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Match The Hatch, Or Fish With It
Trout fisherman know this, they turn over rocks in the riffles, they observe the overhanging tree branches for clinging clues, and they actually welcome the sight of swarming insects to guide them to a successful choice of lure and catch of quarry. So is the story of our second mini vacation this summer. Each Thanksgiving for a couple of years now we travel to Virginia for a family dinner with the daughter, grand babies, and in-laws. We gather, I smoke some Turkey and Ham and swap fishing and hunting stories over a good meal. My son in laws uncle always invites us up to use his cabin on Smith Mountain Lake, and I always say “Oh I would love to visit” but never do...until this week. We met our daughter and her family at the lake house on Wednesday and I immediately saw a beautiful deep clear water lake cove filled with docks, boathouses, and downed trees.
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No boat followed me up from TN, but a kayak in the boathouse would be all I need, or so I thought. The first afternoon was filled with family time, so about dark I flipped on the dock lights and planned my strategy. As soon as the masses turned in for the night I eased down to dock armed with Trout Magnets, Crappie jigs, and an Ultralight outfit. Not the St. Croix, as it is 1pc and doesn’t travel well in the wife’s vehicle. I could see the small gills cruising the well lit dock area, but targeted Crappie first. No luck with a couple different colored and size jigs, so I switched to the Trout Magnet. I finally found some Bison colored ones, and started getting a few bites from the small dock dwellers.
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Nothing big the first night, not many hook ups, and I did not stay long. I did notice several bugs in the light and on the water but really just dismissed them as normal night light fauna (moths) and went on to bed. The next day brought more grand-baby time
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Grandma even got in the action teaching them the dance to some Zac Brown music, a definite highlight of the trip.
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About 9:00pm I flipped the dock lights on again, and around 10pm I eased down for round 2. The first thing I noticed was the amount of bugs flying in the lights and falling into the water. Upon closer inspection, May Flies!!
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They were hatched out everywhere, and with this dock being the only lit up dock in the cove, it was Mecca. I immediately pulled the plastic off my hook and used natures bait. Oh my goodness it was ON to say the least. All I had to do was cast the threaded up mayfly out to the edge of the lighted area, let it sink to the bottom in about 3-6ft water and usually by the time I picked it up to move it, I was BIT! Larger gills were whacking the adult bugs and I enjoyed the fight, releasing all to do battle again another day. The supply of bait was endless, with the flies actually landing on my shirt, hair, arms and legs. I just picked them off, impaled them, and fed them to the gills.
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I caught several or these Warmouth -Green Sunfish looking guys which also put up a fight. After about an hour the Shad really moved in around the deep end of the dock and the fish that Smith Mountain Lake is famous for started making his presence known. Ka- boosh, it sounded like the toilet being flushed in the pitch black dark. The Stripers had found the Shad. Before I left for the night I finally hooked into the fish I have been wanting to catch all Summer, a drag squealing ShellCracker!
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He was a brute at an estimated 9 inches!
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It was soon after 12am. and I called it a night. Last fish of the evening with the hatch.
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As i was washing up for bed I found these 4 hitching a ride in my hat and shirt collar.
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Smith Mountain Lake may have 250 miles of shoreline, but the 5x25ft lighted dock space I fished from this past weekend and a little luck from nature with the hatch made for a memorable trip.
Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
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Match The Hatch, Or Fish With It
Quote:
Originally Posted by
skeetbum
Very good post. You took us along with you and hardly had to try. Well written. I showed the wife the pics of the house and docks and told her that we could be comfortable there, and she readily agreed. That's a lot from a woman that doesn't swim. Thanks for sharing with us, and good job for putting together a fishing experience that you and many of us wont soon forget. Wish I could have seen the little ones dance, I'll bet that was the icing on the cake.
Thanks for the kind words. Smith Mountain Lake is a beautiful place. We rode around and looked at houses and properties. Deer and Turkey were everywhere, this 6pt hung out near our house every afternoon.
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It is very populated on most of its shores, but we were right next to the State Park and the shoreline reminded me of Tennessee with tall mountains in the background. We went to the swimming area at the State Park and swam on 2 of the days, a clear water sandy beach with lifeguards, boat rentals, the works.
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I fished two of the four nights we were there. The last night we attended a Songwriters Music Festival at a local winery and enjoyed a nice estate grown Chambourcin, pulled pork nachos, and good old Nashville inspired country ballads as the sun set over the vineyard. I too could be happy there!
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