Our spawn started early then stopped then came back and stopped again. The weather this spring was very up and down with a few times of 8-10 degree swings. This June has been an interesting one for me with guiding. Live bait from the tackle shops and a bobber are you best friend off the docks.ĬLICK THIS LINK TO PURCHASE MY JULY SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE BAITS FROM OMINA TACKLE! Read More If you’re down here with the kids it’s still a fantastic time to go bream fishing. It’s also worth having a topwater at the ready when they bust the surface. Once one commits to the bait the rest of the school will follow. Find your schools of fish and rip that bait through them. A simple hopkins 3/8 or 1/2 spoon on 15lb line is all you need. A spoon is your best friend this time of year to get the school activated. Stripers are starting to school up together on main lake points, ditches and humps.
![smith mountain lake smith mountain lake](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/1-the-boardwalk-smith-mountain-lake-va-the-american-shutterbug-society.jpg)
If you use a Gamakatsu re-barb hook you can also target heavy brush piles to big bass. Focus on deep dock post on the main lake on the sunny side. A 6” roboworm is my go to 90% of the time on a Dropshot and in the summer it really shines. A Dropshot is hard to beat this time of year. Lastly is focusing on the finesse side of deep fishing. Use a prop bait or popper for topwater or a senko or flipping bait like a missile baits D bomb or Spicy Beaver. This bite seems to be best during the hottest part of the day. Find the bream beds and fish whatever targets are close by like laydowns or docks.
![smith mountain lake smith mountain lake](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/9-smith-mountain-lake-va-the-american-shutterbug-society.jpg)
This requires time on the water to find those honeycomb bream beds in the backs of pockets. This will almost exclusively be largemouth and it is not for targeting numbers but rather single giant fish. Check out the Man Bear Pig from Reaction Innovations.Īnother technique that is over looked this time of year is the bream eating fish that are up shallow. Texas rigging a Zoom Ole Monster is key for a big bite or Carolina rigging a creature bait on a 1oz with a leader will get you those post spawn summer time female fish. A Dobyns football head jig in 1/2-3/4oz is perfect to keep bottom contact. On sunny post front or sunny afternoons its time to start dragging around jigs and large profile plastics. A Dobyns Champion XP 703SF is a perfect rod for all of those sizes. Throwing them on spinning rods with lighter line with get you more and bigger bites. On cloudy and windy days a 2.8, 3.3 and 3.8 Kaitech swimbaits on very sizes of 1/4oz up to 3/8oz Guppy Head and Dobyns Swimbait Heads work well. The mid section down to the dam is a great place to fish this time of year with the river channel close by. Largemouth and Smallmouth bass are starting to move out of the creak channels and out onto main lake points and deeper docks. It’s a green time to get the kids our fishing off the docks for bluegills and catfish to introduce them to fishing. Stripers are starting to school up super well and eating a ton. We are catching some good numbers of fish that are moving out to deeper water for the next few months and still catching a few big bass up shallow eating bream. The heat of summer is here and the fishing is just as hot at Smith Mountain Lake.