Smith Mountain Lake, 19-20 DEC 2021

[31Airborne]

Got away for a weekend w/ the boys. Had another great stay at SML SP cabins. This was more about fellowship than fishing. We got plenty of both. Even the fish and weather cooperated.

I missed the spring-like weather on SAT but the lads didn't. They had a banner day w/ stripers, catching many schoolers and roamers on jerkbaits, swimbaits, and cranks. The front that came thru on SAT evening didn't hurt things much on SUN. We did find the green fish, including a couple of quality fish. MON was a numbers day - more bites but the quality wasn't there. Saw plenty of stripers on the sonar screen but couldn't get any of them to bite. Was a treat to have the lake to ourselves. A few fishermen out there, but no other boaters in any of the areas we fished.

Observations: 1) WTs ranged from 51.5 to 55. Even after the cold wx last nite the water at the state park was still above 50 degrees when we launched yesterday morning. WTs were ~uniform from midlake up to vic R46. 2) Water clarity - yep, there was plenty of that. Cleanest I've seen SML. Easily 7-10' of viz midlake, a little cloudier up in the Roanoke River (~5-7'). 3) Most of our fish came off of main lake points. A few came off of ledges (but were still close to points). 4) Structure fish were fairly shallow - 6-8' was the magic range. We were able to call up a few fish w/ jerkbaits. These fish were holding in the channel close to ledges. 5) Many of the fish we caught were still very dark. Was evident these fish had been holding shallow for a while. 6) Secondhand info on stripers (from SAT) - the guys found several large schools of smaller stripers cruising along sharp breaks close to the shoreline. These fish were feeding actively. The doods said they were able to catch 5 or 6 fish before the school moved on or shut down. 7) Wind blowing across structure was better than wind blowing in on it. No wind, no fish.

A great way to kick off the holidays - fishing w/ good friends. Will be back after Christmas for a couple days. Hope to see some of y'all out there.

best,
B

"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory."

[herringbone]

Sounds like an awesome trip. Fished a local lake doing some recon Saturday myself thinking the front moving in that night would make for a great day, but did not get the results you did. Nice report as always B.

[gulper]

Dec 21, 2021 13:21:36 GMT -5 31Airborne said:

Got away for a weekend w/ the boys. Had another great stay at SML SP cabins. This was more about fellowship than fishing. We got plenty of both. Even the fish and weather cooperated.

I missed the spring-like weather on SAT but the lads didn't. They had a banner day w/ stripers, catching many schoolers and roamers on jerkbaits, swimbaits, and cranks. The front that came thru on SAT evening didn't hurt things much on SUN. We did find the green fish, including a couple of quality fish. MON was a numbers day - more bites but the quality wasn't there. Saw plenty of stripers on the sonar screen but couldn't get any of them to bite. Was a treat to have the lake to ourselves. A few fishermen out there, but no other boaters in any of the areas we fished.

Observations: 1) WTs ranged from 51.5 to 55. Even after the cold wx last nite the water at the state park was still above 50 degrees when we launched yesterday morning. WTs were ~uniform from midlake up to vic R46. 2) Water clarity - yep, there was plenty of that. Cleanest I've seen SML. Easily 7-10' of viz midlake, a little cloudier up in the Roanoke River (~5-7'). 3) Most of our fish came off of main lake points. A few came off of ledges (but were still close to points). 4) Structure fish were fairly shallow - 6-8' was the magic range. We were able to call up a few fish w/ jerkbaits. These fish were holding in the channel close to ledges. 5) Many of the fish we caught were still very dark. Was evident these fish had been holding shallow for a while. 6) Secondhand info on stripers (from SAT) - the guys found several large schools of smaller stripers cruising along sharp breaks close to the shoreline. These fish were feeding actively. The doods said they were able to catch 5 or 6 fish before the school moved on or shut down. 7) Wind blowing across structure was better than wind blowing in on it. No wind, no fish.

A great way to kick off the holidays - fishing w/ good friends. Will be back after Christmas for a couple days. Hope to see some of y'all out there.

best,
B

"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory."

Sounds like a great time.  I've only ever visited the lake during the spring/summer, but you are really making me want to make a trip in the fall/early winter.  Must be incredible to have the lake to yourself like that.

[31Airborne]

It is. A very different lake when the rec boats are absent. Fall into winter is the best time for SML, IMO.

[herringbone]

Jun 16, 2022 14:50:21 GMT -5 31Airborne said:

It is. A very different lake when the rec boats are absent. Fall into winter is the best time for SML, IMO.

I’ll second that, for any lake.

[gulper]

Jun 16, 2022 14:50:21 GMT -5 31Airborne said:

It is. A very different lake when the rec boats are absent. Fall into winter is the best time for SML, IMO.

We rent a house on the lake for one week every year and so far it has always taken place sometime between Memorial and Labor days.  Might try to convince everyone to do mid to late September next year--water temp is still swimmable but I expect the crowds drop off significantly post-Labor day.

[johnr]

[quote author="gulper" source="/post/52333/thread" but I expect the crowds drop off significantly post-Labor day.[/quote]

😂

[31Airborne]

Yes, they do. If you try to fish during the summer months, the latest I'd plan on staying out is around 1000. After that, it gets kinda stoopid. And unsafe. I reckon you could fish way in the backs of creeks if you happen to be staying there. Otherwise, you're battling the madness.

[gulper]

Jun 17, 2022 14:18:21 GMT -5 johnr said:

[quote author="gulper " source="/post/52333/thread" but I expect the crowds drop off significantly post-Labor day.

😂[/quote]

I was there last year starting Labor Day weekend through the whole following week.  Felt like we had the lake to ourselves from Tuesday on--just sayin!