DrMarlboro92

your wife/girlfriend has designated a weekend each month as "date night, no fishing" on the calendar. You have a weekly allotment in your budget titled "tackle, ramp fees, and fishing gear" that is larger than your monthly food allotment. You and your wife/girlfriend have a disagreement about what is considered appropriate "wall decoration" and you have quietly decided that keeping her around is more cost-effective then making a big deal about your rod storage. You think that cleaning your house is a waste of energy, but the boat is spotless.

So to start this off I've been to Smith mountain lake a few times this summer, with my most recent trip being last Friday night (we'll go over the trip below) and haven't had much success so I was hoping there was someone who could tell me what I'm doing wrong, or any methods they know for this lake before I go back on saturday. I've only tried a few methods: spinnerbaits, Carolina rigged worms, and football jigging along the bottom. This past Friday I would say was an average trip for me, with 4 fish caught. I put in at Hale's ford around 9pm, and fished both banks between markers 33, and 36 (I believe it was 36 that I went up to) and started the night with a brown 1/2oz football jig with a black/red crawdad trailer working the rocks along the right bank. I pulled in about a 2lb small mouth, and a 9 inch large mouth doing this. After that, I switched to a Carolina rigged 7.5 inch culprit red shad worm, and worked the entire left bank from 36 back to 32. I caught two more ~9 inch large mouth doing this before calling it a night. I did notice that the water seemed to be a foot or so low, almost as if they lowered the lake in anticipation for the hurricane. Any advice guys?

So I just ran across this forum and decided I would join and see what I can pick up from you guys. I've been fishing since I was old enough to hold a rod, but only recently caught the bass bug and it's made me realize just how much I DON'T know about fishing. I've been frequenting Briery Creek, Smith Mountain lake, Claytor, tidal james, Chickahominy river, and have been thinking about giving lake Anna a try. I've only achieved poor to moderate success in these locations, and would gladly take any general advice you guys have. Anyway, here's to a new forum, a new sunburn, and another day getting stumped by the Chick.