfish you’ll find. Delicious as they are, the two species are often a topic of hot discussion among anglers and foodies alike.
Are there walleye in Smith Mountain Lake?
Striped Bass will start to move into the Red and Washita Rivers to spawn. April can be the best live-bait fishing month, but swimbaits and underspins will catch Striper too. Striper will school up around these river channels to feed, then run upstream to spawn.
Are there blue catfish in Smith Mountain Lake?
Yellow and chartreuse are fish-catchers because, simply put, they get seen. A study performed at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences showed that striped bass see yellow and chartreuse better than other colors as they are smack dab in the middle of the striped bass’s visual range.
What month is best for striper fishing?
The best time of day to catch striped bass is early morning from dawn until about 2 hours after sunrise and late afternoon from 2 hours before sunset until dusk. Fishing for striped bass can be even better in the hours before a major cold front or rain event arrives.
What color lures do stripers like?
As for musky, the lake is stocked with fingerlings yearly but is not known to produce large numbers of them. Other swimmers that don’t require fishing gear to spot are the fairly common beaver, otter and muskrats, though they can get a bad rep for being nuisances.