Red Bear

I spent the weekend at Smith Mountain Lake and mostly fished from the dock at night. Me and my uncle did go out on his boat and trolled for stripers but didnt have any luck. So yesterday i set up shop on the dock with my rods, reels, tackle box, night crawlers, chicken livers, and cooler full of beer. I usually have no luck fishing with artificial off this dock located in a cove of the Craddock Creek area of the lake, but I usually throw some anyways, though i have caught largemouths on night crawlers there. This time just before dark i picked up a largemouth on a baby bass kinami flash, so i was pretty happy to get that monkey off my back. I threw that a few more times and then tossed a spinnerbait for a bit, but didnt get anymore. On to the night crawler and chicken livers to fish for cats. I rigged one pole up to use for night crawlers. and another a different way to use for chicken livers. the chicken liver pole i was using was 6'6 medium heavy shakespeare rod with a shakespeare push button reel. i know its a cheap combo, but i love it and its been great to me. i had it spooled with 15lb big game line, put on a 1oz egg shaped slip sinker and used a 2/0 eagle claw baitholder hook with the leader line tied on to it and pegged the sinker on one side just above the leader so the sinker wouldnt slide down to the hook. while waiting for the chicken liver to thaw a bit more i used nightcrawlers but nothing was hardly biting and i missed a couple fish. afterwhile i finally put on a chunk of chicken liver and tossed it out maybe 20 yards in front of the dock. the water is 8-10 feet deep out there and there are several tree stumps. i left my line slack and proceeded to put another night crawler on the other pole. midway through putting on the night crawler i saw my line on the other pole take off. dropped the night crawler pole and grabbed the shakespeare as the rod tip started to bend over and swung for the sky. FISH ON. no wait its pulling out line on a run, BIG FISH ON is what im thinking. thinking about what a nice catfish this is gonna be as im fighting it. my goal is to bring it in along the side of the dock and not to lose it. i have a net laying somewhere i can reach it fairly easily on the dock. so the fish is still fighting but i get it in closer after about 5 minutes, then it shoots towards a small tree fallen over in the water about 10 feet off the dock, i use the rod power and pull it away from the tree and reel in some more line. finally she surfaces, her side breaks the surface of the water and she dives back under, OH MAN ITS A STRIPER. my adrenaline really took off then. she started wearing down as i continued the fight. as she appeared to be giving in i hold my rod up high in one hand to keep the tension on and bend over and grab the net. she shoots under the dock and strips out a little more line, now theres too much line out to net her and i dont have a free hand, so i wedge the net handle between my arm and body and reel some line back, grab the net and scooped her up. she was 24 inches, 6.5lbs on my spring scale. the slot limit at SML on stripers right now is you cant keep any 26-36 inches, so she was just barely legal. and she was full of eggs. i cant believe i caught a striper on a chicken liver, never heard of that before. and my shakespeare push button combo stood up to the task, that really has been a lucky combo for me. it took me about half an hour to level back out, my stomach felt like it was tied in knots from the adrenaline rush. it was a really great fight on that reel, the drag on those things arent the best. but anyways, sorry for the lengthy story, here are a few of pics though

stripers are bass

whats the name of the place? google that and see if you can find info on what type of fish it holds.

just hit forward on your browser and the message should still be there, i just tested it. also the reason your backspace key took you back one page was because you probably clicked outside of the box you type your posts/messages in, you can tell if youre in the box by whether the cursor line is flashing or not

these boulders

headed to Smith Mountain Lake this weekend. leaving early friday morning and coming back sunday. probably wont fish sunday as ill be preparing to leave, but i still got friday and saturday. i hear the alewives and such are moving in to shallow water and coves to spawn and drawing in bass, catfish and stripers. so that will be good for my all nighters on the dock. but i also plan to get out and troll for some stripers. with my luck i will only catch stripers 26-36 inches and have to throw them back lol, slot limit doesnt end till after may, then you can keep all sizes. should be a beautiful weekend to go fishing in VA as Sam stated

i dont have near the line twist issues some people on here complain about and i use primarily spinning gear. the main time i have line twist issues is if the spool is getting low on line in which case its time to respool anyways. i dont think the quality of the reel has anything to do with line twist either. i own my share of cheap reels too. for example, i have a shakespeare combo spooled with 12lb trilene xl smooth casting line both bought from walmart and havent had one problem with line twist. never had line twist problems from not closing the bail manually either. now, ive had a couple problems in the past when spooling bigger line on a spinning reel but that went away after catching a few fish on it. i would say most problems people have with line twist is probably improper spooling, old line, or a spool low on line where the line is more tightly wrapped around the spool and gets more curled.

actually, i rarely if ever get a bite fishing a senko slowly by twitching it letting it sit, twitching it a couple more times, etc. I usually just crank them in and lift up on my rod and let them fall back down some while doing so, the bass love it that way and its real easy for me to feel the fish hit it. but with that said one of my biggest flaws may be fishing too fast a lot of times

i would rather have an average rod and a good reel. eventually youll learn the difference of feel of an average rod to a high end rod, i cant say that about the reel. plus because the reel is made with moving parts and such, id rather that be quality...

