I'm planning to take another trip to Smith Mountain Lake in a couple weeks. I saw some recent pictures my aunt took and the water is really low. My uncle could barely get his pontoon boat back in the dock to lift it up after picking it up from a marina that installed his depth finder. I havent seen the water that low in years at SML, though maybe i just havent been at the right times, but im usually there several times a year. Why is the water so low right now?

Also whats going on with the striper fishing there this year? i know a guy who normally slays them and takes home a freezer full caught in the craddock creek area and over by the dam and elmos cove, this year he hasnt caught a single striper using various techniques. he did say he caught a nice 7lb smallmouth bass on an alewive. Are the stripers all the way down the river arms? Any help where the stripers might be would be appreciated. of course if we cant get my uncles boat out then i wont even get to go for stripers, though ive had my most luck for stripers in september at SML a short ways up in black water...

Also, are the panfish still holding around the docks or have they moved out? im hoping to get some cutbait for catfishing all night. catfishing is something that i usually have good success at when the lake level is down a little. i can usually find a good school of catfish in the 3lb avg range fishing off my uncles dock, like there is most always that sweet spot from the dock, you just gotta find it...i figure cut bait(i use bluegill and white perch) will help keep some of the smaller ones away. last time i was using cutbait there and had my rod in a holder watching it. most fish hooked themselves but one just pulled my rod more than half way over and dissappeared, plus i lost another nice one that i got to the dock but not up to the surface and never saw him, just came unbuttoned. i love catfishing as much as bass fishing, and the cats are probably gonna be my main focus this trip. though im sure ill throw some cranks, plastics, and jigs around too...

but really, i just mainly wanted to know why the water was so low, and where might the stripers be at....

Right now Smith Mountain is about 3 feet below full pond but it looks lower. http://www.smithmountainlakelevel.com/SMLLevelWeb.exe

I mostly bass fish but the striper bite has been off for me and my buddies as well although I know some folks that did very good on them earlier in the year. I am attaching a link to a local fishing report which reports on Bass, Stripers and sometimes catfish. http://www.virginiaoutdoorsman.com/content/report.html I was on the lake after church on Sunday, the boat traffic was terrible due to the holiday weekend but I did catch a few bass. The water temp was 82 degrees. Good luck on your trip!!

thanks for the info, and the lake level report link, that could come in real handy for me. and i always read the virginia outdoorsman report, its the best one i ever found for SML thats updated weekly. has there been a lack of rain down that way? or are they just pumping out more into leesville than normally? its a little more easing on me to know that its not just me and my friends who have had trouble with the striper bite either. hopefully ill figure something out when i get down there cause i did pretty good with the stripers down there last year trolling green/chartruese sassy shads on jig heads. hell i even caught one while catfishing with chicken livers lol...

and i know what you mean about the holiday boat traffic, its horrendous down there even without it being a holiday lol. things should be a little quieter now that labor day is past and people are back in school.

were the bass on any sort of generic pattern youre willing to share?

also, any information on any type of fishing at SML from anyone willing to share would be much appreciated...

My last trip won't be much help, I didn't get on the water until 1:30pm and fished until about 6:00. I caught 2 fish on a Bomber Fat Free Shad in the foxy shad pattern on a rocky bank and a few on a 4 inch robo worm on a drop shot off of docks, no real pattern. I did have a buddy that had some great luck Friday night in the Penhook area fishing around docks on shallow rocky banks. They didn't do much from 7:30pm until 10:30pm but from 10:30pm until 12:30am they were on fire and caught about 15 keepers including a 6.2 large mouth. Half of them were caught on a Bill Norman crankbait and half were caught on a 10" texas rigged worm with a rattle and a force bead between the sinker and worm. Best 5 were estimated to be 17 - 18 pounds. To beat it all they were fishing from a pontoon boat!!

caught my PB largemouth bass this weekend at SML. i will be posting a report and pics in the fishing trip section if i have time when i get home tonight...

i will say that bass were busting the surface regularly for 3 days in the cove i was fishing in off craddock creek where my uncles lake house is. the main problem was they were primarily on the otherside of the cove lol, and that i was dock bound except the couple times my uncle went out trolling for stripers...

my son and I fished a club tournament on Kerr Reservoir (Buggs Island)and had a blast. We caught about 20 keepers, just couldn't get a good bite and only had 8.9 lbs. in 5 fish. I guess you would call it junk fishing, we caught fish on top water, crankbaits, spinnerbait, senkos, dropshot, texas rig, carolina rig and shakey head!!