DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE SPRING TACKLE I RECOMMEND Here we go again with some crazy spring weather pulling our water temperatures up and down. As I write this I am heading into a week of guiding and two of the mornings are calling for a low or 48 degrees. I have been around water temperatures in the low 70’s to some as l...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE SPRING TACKLE I RECOMMEND Shad is on the menu! What a fun time of year to fish. We have bass in all three stages of the spawn. I would say about 20% of the bass are up spawning and the rest are either fry guarding or already thinking about schooling up. I am finding smaller groups of fish almost...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE EARLY SPRING TACKLE I RECOMMEND Well it’s one of the most diverse times to fish SML right now. You can choose how you want to fish almost everyday with bass being in pre-spawn spawning and some super early post spawn fish. As i’m writing this we still haven’t had the largest wave of spawners come...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE EARLY SPRING TACKLE I RECOMMEND This is and will always be the big fish month on SML! Smith Mountain is dealing with a unique situation this March as we have had a super wet winter with some major flooding events and our lake is taking its sweet time getting that muddy river water down lake. We a...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE LATE WINTER TACKLE I RECOMMEND Well damn I left for most of January and y’all got one of the nastiest cold snaps from the last few years. Water temps dropped to nearly 40 here and I’m hearing reports of ice pretty far down the Roanoke and Blackwater rivers. That can mean only one thing….. Shad st...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE WINTER TACKLE I USE It’s about damn time I get another report out! Sorry about that folks. New born life running a few businesses and work like balance pulled me away last month and most of December but I’M BACK and so is some killer fishing. We have now transitioned from early winter to some tru...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE FALL TACKLE I USE October at Smith Mountain Lake is a prime time for bass fishing as the water temperatures drop fish become more active and the fall feeding frenzy kicks into gear. On top of the cooling effects of nature it’s Hurricane season. Helene just came through with devastating force and...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE LATE SUMMER TACKLE I USE It’s turn over time and I hope it comes and goes quick. September into October is a interesting time to be on the water. A lot of guys are getting hunting stuff out to start to prep for deer season but for us die hard fishermen it’s a time of scattered fish hard patterns...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE LATE SUMMER TACKLE I USE Life is crazy and in a great way! As many of you guys know that follow me on my social media stuff life has changed for me. We have an amazing little 7 month old girl already and life has been so cool seeing her grow. On top of activating DAD mode I have been quietly work...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE SUMMER TACKLE I USE June is one of my favorite months out here. Smith Mountain can set up to be super fun with fish both shallow and deep like really deep this month. We have a lot of post spawn fish that are now past that annoying zombie phase and are ready to start schooling up and chomping. We...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE SRING TACKLE I USE Here we go again with another strange weather spring roller coaster water temps and a later spawn. May is shaping up to be an interesting one this year with a lot of things happening all at the same time. We have bass that stayed in pre-spawn patterns for a super long time we h...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE EARLY SRING TACKLE I USE What a strange spring. Talking to a lot of the bass guys around the lake and even some of the striper guides it sounds like this is one of the most off spring bites this lake has experienced. Now there is no way to know what happened but as an avid angler and a person tha...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE EARLY SRING TACKLE I USE It’s an early spring again this year with stained water warming trends and all species of fish on the move. Flowers are blooming and the trees are not far behind. The bass are ahead and we should see some bass on beds in late March unless we get a massive late spring cold...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE EARLY WINTER TACKLE I USE Well that cold water lasted all of 10 days LOL. Looks to be setting up that we are getting another warmer spring with rising water temperatures. This is a good and bad thing depending on how you look at it. The good is that a lot bass are already starting their movements...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE EARLY WINTER TACKLE I USE OMG it’s finally happening!!!!! We have cold water lots of wet days in the forecast and the fish are putting on the feedbag really heavy. Winter fishing is one of my favorite times to fish in VA. Some of the days have high temperatures close to 50 degrees and the fish wi...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE EARLY WINTER TACKLE I USE I’m starting to feel like a broken record on how bad we need a cold snap but i’ll say it again for this report. The fish are stacked and so ready to eat but the water temps are just holding in that strange 55-59 degree range. This is causing a lot of the largemouth and s...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE LATE FALL TACKLE I USE The water is GIN clear and that can make things tough but don’t be discouraged….. Wind is your friend and it’s transition time for the weather so it comes and goes every few days! Late fall fishing can be a struggle depending on lake conditions and those conditions can be d...

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE EARLY FALL TACKLE I USE DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAITSHOP FOR MY EARLY FALL LURE LIST. It’s time to start thinking about the Moon!!!! We are turning the corner and starting to head into true fall fishing with all species of fish putting on the feedbag to prepare for the colder months ahead....

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAIT SHOP FOR ALL THE EARLY FALL TACKLE I USE DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE BAITSHOP FOR MY EARLY FALL LURE LIST. It’s an El Niño weather pattern this year and we are already seeing the effects on the fishing water temp and how they are biting. Bring it on!!!!! I’m ready for some big changes in the fish this fall as w...

Largemouth bass on the dropshot off the rocks.