heading out to smith mountain lake this summer.  wondering if anyone can give me a few pointers on catching big rockbass in the dam area.  last year i found myself trolling for a good time and only landed one decent small mouth.

You talking about the dam on the upper end or the lower end? I suspect you're talking about upper since you mentioned rock bass.

yea last year found lots myself doing lots of trolling with little results

As long as the water stays up you should be able to get most of the way up to the Powerhouse. I grew up fishing around that dam on the bottom side. Lots of different fish in there and when the stripers get piled up at the Powerhouse its like fishin in a barrel.

My go to bait back then was a texas rigged 4" ringworm, red with black core and a 2/0 worm hook. Most of the time, that was the only worm I took with me. That worm caught rockies, smallies, largemouth, catfish, carp, stripers, white bass, crappie. Come to think of it, I should use them more out on the main lake.  ;D