VA West FoM, SML, 15 APR 2017

[31Airborne]

Just got in and settled down at our cabin at SMLSP. I'll post water temps and conditions over our 2 practice days. Full report on the TX on SAT evening or SUN morning.

So far, the dogwoods are exploding and there's another fullish moon tonite. It was 82 as I pulled in so water temps oughta be about right for the girls to come up. Will spend most of my time tomorrow running and scouting bait, water conditions, and temps. Yep, I'll fish a lil bit. For the record, I do not sight fish and I like replica mounts. Guess that makes me imitation.

So sad to see the steak house across for White House Store has closed. Was a great place to eat after a long day on the water. Good people ran the place, too. Airborne ate microwave mac-n-cheese tonite. Hims coulda used a good chunk of red meat.

peace,
B

[jt]

I wish you luck my friend, I also stayed at the State Park back in December and had a very fruitful fishing trip. I can tell you about 1 honey hole that is about 1 minute away from your dock, provided that you are using one of the two big docks. There is a third smaller dock tucked away in front of some cabins closer to the main Channel. The honey hole is right in front of the last two cabins in the channel as you Are going out towards the island at the mouth of the inlet. I have caught fish there consistently in the last couple of years. Watch out for the trees and don't hang anything lower than 20 feet and you will still get caught at 20 feet in some spots. I would just loop around that point and was able to catch some fish in the 27 and 28 inch range. Nothing in the 30-inch range. Hang a light at the doc after dark and within 30 to 45 minutes you will have all the bait that you need, except for gizzards which you will have to find it the back of creeks. Sorry can't help you there, still learning the ropes myself ,let me know if you catch anything

[jt]

Sorry about that, I thought you had posted this under striper fishing

[31Airborne]

No worries - thanks! really appreciate the thought.

THUR notes - Saw 59* at state park ramp at launch. Motored up the Roanoke arm - saw 61.5* at R52, steadily warmer as you go further up. Highest I saw was 65*. Water picks up a little stain (maybe 3-4' viz) around R45. Stain becomes steadily heavier the further up you go. Above R56 you have maybe a foot of viz (if that). Fished upper reaches of Roanoke arm all day, focusing mostly on mildly stained water.

FRI notes - Saw 61.5* at launch today. Stayed in the Roanoke arm again but this time below the 122 bridge. Slight stain as you go into the backs of the feeder creeks. The farther back you go the heavier the stain. Some creek has less than a foot of viz in the very back. Cloud cover kept temps steady around 62-63. Gradually warmed as the sun came out. 67 was the highest I saw today.

Baitfish and bluegills everywhere in the backs of feeder creeks and deeper coves/cuts. I have a number of things working right now. Will share details in final report.

[31Airborne]

Final report - Didn't fare too well on TX day. Got some sad news the day before (an old friend passed away) and just couldn't stay focused. I ended up coming off the water early. Just needed to be home.

All of the fish I caught were stagers except for one - I caught a nice fish in the back of Becky's that had just dumped her eggs. Everything else was holding on the last set of secondary points or along the transition lanes from those points to the backs of coves/cuts. Longer, tapered coves/cuts were best. If there was some wood along the way all the better. Natural chunk rock was better than riprap. I marked more bait in stained water than clear water (but that's more a function of my preference to fish the dirty stuff). I kept my boat in water with 3-4' viz.

When the sun came out there was a dock bite on but I couldn't catch anything but knotheads. I did have a few large fish chase my bait out but no takers. Docks on or near secondary points were best.

The backs of creeks are stuffed full of gizz and bluegills. Looks like SML will have a string of spawns for the next few weeks and the gizz and gills begin to stage. Judging by what I saw, the gizz will be on beds next. The bluegills will hold off to get fat on bass fry then move up. The key was finding the alewives. Find the smaller baitfish and you found the bass.

Because the gizz are up the striper doods are all over the shallower water in the backs of creeks. In a couple places I was either trapped in or couldn't make my way to the back of creeks because of the spreads these guys had out. Not my style to run over someone's lines so I waited for them to clear.

I did mark fish holding over brush in 10-15'. I used deep divers, jigs, and a c-rig to target these but no takers.

My most productive bait was a fluke. With the fish keying on smaller bait I figured that was the best match. The c-rig and jig also produced steadily. Greens (natural colors) worked best. I did not catch a fish on a hard moving bait. I did catch a couple on an underspin rigged with a small fluke.

Water temps held steady at 62-64 SAT morning, then shot up as the sun came out. Saw 67 when I came off at SML SP. Wish I had more to report. Hopefully some of this helps.

peace,
B

[tblspoon]

Your story is amazing.
First things first. So sorry to hear of your loss of a friend. Not sure if you had prewarning or not, either way, the loss is life long thoughts of past.
Secondly, you should honestly look into becoming a local outdoor sports writer. Your report has more specific information than many magazine season specific articles have. I would much rather read your winter, spring, summer and fall reports than any other local magazine. You have just cut many trial and error time consuming tactics that local tournament fisherman would need to know.
Looking forward to your next trip to Smith Mountain Lake.

[psuhntr]

31 always knocks his reports out of the water!

[flintster55]

Thanks for the informative post! Heading down tonight to prefish for tournaments Saturday and Sunday so this is much appreciated.  Hoping the front and rain doesn't mess things up too bad