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Post by quackquackboom on May 5, 2021 7:38:13 GMT -5
For night dock fishing - catfish. Chicken livers on a circle hook. And Just enough weight to hold it on bottom.
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Post by gulper on May 5, 2021 8:50:01 GMT -5
For night dock fishing - catfish. Chicken livers on a circle hook. And Just enough weight to hold it on bottom. Excellent--for catfishing I've heard some people recommend a carolina rig and others say go for a drop shot. Do you have a preference? |
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johnr
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Post by johnr on May 5, 2021 9:59:23 GMT -5
C-rig. No question.
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piper
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Post by piper on May 5, 2021 11:09:51 GMT -5
If you don’t have a lot of boating experience it’s not a good idea to be out on smith mountain at night. Even worse to be out at night during a holiday week. This lake can be disorienting for folks who aren’t used to plus night driving is plenty dangerous as is. Totally agree. I should've been clear--we plan to fish from the dock at night and will only take the boat out from dawn-dusk. Any tips for night fishing off the dock are welcome too! You should be fairly safe around Parkway at night. Just make sure you have good running lights and keep your anchor light on, even though it can be a PITA. Craddocks can be a blast after dark. My experience is to avoid the main channel if at all possible and dont run wide open. The lake can be fairly lit with renters and dock lights just dont get crazy. I will say the dam is extremely earie at night with the fog and lights. Kind of cool actually but only at a distance for me. |
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Post by choochoo on May 5, 2021 20:52:34 GMT -5
My preferred catfish rig is hooking a green sunfish through the tail above the spine and hanging it under a slip bobber You want it about 3 feet off the bottom. A two inch green sunfish has always out caught any other bait for me. Flatheads and channels.
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Post by gulper on May 6, 2021 12:24:18 GMT -5
Totally agree. I should've been clear--we plan to fish from the dock at night and will only take the boat out from dawn-dusk. Any tips for night fishing off the dock are welcome too! You should be fairly safe around Parkway at night. Just make sure you have good running lights and keep your anchor light on, even though it can be a PITA. Craddocks can be a blast after dark. My experience is to avoid the main channel if at all possible and dont run wide open. The lake can be fairly lit with renters and dock lights just dont get crazy. I will say the dam is extremely earie at night with the fog and lights. Kind of cool actually but only at a distance for me. If we get bold we may use the trolling motor to go up and down the coast by our house at night, but definitely won't make it as far as the dam when its dark. |
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Post by gulper on May 26, 2021 10:55:22 GMT -5
Hey all--figured I'd check back in as we approach my visit to the lake. I am feeling super excited to get out on the water for a whole week! Maybe I will see some of you out there. Any final tips or words of encouragement would be welcome  Where are the stripers hangin out these days? How has the early morning bite been in comparison to evening/night? Thanks all and tight lines 🎣 |
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Post by 31Airborne on May 26, 2021 14:19:45 GMT -5
I was on Lake Anna this past weekend. It was the worst I've ever seen in 25 years of fishing that lake. I mean there were times when I was no-kidding scared. It was that crazy. You will see the same thing on SML this weekend. We've shared this w/ you before. Just wanted to get this back into the convo for safety's sake.
You'll prob find fish mostly in the post-spawn mode, with many in or approaching the summer mode. You'll have a brief top water period early AM. Depending on the wind, you may have a short period after that where moving baits (spinners, cranks, jerks) may be effective. Electronix will be key - if you see fish holding tight to the bottom you know it's time to switch to slower presentations (jig, t-rig, c-rig, shakyhead, etc). Sharp breaks will be a key element of structure. These are places where the fish can easily move up and down in the water column to feed. Points w/ sharp drops and bluffs will be high pay-off areas. Same-same for off-shore structure.
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johnr
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Post by johnr on May 26, 2021 15:05:19 GMT -5
Pray for rain! It keeps the crazy down. Not too much rain though, I’ve got plans...
If you can’t be out there for the 2 hours either side of sunrise, it’s likely going to be tough because of the traffic. It’s been bumping the last couple weekends. Post-corona crazy is looking to be worse than early-corona crazy.
Post spawn for bass is correct. Still some fish up guarding fry, cruising dock fronts, etc. this will likely have waned by weeks end due to the HOT weather.
Bluegill spawn is about to be on.
Catfish spawn too.
Stripers beginning to swim back up the rivers, you can find them anywhere in theory but they’ll be schooled and moving.
Get you some crawlers, find a nice no wake cove, and bottom fish in 10-20’ of water. You’ll have all the action you want.
If you’re staying in a creek with some nearby dock lights shining on the water, wait until the traffic has been subsided for a couple hours after dark and then go fish the dock lights with jerkbaits, jigs, or live/cut bait.
