Page 26 - Discover Summer 2021

Fisherman’s Almanac CONTINUED
F is he rma n ’ s Alma nac C O NTINUED
immediately! Always allow your drag to slip
when fishing light line.
3. If no strike occurs, once the lure touches
down and your line goes slack, immediately
lower your rod tip to 9 o’clock; take up the
slack as you lower it.
4. Slowly raise your rod tip back to 10 or
11 o’clock, drawing the jig off the bank and
allowing it to tumble down again, watch
for strikes as the lure falls, and set the hook
immediately if you feel a strike.
The biggest mistake most fishermen
make when fishing drop baits occurs during
step 2. Instead of keeping the rod upright
at a high angle, for some reason, they often
drop the rod, thereby causing them to lose all
contact with the lure as it is falling.
Fishing drop baits is a very slow,
painstaking way to fish, but is also a lot of
fun, for it requires constant attention. Often a
grub fisherman working a sloping bank says,
“Oh-oh I just had a fish hit it twice!” He
then rears back and sets the hook, and
there’s nothing there, of course. What really
happened was that the first hit was the
smallmouth inhaling the grub, and the second
hit was the fish exhaling it. This can happen
with incredible speed.
The strike always varies from day to
day and fish to fish; some days they will slam
a drop bait like a spinner-bait. Other days
you never feel them at all; just detect the
slightest possible movement on your line.
Some fishermen don’t know what to
24 Discover Smith Mountain Lake SUMMER 2021
look for when watching their line. Many
fishermen don’t associate jumps or bumps in
the line with a strike. A suggestion is to go to
a small stream or pond, or any shallow area
where you can see small Bluegill in the water.
Take a spinning outfit with a hook, and bait it
with a night-crawler. Then just set the rod on
shore and watch the way the line moves when
the fish hit the worm. Even the slightest
nibble will cause the line to jump. It’s a great
way to learn how your line reacts when a fish
hits.
Drop bait fishing can be very easy
and relaxing. You won’t ever work up a sweat
dropping a 1/8 oz or 1/4 oz grub down a
steep bank like you might when fishing a
crank bait all day. You can also fish a plastic
worm the same way... Always remember to
be very slow and gentle. When using a worm,
you can just slowly crawl the worm. This is a
good way to catch a trophy or even a record
smallmouth.
Improve a kid’s life and your own,
TAKE A KID FISHING!
If you have any questions, or would
like to report your fishing success, I’d
love to hear from you!
Send an e-mail to: fishing@
discoversmithmountainlake.com