Mark Taylor

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

Recent columns

• Big stripers still a couple weeks away
• Include victims' message in safety class
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Overview

When is not getting everything you paid for a good thing?

When the fishing trip you paid for is so good you get to pull into the dock a little early because you already have caught your limit.

That's something quite a few clients of Smith Mountain Lake striper guides have been dealing with lately. Fishing has been really strong, particularly on weekdays, with many groups boating limits.

During cooler months, anglers can stick with it and release additional fish. But striper release mortality is high in warm water so guides and responsible anglers do the right thing and stop fishing. Doing otherwise doesn't make much sense as released fish that die do no good for anyone.

Lakes

Stripers are holding at depths of 15 to 20 feet at Smith Mountain Lake, reports guide Dewayne Lamb of Captain's Quarters Marina. Anglers using planer boards to pull weighted live bait at that depth are doing well in the stretch from Halesford Bridge to the mouths of Bettys and Beckys creeks. Trolled umbrella rigs are also producing, and that bite should improve as the water continues to heat up and fish keep moving deeper.

Carolina-rigged soft plastics are taking some nice largemouths off deep brushpiles, with the best action in the evening and after dark. Night tournament catches have been excellent, with it taking a 3-pound average to win.

Catfishing has been good around the mouths of coves at Smith Mountain Lake, and also at Claytor Lake, where bass fishing has been fair after dark.

Streams

Britt Stoudenmire of the New River Outdoor Company reports that smallmouth bass action has been good on the New, where water levels have been stable for going on two weeks. Topwaters and soft plastics are working well.

Similar patterns are also continuing to work well on the James and Maury rivers.

Saltwater

The jetties around Buxton on North Carolina's Outer Banks are producing some good action for flounder, triggerfish and nice pompano reports Red Drum tackle.

Billfish action has been fair off the mid-Atlantic coast.