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
• Dealing with buck fever

• Column archive

Overview

Despite a few hot spells, this summer still hasn't produced any prolonged blistering weather. That's helped keep water temperatures relatively low, a trend that's also been aided by the rain that's been more common this summer than in most recent years.

The conditions have had an impact on the fishing action -- some of it good, some of it not so good.

For example, stripers at Smith Mountain Lake stayed at relatively modest depths later into the summer, and were generally more accessible. At the same time, largemouth bass took longer to lock on to their typical summertime hangouts in deep brush piles, making them a little more difficult for some anglers to pattern.

Lakes

Travis Patsell of Vinton reports that live shad and sunfish are producing good action for flathead catfish up to 27 pounds at Smith Mountain Lake. He's finding fish at depths of about 15 feet along wooded banks. Channel cats are holding a bit deeper.

Night bass fishing at the lake has slowed, reports Mike Snead of the Virginia Outdoorsman, with tournament weights down. Stripers are still schooled up in the mid-lake area, with live bait on downlines producing the best catches.

Bass fishing has been tough at Claytor Lake, according to John Zienius at Big Z's tackle shop in Radford. Small crankbaits are producing a few fish.

Streams

The water level in the New River is great, reports Zienius, but fishing has been just so-so. Daytime anglers can catch decent numbers of small- and medium-sized smallmouth bass, but big fish are pretty rare. Dark spinnerbaits and noisy topwaters such as Jitterbugs will get a few bigger fish at night. Muskie fishing has been fair.

Smallmouth action has been similar on the James River, as well as on smaller tributaries.

Saltwater

Big waves from Hurricane Bill kept the offshore fleet in port for a few days, but action has been good since they got back out. Boats from Hatteras Harbor marina had excellent dolphin action and several sailfish releases on Tuesday.

Puppy drum action has been good at Cape Point near Buxton, reports Red Drum Tackle. A few spot are also available.