Advice for a newbie

[Avidangler8]

Hey ya'll,
New on this forum so I'm not too sure how it all works. Im from Roanoke but I currently go to school at VCU where I am on the bass fishing team. The first week of march I have my spring break and I'm planning on taking my kayak to SML and try to get on some striper. Can you guys give me any advice as to where the best place to put in and fish would be? My girlfriends parents have a house near mariners landing so that's an option I'm just not sure where the fish are currently and I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to striper fishing. Any advice helps! Thanks!

[ikMOON]

First off, welcome aboard! I fish SML exclusively from a kayak and can make a few recomendations.

This is a great forum, and in my experience it's quality it twofold: (1) There is a wealth of knowledge in the striper board. Lots of the information is well organized in specific sections like the "How to" sub-board. However, there is all kinds of other good stuff in the general discussion that can be sifted through with the search function. Most of my questions have been answered by hunting through the boards rather than having to ask in the form of a post. (2) The "Reports" section is one of the most updated parts of the forum, and the most informative. Like anything worth having, you'll get out what you put in. If you can read through the reports back or forward a couple months, or even a season or two, you'll be able to pick up on the "how" and "where" and "when" of whats working, and most importantly the "why" its working. The reports section is not the place to ask for hot tips or secret spots, though you'd be surprised at how many of those you'll figure out by paying close attention, and then putting in the hours of water time.

I started fishing the mountain last October. Live baiting is my main focus. I've adapted a few aspects of the process you'll see described here for use out of a kayak. There really isn't a big difference in the presentation of live bait from a boat, as opposed to yak, but catching and keeping bait alive is somewhat limited to your paddling/pedaling range and space allowed for a proper bait tank. I catch my bait with a cast net that I throw standing in the yak. Catching bait is often as much of a challenge, and as much fun, as catching the stripers. I think of it as food chain fishing--if I can catch the bait, the bait will catch the fish. This time of year I would recommend the Hardy Ford ramp as a place to launch. You'll have a good shot at both bait and fish in the same area. If you don't have a cast net, and aren't familiar with casting for bait, Bay Roc Marina usually keeps jumbo shiners on hand. Shiners aren't the go to bait like shad, but they can catch fish, and they are a lot easier to keep alive in a cheap floating bait bucket (my big one that got away early this year was on a shiner).

So far the weather has been on the warm side this year, and there have been great reports to show for it. The first week in March should be fine to get on some fish.

Here are some good threads to start with:

smlfishingforums.proboards.com/thread/1262/types-live-bait-on-sml

smlfishingforums.proboards.com/thread/219/live-bait-fish-stripers

smlfishingforums.proboards.com/thread/1610/smith-mountain-seasonal-fishing-tactics

There are several kayakers on the forum here. Check out their posts and threads. Feel free to PM me too.

[Avidangler8]

Feb 21, 2017 10:43:04 GMT -5 ikMOON said:

First off, welcome aboard! I fish SML exclusively from a kayak and can make a few recomendations.

This is a great forum, and in my experience it's quality it twofold: (1) There is a wealth of knowledge in the striper board. Lots of the information is well organized in specific sections like the "How to" sub-board. However, there is all kinds of other good stuff in the general discussion that can be sifted through with the search function. Most of my questions have been answered by hunting through the boards rather than having to ask in the form of a post. (2) The "Reports" section is one of the most updated parts of the forum, and the most informative. Like anything worth having, you'll get out what you put in. If you can read through the reports back or forward a couple months, or even a season or two, you'll be able to pick up on the "how" and "where" and "when" of whats working, and most importantly the "why" its working. The reports section is not the place to ask for hot tips or secret spots, though you'd be surprised at how many of those you'll figure out by paying close attention, and then putting in the hours of water time.

I started fishing the mountain last October. Live baiting is my main focus. I've adapted a few aspects of the process you'll see described here for use out of a kayak. There really isn't a big difference in the presentation of live bait from a boat, as opposed to yak, but catching and keeping bait alive is somewhat limited to your paddling/pedaling range and space allowed for a proper bait tank. I catch my bait with a cast net that I throw standing in the yak. Catching bait is often as much of a challenge, and as much fun, as catching the stripers. I think of it as food chain fishing--if I can catch the bait, the bait will catch the fish. This time of year I would recommend the Hardy Ford ramp as a place to launch. You'll have a good shot at both bait and fish in the same area. If you don't have a cast net, and aren't familiar with casting for bait, Bay Roc Marina usually keeps jumbo shiners on hand. Shiners aren't the go to bait like shad, but they can catch fish, and they are a lot easier to keep alive in a cheap floating bait bucket (my big one that got away early this year was on a shiner).

So far the weather has been on the warm side this year, and there have been great reports to show for it. The first week in March should be fine to get on some fish.

Here are some good threads to start with:

smlfishingforums.proboards.com/thread/1262/types-live-bait-on-sml

smlfishingforums.proboards.com/thread/219/live-bait-fish-stripers

smlfishingforums.proboards.com/thread/1610/smith-mountain-seasonal-fishing-tactics

There are several kayakers on the forum here. Check out their posts and threads. Feel free to PM me too.

I'm sorry my reply is so late. I never wrote down my login information and forgot what my password was! But thank you for the advice and I checked out the links you posted as well. I did end up going out near mariners landing once that week earlier in march. Pulled two dollar bills behind the kayak into the creeks near mariners landing but had no luck. Once this semester is over and I'm back home I'll be able to get out and fish SML a whole lot more. I'll actually be fishing there this weekend in the FLW collegiate bass tournament. Hopefully I'll have better luck then! Thanks again for the advice!