catnip

I've been having the same problem on Smith Mountain lately. They'll bust the heck outta shad right beside the boat but but don't even want to sniff anything I throw at them. I'm starting to get frustrated but am still able to just enjoy being out of doors.

If you're fishing top water, isn't the point of the presentation to make some splash to attract the fish up from the bottom? My daughter and I had this same splash conversation thursday on Smith Mtn lake. Fish wouldn't hit anything at all no matter what size, color, presentation. They were jumping like crazy, though. Big 'uns jumping 2 or 3 feet into the air. Best I can figure was that the shad were running and they just weren't interested in anything else. Had plenty of fun just fishing with the kid though...and for me that's what it's all about.

Wow, that didn't take long It's the best site I've found so far. As a general rule I have several sites that I visit for different things in my life...fishing, automotive and martial arts. Each catagory has one site that is a real stand out and this is the one for my fishing catagory.

Hey, Carpbait, the New is a great area for smallies BUT you'd better warn everyone about having their PFDs handy. The New (actually the second oldest river in the world) is world renowned for it's class III-V rapids. Beautiful scenery, lots of great fishing and a place in the world that mother nature will slap the dog stuff out of you if you're not on your toes. The James River between Iron Gate and Glasgow Virginia is my all time favorite place for smallies. There is a good population of muskie in there as well as some great pan fishing for the kids. Class I and II rapids only so it's great for folks that are new to boating moving water. Plenty of islands for camping during a multiple day trip. More citation smallies come out of the James than any other body of water in Virginia.

I pass by the outdoor motor mile five days a week on my way back from Princeton (I'm a local truck driver) to Roanoke. I've seen a few of the boats they have sitting in the back lot. I know that their lot is big enough for me to get my truck into so guess who'll be stopping there for his lunch break this week. ;D

Yomonk, where is the minnow pond ii? The original minnow pond was on Jamison and 12th but it's been closed. I've never tried out Always outdoors in Salem but since my dojo is in Salem I'll swing in there before class on monday evening. A lot of the small shops out around the lake are just way too expensive to justify shopping there unless it's one of those "already on the lake and gotta have this particular lure" things.

Muddpuppy, you may not have caught any lunkers that day but it sounds like you caught several boat loads of lunkheads! ;D I've had folks just about bounce lures off my head during a tournament on Smith Mountain Lake in '92. These guys weren't part of the tournament they were just ticked off that a tourney would take over "their" lake for the week end. They eventually puttered off after another boat with a couple of our friends (BIG fellas) pulled up along side us to see how we were doing. Too many people get caught up in the idea of catching fish and lose the joy of just fishing.

I'm so envious right now that I'm starting to look like Kermit the Frog. That is a great looking boat. I don't know if I'd get much fishing done the first few trips out for having fun just driving her.

Glenn, thanks for all the behind the scenes work that I know you have to do to keep the site up and running. Just wait til there's around 3 or 4 thousand members. :

I hit Wallyworld today and was at Dick's yesterday. I noticed that Dicks has a better selection of hard baits while WW has a better selection of soft baits. As for price, WW had them beat on that. Selection of rods/reels/combos was much better at Dick's.

Could it be that the lunkers have had more time to distinguish between lures and good forage? We talk about fish that are fished hard being hard to catch because they've seen everything you can throw at them. Well, a lunker has had years to decide what is worth munching on and what's not gonna put calories into his body. Try matching your lure as close to possible to the natural forage that is available to him to hit.

It's one of the longer threads on the page, so I guess quite a few people care. Most humans do not take pleasure in inflicting pain and the idea that we, as sportsman, may be inflicting pain on a level equal to the pain that we feel might be somewhat disconcerting. I, for one, don't believe that fish don't process pain in the same way that we process it. Most of the pain that we feel is driven by the emotion of the moment (true agonizing pain). I don't believe that fish feel the combination of pain AND emotional trauma that humans feel. I don't doubt that on some level fish feel pain...it's a survival instinct. I don't believe that they school in 12 step programs afterward to get over the trauma of the incident. They go right back to bedding, spawning, whatever.

Caught my biggest in a light rain as well. As with most other things to do with nature it seems that the less comfortable WE are the more comfortable the game is. :-/

Just itching? Man, I want a double digit so bad you'd think I'd taken a nap in the middle of a patch of poison ivy then mixed the calamine up with itching powder. ;D

My largest was an 8lb 3oz large caught on a craw dad colored crank in february at Carvins Cove here in Roanoke County, Virginia. Largest smallie was also at Carvins Cove later the same year. It weighed in at just over 3 lbs.

Hi, all. Thought I'd introduce myself and let you all know up front why I'll be asking questions that will make you scratch your head and say "What the?" My name is Jeff, I'm a local trucker around the Virginia/West Virginia area. I'm a single dad of 3 girls (2 of them are teenagers :-/) I'm a martial arts student (2 years kenpo and 2 years, so far, aikido). I haven't had the chance to fish for about 6 years so I've forgotten most of what I ever knew. I live in great country for bass fishing with Smith Mountain Lake just a few miles down the road. I've got the James, New, Maury and Cow Pasture rivers close by. I'm trying to find a decent canoe to fish out of...it's better all around for me than a larger boat for some of the relatively shallow areas of the above rivers. I'm sure I'll be asking plenty of questions before I have anything constructive to add but I'll enjoy reading up until then.