Smithville Lake

Type: Nontidal
Region: Eastern
Location: Smithville Lake

I fished Smithville Lake on 1/4/2020 with my friend Zach.

The air temperature was great (in the high 50�s) and the day was mostly dry with a light wind. The lake is an old 43 acre millpond on Marshyhope creek. It's fairly shallow with an average depth of 3 feet, the deeper portion of the lake is found at its southern end where it butts up next to Possum Hill Rd.

We were fishing a 1/8 oz non-painted lead head jig dressed with a minnow. Fishing the jig two to four feet under a bobber and letting the wind push us across the lake. I arrived earlier than Zach and started fishing off the far bank from the boat ramp. Working my way south. I started catching largemouth bass off the laydowns. But pickerel were my targeted fish so I moved on towards the dam. I had been catching pickerel for a short time when I saw Zach moving down the lake. In fact I had just caught my first double of the day - two pickerel over 20� - when he arrived.

We fished for several hours catching a total of 23 pickerel and 12 bass. Three of the pickerel we caught were over 24�, the three largest bass were 18, 19 and 20 inches. I saw a guy catch and weigh a bass that weighed over 6 1/2lbs. He and his buddy were casting small rat-l-trap type baits. They were catching bass fairly steady throughout the day.

I ran out of minnows so I called it quits for the day said my farewell to Zach and headed back up the lake. Casting a 1/4 oz jig dressed with a four inch paddle tail. I caught a nice 20� bass, then noticed a disturbance on the water. Casting to the spot I caught a 19� fish, noticing another fish in the shallow I cast to it and caught that fish too.

Zach had caught up with me, he was slowly trolling minnows up the lake. Disappointed he hadn�t caught anything on the way back up the lake he surmised, and correctly that he was fishing his bait too deep. Adjusting his baits depth he shortly caught a nice 24� plus pickerel. Another nice winter day of fishing. I plan on fishing it again next week.

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