for some reason i find that at this specific time of the year when the fish are done bedding and are not yet in my summer spots that it is better to fish later in the evening in the shallow spots that they once were bedding. i usually have a tough time finding a morning/mid afternoon bite on the lakes near my house at this specific time of year (dont get me wrong there is an occasional day where you can really pound them this time of year) but 90% of time its a tough slow bite all day that can really make your confidence level drop before your first tournament.

but like i said if i go fishing when i get done work i seem to have more success just before and right after night fall. during the day the fish scatter from the shallows and seem to move a little deeper but not yet concentrated on deep structure such as ledges and submerged brush/rocks. however when the sun goes down they seem to move back up to the shallows where the sun beat down on the rocks and brush at night and wherever there is something holding the heat that seems to be where you can catch 5 fish very quickly.

is there a tree you think should have a bass on it but you cant seem to catch her? try fishing it right at dusk and she will probably be there this time of the year.

good luck and i hope the advice pays off.

The bottom contour in Smith Mountain Lake is remarkably uniform throughout, but I realize that this is typical for highland reservoirs.

The biggest bugbear of course is the 20-ft increments between contour lines. They conceal an awful lot of valuable bottom detail, like trying to pick up needles with gloves on.

Fool that I am, I noted a few coordinates that might actually prove to be holding sites during the pre-summer period.

For reference sake I fabricated placeholders for the five trial sites:

Grimes Mouth: N37 10.030 W79 42.702

Lynville Gut:       N37 11.250 W79 45.171

In a highland reservoir like yours Scott, nothing can substitute for hands-on exploration.

Though I'm sure you know all the stuff below, it does no harm to rehash a few generalities that might serve as food for thought.

Smith Mountain Lake

When largemouth bass are given their choice of cover, they typically choose Weeds first, Wood second and Rock last

(For smallmouth bass, reverse that order). Bass living in manmade impoundments love weeds just as much as bass living in natural lakes, but are forced to adapt to available cover. If your home lake is anything like most highland reservoirs, it probably undergoes annual fluctuations of 15 ft or more. Weed growth doesn't stand much of a chance in pool level fluctuations of that extent. As a result, I'd have to assume that WOOD is the preferred cover of bass in Smith Mountain Lake, but that's just an assumption.

     Judging from the latitude of Smith Mountain Lake, the pre-spawn probably takes place around late April/early May but I realize that this can vary according to the hypolimnion budget (depth and temperature of lake's basin). I agree that threadfin shad are the staple diet, followed by crayfish. In highland reservoirs, salamander larvae (waterdogs) are also common fare but since they're known to carry pathogens they've fallen from favor as bait.

Post-Spawn Period

As everyone knows, cow bass spend most of the post-spawn recouping from the rigors of spawning, and are usually conspicuous by their absence. Fortunately their down-time usually doesn't last much longer than a week or 10 days. In sharp contrast to the cows, male bass during the post-spawn are extremely aggressive, easily caught and highly vulnerable to topwater lures. However, there is another short but distinctive seasonal period that few anglers talk about, and I believe it's the seasonal period that you're dealing with.

Pre-Summer Period

Where highland, hill-land and canyon impoundments prevail, the late post-spawn is often referred to as the pre-summer period, a term we rarely hear in Florida (predominantly natural eutrophic lakes). The pre-summer period marks a noticeable separation between the post-spawn and summer period. This interim period typically occurs before water temperatures are comfortable enough for bathing. In fact, water temperatures suitable for swimming usually mark the beginning of the bass's summer season. During the pre-summer period (late post-spawn), the females are back to feeding. However, on reservoirs that lack good weed growth their location is in disarray, almost as bad as the post-turnover. Actually, the pre-summer period on highland and hill-land lakes carries a double-whammy:

1) Bass tend to be scattered laterally (back creeks, creek mouths, main lake)

2) Bass tend to be scattered vertically throughout different depth levels because the lake is still unstratified (pre-thermocline).

Onsite Keys

Apart from bottom contour (structure) that's visible on the contour map, there are three Wild Cards to pre-summer location. The wild cards can only be pinpointed on-the-water during an onsite search, and any one of them can make a huge impact on location:

> WOODY COVER       Standing timber, stumps, brush, stickups, laydowns ~ ~

> WATER CURRENT Tributary streams - island thoroughfares shoreline bottlenecks

> DISCOLORED WATER Dingy water over sedimentary bottoms,

mudlines from rainwater or stream flow

Hope this might help Scottbest of luck ;-)

Roger

Good stuff Roger. The water is mid 70's now and although I didnt get on Smith this weekend I did get a report from a good friend that he was able to catch a couple real good ones yesterday on one of my brushpiles and thats the best news I've heard in a couple weeks. This may be the week that they all arrive on their summer spots.

I'll send you a pm to further the conversation about those GPS positions you listed, that are now mysteriously missing.