Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.

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Bragging Rights

Gary Miller of Vinton had a good weekend of crappie action on Smith Mountain Lake in late March, boating about 60 crappies, the largest weighing 2.78 pounds.

Overview

This weekend promises to be a pretty busy one for the region's anglers, who should get to enjoy their time on the water in nice weather -- if forecasters are correct with their predictions.

Trout Heritage Day is Saturday, with 16 designated Heritage waters in the western part of the state slated to get a big load of stocked trout before the figurative starting bell rings at 9 a.m.

Non-trout fishermen will have plenty of options, too.

Striper fishing has been good at Claytor Lake and Smith Mountain Lake.

Bass fishing on lakes has been spotty but should improve as weather stabilizes. River fishing for smallmouth bass also should be decent.

Photo courtesy of Scott Dishon

Christiansburg angler Scott Dishon said he and his son, Nathan, teamed up to pull this 5-pound, 1-ounce rainbow trout from Toms Creek in late March. Dishon said his son was so excited he thinks he now has a “fishing buddy for life.”

Lakes

Striper fishing has been good at Smith Mountain Lake, with a variety of methods taking good numbers of fish, including a few around the 20 pounds. Dewayne Lamb at Captain's Quarters Marina said some fish can be seen swirling, and flukes on lead-head jigs are doing well in those cases. Boats pulling gizzard shad and alewives on planer board rigs are also doing pretty well. The fish are scattered throughout the Roanoke and Blackwater river arms.

Striper action has also been solid at Claytor Lake, with live bait producing some big fish in the past week.

Action for largemouth and smallmouth bass on the region's reservoirs has been inconsistent because of up and down weather patterns. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs are among the lures anglers are using to target fish holding in the 10- to 15-foot range. As water temperatures move toward the mid-50s, action should improve.

Streams

Smallmouth bass action has been fair on the James and New rivers. Spinnerbaits and jigs are taking some good fish from stained water, while jerkbaits are working when the water is clear.

Stocked trout waters are getting a lot of attention, and fishing is good. Dry fly action is improving on streams with wild trout. Water levels are robust on all streams.

Saltwater

Tautog are providing good action at offshore wrecks, and some are around nearshore structures, too.