Hyrule Bass

Spring of 2021: Estimated Reservoir Park construction completion and opening

Smith Mountain Lake is a beautiful place. Lots of boat traffic in the summer, especially holiday weekends. The fishing can be real tough at times, but when its on fire its on fire.

I once "lassoed" a catfish

man, yall make me want to go to a hidden crappie pond i know of back home in NC, havent been there in over 15 years though. if its anything like it used to be there are some huge ones in there. its in the woods and out of site, and it only has bream and crappie in there, no bass

Latest Update i seen, bass are fanning beds now. Water temps right around 60 give or take. water pretty clear and improving to more clear. the person who gave this info put in at the state park c-rigs and jerkbaits are two of the baits working right now. fish holding tight to the bottom and on secondary points and transition areas. dock fishing has always been a popular pattern at SML as well, there are tons of docks.

the stripers will be all over the lake gorging then and probably are moving into the main lake now. so dont be surprised if you hook into any of them. you will be there during the spawn as well. smallmouth can be found by the rocky walls over at/by the dam. but largemouth outnumber smallmouth 10-1 on SML. the drop shot can be your friend. also, i have success on cranks with a white/silver/gray belly and a black back fishing is usually better at sundown/night and early mornings due to the boat traffic on that lake. but shouldnt be too bad since youre going before memorial day. be prepared to be checked by game wardens if you go out on a boat. and have your boating safety course card and up to date fishing license, and all the other boat safety equipment requirements

I was reading the other week how a puck went out of play and busted one of Mia Khalifa's implants. Crazy how a puck can go into the crowd that fast even with the glass protecting them, i cant imagine what its like down on the ice

sheesh people, i dont think anything he has done while on the water warrants him to being labeled as having possibly sold his soul or being likened to a murderer. those two things are a bit extreme, dont you think?

i would be miserable in Florida. just too dang hot all the time. i hate being hot. i would retire in Minnesota before i retired in Florida. and like someone else said, gators...no thanks. i dont want to have to worry about being eaten while im fishing.

My point is, I dont pick my first bait of the day based on a certain type of bait, or generally what people typically refer to as "search baits". Id rather take my chances picking my bait based on conditions that day, depth of water, what has worked on past similar conditions, body of water, water clarity and such. Once again, my method doesnt guarantee me anything either, as ive said there is no magic guaranteed bait thats going to catch you a fish if the fish dont want it. but i feel i have more of a chance at success by picking something that seems to fit the days conditions and the water im fishing. therefore, its my belief, that the term "search bait" is horribly misleading and teaching that practice causes many anglers to waste a lot of time thinking they need to throw certain specific baits first. i will say this though, to each their own. if thats what someone feels comfortable doing then have it at, i just dont subscribe to it myself personally

apparently this storm has shifted north some based on the forecasts i saw yesterday to the one i caught this morning.

several hours south you can go to Lake Gaston on the VA/NC border. Its supposedly a lake thats got some good walleye in there, that no one either really knows about or fishes for down there. VA stocks them.

most decent people dont intentionally want to harm a fish. but if youre going to be fishing then you got to toughen up mentally and get over this. everyone loses a fish at some point that they have caught. even if you dont realize it. fish could swim off fine and die a few minutes later due to your catching and handling it, and you would never even know it.

i disagree. if the fish dont want/dont bite any of those baits youre using to cover water, then what aid was it to you? "search baits" are a fallacy

for me, the term "search bait" is one of the worst things in bass fishing. there is no one magic bait thats going to always catch you fish at the start of your day. if the fish arent biting a so called "search bait", then youve wasted the beginning of your trip throwing something the fish just dont want that day. fish not biting your "search bait" doesnt mean the fish are not there, they just dont want what youre presenting, it doesnt matter how much water youre covering if the fish dont want your "search bait". i think one is better off picking their first bait to throw based on location and conditions that youre fishing, and even thats not 100% but seems more logical than just picking a bait to start off with just because it covers water. so for me, there is no such thing as a "search bait"

My 2 German Shepherds, Zelda and Peach(the puppy).

to truly figure it out, youre going to really need to just fish it a few times. i wouldnt give up on it just yet as others have stated. think of it like this, you can go to a pond you know holds big bass, but it doesnt mean youre going to catch one of the big bass each trip there. but anyways, i would give it a few tries atleast, if you dont get much then i wouldnt spend my time there, but with the thought maybe come back at a different time of the year and see...

theres muskie in that section of the river too

plan on river fishing....

honestly. not that you cant catch fish, but you should just wait till after labor day when all the idiots are off the water there. plus it shouldnt be as hot

i have one of the older model trions i used for about 8 years before i replaced it this year with the newer model trion. in all that time i only cleaned it, oiled it, greased it one time. it still works, a little rough right now, but i think another cleaning and such will have it back to being just as smooth as before...great little reels

some of you apparently no nothing about catfishing. it may not be something you like or enjoy, and thats totally fine, but dont pretend to know when you dont know...

weightless plastics t-rigged and hollow body top water frogs(or weightless t-rigged frogs like the rage toad). if the algae is too thick for your weightless lures to fall in it, then maybe peg a small bullet weight

you have to figure out how the fish are taking your lure that day. if you dont swing, then you wont know. after a little trial and error you will learn if its a bite or rocks. who cares what other people watching might think.

i just enjoy the fact that i am able to be fishing at that moment, whether im catching or not. obviously we all would love to be catching fish on every outing, but it just doesnt work that way normally. i just take solace in the fact that i am able to fishing at the moment, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the nature around me. really its just mental therapy for me basically, i forget about everything going on around me in the real world for awhile, a temporary escape sort of, its just really refreshing for me...