Kayak Fishing on Smith Lake

So at age 61, I decided I want to learn to fish in fresh water, and to make it even more fun, I decided I wanted to fish from a kayak.

So I've been teaching myself from books and YouTube. Turns out that it's way harder to maneuver a kayak and catch fish than it looks in those books or on those Richard Gene videos.

But I'm learning.

I have a place on Smith Lake, and I have been paddling around the back end of my slough every weekend for the last couple of months in my floating plastic bucket just trying not to flip the thing while figuring out which end of the pole was which and keeping out of the way of the real fishermen. For the first couple of weeks, more jigs ended up in the trees than in the water, and each trip was loaded with painful new lessons about how not to fish. Every weekend I'd go out, get skunked, and come home.

Then I started catching the occasional bluegill or juvenile bass, but not a single crappie. I counted that as progress.

So by pure dumb luck this past Sunday, I ran into a school of spotted bass and for an hour or so I was reeling fish in on every cast. I kept this one 2.6 pounder and let the others go. Which brings me to painful fishing lesson #137--you need a stringer or some other way to collect your fish if you want to bring them home with you--I hadn't caught a "keeper" before, so that hadn't been a problem for me. It was a thrill having those bass push my kayak around, though. Pure adrenaline.

Anyway, this brings me to my question. As tasty as that spotted bass was that night, and I'll be going after more of them this weekend, I'd really love to catch crappie. From what I've read, Smith Lake doesn't seem to fish for crappie the same way it does on those YouTube videos on those TVA lakes. I've also read that Smith can be tough on crappie fisherman in general. I've caught bluegill and small bass on my crappie jigs, but no crappie yet.

So, for those of you who have had success with crappie on or near Smith, can you give a newbie a pointer or two? Not GPS waypoints to your honey holes or anything, but more general tips and guidelines--what to look for, what gear works best, that kind of thing. I'm in a $275 el-cheapo kayak (or could fish from the bank) and don't have fancy electronics to work with, so I'm pretty limited on the distance I can go from where I launch (a mile each way is probably my limit).

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope to be posting a picture of me with an actual crappie one day soon.

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Good luck sir!!I live close to smith but have never fished it. Mainly because of the stories I’ve heard about how hard it is to fish.


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You should try duck river sometime too. Crappie are much easier to catch there I’d think. Also lots of bass.


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Right now with the water temps coming up, I would just paddle down the banks and cast a jig up to the banks under a cork 2-3ft deep. If the crappie are getting close to spawning, they will be shallow. I use standard fishing stuff for casting. Most of the time on smith I use 4lb clear line, but I have used the Mr Crappie hi vis and caught fish also. I like natural colors on smith in the clear water. Monkey Milk, live shad, blue thunder are a few of my favorite Bobby Garland colors

What area of the lake do you have a place on?

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Originally Posted by Prater4586

Right now with the water temps coming up, I would just paddle down the banks and cast a jig up to the banks under a cork 2-3ft deep. If the crappie are getting close to spawning, they will be shallow. I use standard fishing stuff for casting. Most of the time on smith I use 4lb clear line, but I have used the Mr Crappie hi vis and caught fish also. I like natural colors on smith in the clear water. Monkey Milk, live shad, blue thunder are a few of my favorite Bobby Garland colors

What area of the lake do you have a place on?

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Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty much following your guidance on the line, lures (including colors) and method. I've been fishing pretty shallow, though, and I might be ahead of them where I've been looking.

Our place is in Winston County between Houston and Arley.

Let the water tank get on up. It should be on in the coming weeks. They won’t be down every bank everywhere. They will pick and choose. Keep fishing, cover as much water as you can, and you should find them somewhere. Once you do. It will be repeatable for a few weeks.

I fish rock creek around Arley probably 75% of the time. I also fish crooked creek and white oak creek a good bit. Sometimes I venture over to the Cullman side of the lake.