New to the Board

[nvcollins]

I'm Noel Colluns from Marion, Virginia. My grand sons and I fish regularly on the East Tennessee lakes, South Holston, Guntersville, AL. Middle grandson wants to fish on his high school team. I am interested in getting fishing information for Claytor, Smith Mountain, Philpott, and Kerr.

[johnr]

SML is miserable to fish unless you like fishing in Jan and Feb when all the rec boaters stay inside.

Philpott has an excellent and growing population of spotted bass. Just go out in the main basin, set the livescope to 130’ out and start casting spoons, topwater, or small swim baits to the schools of bass. This works year round. Forget that LMB and SMB exist in this lake and you will have an enjoyable time.

[31Airborne]

Welcome aboard! Lots of good info on here that'll give your youngster a jump on learning the ropes. SML is a great fishery but impossible to navigate when it's warm. As johnr points out, the rec boat traffic late spring thru ~end of SEP is stupid. Just not safe. Claytor is the same, only smaller, which makes the rec boat issue even more problematic. There is a pro board for Kerr. You'll have no trouble finding it if you found this one. Tons of helpful info there, too.

[herringbone]

Aug 21, 2023 15:09:52 GMT -5 johnr said:

SML is miserable to fish unless you like fishing in Jan and Feb when all the rec boaters stay inside.

Philpott has an excellent and growing population of spotted bass. Just go out in the main basin, set the livescope to 130’ out and start casting spoons, topwater, or small swim baits to the schools of bass. This works year round. Forget that LMB and SMB exist in this lake and you will have an enjoyable time.

Agree that the spotted bass population is plentiful. I have noticed that I’ve caught more smallmouth this year than in the past and I think it may be because of the spotted bass competition, making them more aggressive.

[johnr]

I believe the spots have changed the habits of other game fish. It’s tough to find bass by fishing “traditionally”, but there’s plenty of LMB and SMB out roaming behind the schools of spots cleaning up after them. (At least in summer and winter). Same with walleyes.

I also believe that the spots have done a good job of pushing the baitfish off structure and out into open water, which forces the other fish to follow.

The next few years will be interesting. The spot population is going to explode with 14-16” fish starting in a year or two.

[herringbone]

Agree 100%