Smith Mountain Lake
Published: Updated:
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Summer (Current)
Smith Mountain Lake Overview
SLOWWind (mph)FAST
01020406080100
Top Techniques Reported for Largemouth Bass + Summer
- Drop Shot3
- Hard Topwater (Walking)3
- Texas Rigs (Worming)2
- Carolina Rigs1
- Football Jigs1
Total Fishing Reports
112
Top Species Reported for Summer
- Largemouth Bass17 Reports
Panfish / Bluegill1 Report
Catfish1 Report
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Recent and Trending Baits
Fishing Reports
112 Reports on Smith Mountain LakeSort by
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Summer
Technique
Topwater Walking
Structure
Rip Rap
Forage
Blueback Herring
Water Temperature
84°
Billy Kohls
Bronze Ambassador
7/4/22
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Summer
Technique
Soft Swimbaits (Sm/Md)
Structure
Brush Piles
Forage
Crawfish
Largemouth and Smallmouth bass are starting to move out of the creak channels and out onto main lake points and deeper docks. The mid section down to the dam is a great place to fish this time of year with the river channel close by. 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. Throwing them on spinning rods with lighter line with get you more and bigger bites. A Dobyns Champion XP 703SF is a perfect rod for all of those sizes. On sunny post front or sunny afternoons its time to start dragging around jigs and large profile plastics. A Dobyns football head jig in 1/2-3/4oz is perfect to keep bottom contact. 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. Check out the Man Bear Pig from Reaction Innovations. Another technique that is over looked this time of year is the bream eating fish that are up shallow. This will almost exclusively be largemouth and it is not for targeting numbers but rather single giant fish. This requires time on the water to find those honeycomb bream beds in the backs of pockets. Find the bream beds and fish whatever targets are close by like laydowns or docks. This bite seems to be best during the hottest part of the day. Use a prop bait or popper for topwater or a senko or flipping bait like a missile baits D bomb or Spicy Beaver. Lastly is focusing on the finesse side of deep fishing. A Dropshot is hard to beat this time of year. A 6” roboworm is my go to 90% of the time on a Dropshot and in the summer it really shines. Focus on deep dock post on the main lake on the sunny side. Be careful of the heavy boat traffic. If you use a Gamakatsu re-barb hook you can also target heavy brush piles to big bass.
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Summer
Technique
Drop Shot
Structure
Ledges
Forage
Bluegill
Top Fishing Techniques
for Largemouth Bass + SummerChoose from techniques based on Smith Mountain Lake fishing reports.
