Mark Taylor

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

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Overview

Anglers who spend time on the water this long holiday weekend should get a good taste of the kind of fishing we'll have for the next couple of months.

Now that hot weather appears here to stay, fish are becoming ever more entrenched in their summertime patterns. In general, that means action will be best early and late in the day, while slowing down in the middle of the day.

On larger lakes, recreational boat traffic adds another wrinkle. Fish will still bite when things get busy -- the Bassmaster Elite Series pros showed us that in June 2007 -- but not many anglers are willing to get bounced around when the action is going to be better after most of the fun-seekers have called it a day.

Lakes

Bass anglers who are getting out on Claytor Lake at first light are having decent action on surface plugs such as Rebel Pop-Rs and Lucky Craft Ricos, reported Mike Burchett at Rockhouse Marina. He said drop-shot rigs with Roboworms and shaky head rigs are also taking some bass. Burchett reported that catfish action remains excellent in the upper end of the lake, while striper anglers trolling umbrella rigs as deep as 40 or 50 feet are picking up a few stripers.

Finessed soft plastics are taking some bass around docks at Smith Mountain Lake, reported Mike Snead at the Virginia Outdoorsman. Morning fishing with live bait continues to produce some good stripers. On the mornings of June 23 and 24, Randy Allen of Goodview used live gizzard shad to connect with three stripers topping 37 inches. Allen, who released all of the fish, reported that he was fishing in the S Curves area, which has been a hot area for stripers.

Streams

Guide Tom Maynard of New River Angler reported that smallmouth action has been excellent for the past week, with an assortment of lures working well.

James River smallmouth fishing also has been good.

Fishing for wild trout has been steady on mountain streams, where good water levels are allowing for efficient fishing with lures, bait and flies.

Saltwater

Yellowfin tuna have been showing up in good numbers off the coast of Virginia Beach, with cobia action still good inshore.

Bragging Rights

Jake Holland and Everett Wilson won the Foxport Marina Saturday night tournament at Smith Mountain Lake with a weight of 16.2 pounds.