Smith Mountain Lake August Fishing Report - Timing and bite windows, bait size and covering water

August is one of my favorite times to fish out here. That might seem against the grain since most fishing handbooks tell you summer time fishing is tough, but I love solving the puzzle daily. Water temps are now back on track with what they have been the last few years with morning temps right around the 80-82 mark and 84-85 durning the evening window. This can change with a few cooler mornings or a few super hot days, but the heat has stabilized the water to where the fish don’t care too much. As the title suggest this time of year is about bite windows. Keep that idea in your head as you put the boat in the water. The fish have the fastest metabolism of the entire year right now and that creates a unique fishing situation. A bite window refers to when the fish will be actively eating vs having to force them to react. This is where the fun lies… if you can get onto a school of fish, doesn’t matter if it’s bass or stripers and be in an ative bite window you can catch numbers and size very easily. However, this can also be the time of year where you have to check the same school of fish one, two, hell even five times until you land on them when they are eating. Your best bet at having a fun fish catching August is to spend some time graphing to find these high percentage areas of main lake schoolers…. but don’t forget about those shallow bass either :)

Just as I mentioned last month the largemouth are are in two different places right now. A good part of the population did their normal fish movements out to the main lake points, into brush piles and around channel swings, but some of the bigger fish turned right around to focus on eating bluegills way back in the pockets in the super hot water. The main lake schoolers have one goal and this is to push bait up to the surface (even during the middle of the day) to ambush. On a topographical map you need to find areas with main lake channel near, points with longer tapers and some possible structure under the water. A stump field is a great starting spot for shad chasing schoolers. That applies to both bass and stripers. Just like last month an early morning topwater bite is on for the first hour of light or longer if you get a cloudy day. Here are some amazing schooling style baits to have on. A Missle Baits Shockwave 3.5 or 4.5 rigged on a 1/8oz ball head. Play with the weights of the lead head to find what is working each day. Some days they may want a slower fall rate and others something very fast. Use the countdown method if you don’t have front facing sonar. Another great bait is a jerkbait. I always start by working the piss of out this style of bait this time of year. Literally no pauses at all. These fish are conditioned to chase right now and they will catch it trust me. Lastly is a topwater, this can be personal preference. A walking bait like a Spro Walking Haint is the general rule, but don’t shy away from a popper like the Spro Essential Series E Pop 80 out over open water for something different. Keep a close eye on the size of the bait that the fish are bringing to the surface and match as close as possible. As the summer progesses you will start to notice the bait getting smaller and smaller so make sure you adjust.

For shallow bass it’s pretty straight forward this time of year. Focus on rounded back pockets that hold bream beds and target structure close by. This can be a dock, laydown or even a random stick. Texas rigging a bluegill style bait is a good bait to have. A D-bomb is hard to beat. Next would be a stick style bait like the Missle Baits 48. A shaky head is key but think smaller. Grab you some of the new Missile Baits 4” mini magic worm to try or the Spro Pin tail for something slightly bigger. Lastly is a frog like the new Spro Bronzeye Poppin’ Frog 70. This is a bigger and heavier frog for getting those really big fish to commit.

Stripers are everywhere on main lake points and shoal humps just like they were last month. A fluke, topwater or 3.3 swimbait are killing it right now. Low light hours seem to be the best for targeting those fish. There are also fish starting to stack on the tree tops on the main lake channel parts of the Roanoke and Blackwater rivers. I typically use a spoon on those deeper fish once I find a big school.

Crappie are loaded in the brush in 10-20 feet of water still. I am seeing large schools getting together and make for easy fishing when you find a pile loaded up. Focus on the river areas with little guts or large lay downs near the main river channel. Small grubs or minnows will always work.

Tip of the month is take is slow once the boat traffic gets busy. Everyone is going to be out enjoying the lake as they should be but don’t take a beating on your boats. Respect everyones space both pleasure boaters and fishermen. Good luck fishing at Smith Mountain Lake!