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piper
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Post by piper on Jun 14, 2021 9:55:18 GMT -5
Hey all--figured I'd check back in as we approach my visit to the lake. I am feeling super excited to get out on the water for a whole week! Maybe I will see some of you out there. Any final tips or words of encouragement would be welcome Where are the stripers hangin out these days? How has the early morning bite been in comparison to evening/night? Thanks all and tight lines 🎣 Any updates? |
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Post by gulper on Jun 15, 2022 8:06:15 GMT -5
Hey all--figured I'd check back in as we approach my visit to the lake. I am feeling super excited to get out on the water for a whole week! Maybe I will see some of you out there. Any final tips or words of encouragement would be welcome  Where are the stripers hangin out these days? How has the early morning bite been in comparison to evening/night? Thanks all and tight lines 🎣 Any updates? Hey everybody, long time no see! Wanted to check back in with an update on my trip last year, which was a great success thanks in part to you fine folks and your advice. We arrived at the rental house on Saturday which was a bit of a rainy afternoon/evening. Caught a few bluegill on a crankbait before going inside for dinner. After some boozy hot tub hanging, we noticed the rain had stopped around 1130pm and decided to go down to the dock and try our luck with the night bite. As soon as we got down there we could tell it was a good decision--we could see the shad flickering on the surface all along the shore. I tied on a white spook and starting walking it parallel to the shoreline. Shortly after midnight I felt the bait go under and then I was fighting the biggest bass I have ever caught! A truly pivotal moment for me. The thrill I felt was palpable as I raised my prize and took this picture:  We ended up having a pretty solid week of fishing—caught some smaller largies in coves near the state park (thanks for the tip on the c-rig, works great), went on a good striper charter waaaay up the Roanoke neck of the lake, and got some more night fish off our dock including a baby striper. Just wanted to thank everyone who weighed in and gave advice here! It really helped us maximize our time on the water and I’m positive we caught more fish because of it. My family is planning another week at the lake this year—same house, this time Labor day week. Seems like we are beginning a tradition of a yearly trip to SML and it usually ends up being my favorite week of the year. So if I may resurrect this thread….let’s hear some fishing tips for early September on the lake! I am guessing that it will still be largely a summer pattern with high water temps. I hear that a good place to find them in these conditions is ~10-20 feet of water near tapered points. Is this a good place to start? Also guessing the early morning and nighttime will be solid for topwater. Cheers and tight lines to all. |
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johnr
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Post by johnr on Jun 16, 2022 8:29:12 GMT -5
Early-mid September can be a fun time for several species of fish. The temperature of those late august nights will determine if you’re fishing a late summer pattern or an early fall pattern. This time of year you can see massive schools of young baitfish working the back half of creeks early in the morning and just before dusk. Of course, fish of all kinds will be under them and I’ve seen some epic busting in lower end creeks on early September evenings. This is not just stripers busting..
Besides this phenomenon, it’ll largely be a summer pattern outside of dawn and dusk. The fishing can be great. Stable weather, fish concentrated due to water temps and food locations, and the fall bite starting to get in motion.
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Post by gulper on Jun 16, 2022 9:52:19 GMT -5
Early-mid September can be a fun time for several species of fish. The temperature of those late august nights will determine if you’re fishing a late summer pattern or an early fall pattern. This time of year you can see massive schools of young baitfish working the back half of creeks early in the morning and just before dusk. Of course, fish of all kinds will be under them and I’ve seen some epic busting in lower end creeks on early September evenings. This is not just stripers busting.. Besides this phenomenon, it’ll largely be a summer pattern outside of dawn and dusk. The fishing can be great. Stable weather, fish concentrated due to water temps and food locations, and the fall bite starting to get in motion. Thanks for the great advice John--I appreciate it. My brother and I will be targeting mostly largemouth and smallmouth. You mentioned that early morning and just before dusk might be productive times for topwater. My question is this--back in May/June 2021 we noticed that late night (11-2am) was very productive for topwater. Would you expect this to happen again in Sept or does this topwater period generally get moved closer to dusk? I know it is hard to generalize and there are lots of variables but I am just curious. Cheers and tight lines. PS I noticed that the photo was not working in my earlier post. I have fixed it--would hate to deprive you fine people of a good fish pic! |
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johnr
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Post by johnr on Jun 16, 2022 12:57:14 GMT -5
Fish will eat at night, sure. But I’d be focused on deep brush piles at night during that time of year.
The topwater action I mentioned is only there due to the baitfish gathering at those times. They seem to disperse during total darkness. That spring bite was likely due to the tail end of the alewife spawn.
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Post by gulper on Jun 16, 2022 15:19:48 GMT -5
Fish will eat at night, sure. But I’d be focused on deep brush piles at night during that time of year. The topwater action I mentioned is only there due to the baitfish gathering at those times. They seem to disperse during total darkness. That spring bite was likely due to the tail end of the alewife spawn. Got it. I am looking forward to the challenge of figuring out the lake during a different time of year. Part of me hopes that the nights will have gotten cool and the fall bite is on! We shall see... |
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Where are the stripers hangin out these days? How has the early morning bite been in comparison to evening/night? Thanks all and tight lines 🎣
Where are the stripers hangin out these days? How has the early morning bite been in comparison to evening/night? Thanks all and tight lines 🎣