Discover Smith Mountain Lake
SUMMER 2016
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the rocks, I would catch bass, especially smallmouth.
With the night lit by the moon, I put myself in the place of the fish in the water.Above me is
a boat. Because of the moon light, the boat appears as a big black shadow or spot, and every
movement it makes it shows ripples on the water.
I would think that fish would want to run from it. So instead of casting from deep water
toward the shore, I put the boat on the point in very shallow water (about 2 feet), and cast
toward the deep water. It helped a little, so I changed my lures to Lil’ Macs, Deep diving
Rebels, etc. Rod tip down, I practiced a very slow retrieve. If the lure hangs as it digs the side
of the point, STOP and point the rod tip towards the lure and it will float out, and you can
continue.When the strike comes, it will seem as though the fish is trying to take your fishing
rod out of your hands.This usually means great fun and big fish.
For years I could catch fish on plastic minnows and such, but I was terrible with a plastic
worm. I thought hard about this, because other fishermen would make very good catches on
worms. I could catch fish on live worms, but not nearly as well as others did on plastic worms.
I tried using plastic worms several times, but each time I gave up and went back to plastic
minnows.
After some time, I decided that this was something that I had to learn to do. So, I got in a row
boat and took only plastic worms with me and some scent cover. Before you get on the water,
you may have a meal, put gas or oil in the boat or vehicle, handle after shave or anything else
that may have a scent. Many of these can be offensive to fish. Even if you wash your hands, you
may have soap scent on your hands.To remedy this, you take scent cover along with you.After
handling the soft plastic worms, you need to put the scent cover on the worms. I kept fishing
with plastic worms until I started catching fish. I just stayed there until I figured it out.
I found that the more slowly I retrieved, the more fish I seemed to catch. I would ease my boat
in toward the shore. If I found myself in a place where there were a lot of fish but it had been
fished a lot already, I would cast a plastic worm in this spot (usually brush or lay downs) and let
it sit and then pull some slack in the line and shake the rod tip so the worm would appear to be
alive, and catch fish where others could not.
Here’s something I learned to do when fishing Stripers at this time of year (Summer)… I
would position my boat in 30 to 35feet of water on the East side of the islands, near R-1 at the
dam. Once I marked the fish on graph, I would set my down rods so that the bait would be
just over their heads. I normally set up the rod with an egg sinker over a swivel, with a leader
of about 16”, and a hook with a shad or other live bait swimming around the weight. I would
also put a “freeline” out the back of the boat..(This is a rod with only a hook and the bait to
swim freely).
The fish hit best when the dam is making power (listen for the sirens), and the water
movement is pulling the bait across the point of the island toward where the boat is. One day,
I could see the fish on the graph and I placed my bait, but no strikes. I got to thinking about
Good Luck &
Take a kid fishin’!
BOB KING
Questions? Send me an e-mail!
the bait being pulled over the point so I took a freeline and cast it onto the
point .There were several boats there that day, but my boat was the only one
catching fish… all because we figured it out.We were catching fish so fast that
we started giving them away just so that we could continue fishing.What a fun
day that was!
Points to follow: Fishing a DARK night would be 7 days before to 7 days after
a NEW MOON. Fishing the day after a DARK night, fish the first 3 hours, and
the skip the next 3 hours. (This is a good time to go and eat lunch)Then go
back out and fish the next 3 hours.A moonlit night would be 7 days before to
7 days after a FULL MOON. Fishing after a LIT night, skip the first 3 hours,
fish the next 3 hours, and then skip the next 3 hours…Always remember that
this is a guide line, not a hard and fast rule, which means times may vary a
little, especially nearing the 7th day. For the most part, it works!Try it; you’ll
be pleased!
AND REMEMBER -- Change someone’s life for the good: “TAKE A KID
FISHING”