im not saying they need to build a park there or anything, but improvements upon the areas already open would be great. like removing some trees and making better areas to park. i just remember that place when it had much better access and shorelines that werent overgrown, of course that was the mid 80s...there have been times where i thought about going in there with one of those saws on a pole and cutting a few limbs off trees. i also thought about getting a jon boat or canoe, but now i took my old truck off the road and have no way to haul one lol...

havent been since last year, its nice to hear theyve done that much to the place. loudoun and fairfax counties should work together to do a little more to improve access there

dock fishing one night with my brother in law on smith mtn lake. the back of the boat faces the water and we were sitting on the back seats of the boat. i was using a zebco 33 with 8lb line, an 1/8oz bass casting sinker and a gold #2 abeerdeen hook with night crawler. felt a bite and set the hook, told my brother in law "this is it, this is it" should of told him "run up to the house and get the net". there i was just getting back into fishing of any kind like 5 years ago with a monster on my line and cranking away on the reel. the fish offered little resistance as it swam towards me when i was reeling. as i got it closer it started coming up to the surface and was rolling over in the water and i saw the huge belly of a flathead catfish that had to go 40 lbs or more if i was forced to guess. all of a sudden it shot under the boat and bent my little zebco 33 rod like a letter U. i had stopped reeling and pulled it back out using the rod, it came up to the surface again and SNAP, my line broke at the sinker. had i told my brother in law to get the net it probably wouldnt have been in time, but from now on when i dock fish at night i make sure to have the net down there

if im correct there was an actual boat launch on the reservoir road side thats still there, but i could be wrong. the problem is you cant back your boat down to it. but you can put a boat in much easier on the reservoir road side so long as you can get it back there, its real opened up at the water without a lot of trees and clear section of shoreline. some guys were able to take the jon boat off the trailer, roll the trailer under the gate blocking you from driving near the water and put the boat back on and roll it down there and then chained the trailer to a tree while they went out. parking is real limited no matter where you go there. i remember the 80s as a kid, you could drive right along side the water... also ive been wanting to try the alford road spot, but havent been there in awhile...also, has anyone actually been able to get to the goose creek reservoir right down the road from beaverdam creek reservoir? i think it got closed off long time ago

I lived half my life in NC and i will tell you that the crackheads there will steal anything to trade or sell or pawn to get crack or money for crack. then they will break telescopic antennas off of cars and use them for crack stems. had an old car break down on me overnight at like 2-3am one night. went back the next day and my window was busted out and someone had popped the hood and stole my battery...

works fine on my spinning reels, i also respooled 3 of my uncles spinning reels with it this spring and he has had no problems as well. i even have one of my spinning reels i use for catfish spooled with 25lb big game. practically all i use is big game or stren mono and it works great for me, only had one break off due to a fish and that was with the 10lb line. i have equal luck with both the green and clear as well. i find the 15lb or 20lb works well for all my applications and has plenty of strength. ive gotten snagged up with the 25lb big game, pulled on the line with my hands and bent my hook and came free before the line even felt like it was gonna snap...

you may have wanted to post this in the southeast section for the board, im sure there are some guys there that can give you good advice on lake anna

dang. after all that, try a live minnow lol

did the reel land and get mud all up in the spool? if not i wouldnt have even bothered to take it apart and do all that, especially if it just landed in the water.

i hear the strippers are hitting in craddock creek really good right now. i caught my personal best stripper there last year. and ive found the july fishing there pretty poor, probably due to all the traffic on the lake, sometimes the water looks like its boiling with all the boats and jetskis. i swear sometimes in july there i can barely even get a bite while night fishing with night crawlers or chicken livers from a dock. and ive been there every fourth of july the last 5-6 years or so. may, early june and september have been most productive for me on SML. it can be tough at times though, but some of my personal best of different species come from there, i even caught a musky fingerling there LOL, mustve of been recently stocked when i got there or something.

i wouldve tried pulling a spinnerbait right past them a few times to try and provoke a reaction bite.

there are literally hundreds of ponds in the SML area, you cant miss them, just be sure to ask permission because ive never actually fished any of them. on the other side of the SML dam is the Leesville reservoir, and from there another dam that lets out into the Roanoke River which has a platform for people to fish from, just listen for that siren and retreat up the hill for safety when they let the water lose. Ive seen some monster catfish there while throwing a net for shad. if it was me i would just night fish from the bank in SML after things calmed down on the water there and have me a cooler full of beer, i was going to go this weekend but some things came up that took priority over that.

Oh man, that is pretty friggin hilarious, im dying over here at the thought of that

for me personally, i get just as much thrill catching a fish on live bait as i do on artificial bait. i love using both. ill sit there and toss artificials all day or i will sit back and throw on a night crawler and bottom fish. i get no more satisfaction from catching a fish on artificial than i do on live bait or vice versa. i know some people get caught up in it, but not me. i have no problem with someone who fishes only live bait or only artificial or uses both. what i dont get is why some people seem to get all high and mighty over the subject, and usually its the artificial only people who do act like that. im not knocking those people for their preference in baits, i just dont understand the need for someone to act like that over fishing tactics. to me its all about having fun and clearing my mind of all other things no matter what im fishing with

i have had better luck with eagle claws than with gammys. also i rarely use the EWGs unless im using something thick like a senko, seems i miss more fish with the EWGs...

i never seem to forget losing a big fish, it stings for a long time