Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Report May 2012

Blue Ridge: Level: 8.3 feet below full pool. Temp: 70-73 degrees. Clarity: 6 to 10 feet visibility.

Smallmouths: Good. Eric Crowley, with Lake and Stream Guide Service, reports, “Blue Ridge is still a bit cooler than normal, but look for the smallmouth bite to take off in the next few weeks. Smack Tackle Smack Jacks, Gizz-3s and Flitterbaits are my go-to lures for smallies in Blue Ridge. Watch the main lake at dawn for bait pushed to the surface by the feeding bronzebacks. Downsize your line to 6-lb. test or to braid with a mono leader, and make really long casts to these breaking fish. The retrieve should almost be more of a twitch than a reeling motion. You want the bait to look like it just survived an attack, and the fish will more than likely come back and hit it again. After the sun is high in the sky, try slow trolling deep crankbaits like a DD22 or similar large-lip crankbaits at around 1 mph on main-lake humps, points, old roadbeds or any other rocky structure. If the fish won’t hit the slow-trolled baits, switch to a drop-shot fluke in silver, white or even red. The fish will suspend in the water, and you can pick them apart on the drop-shot rig.”

Walleye: Good. Eric reports, “The Yankee fish should be feeding pretty good up shallow for May and can be caught at night and during the day for the first half of the month. Look for these fish to move into the river or at least find some current to spawn in. Small live bait on 2/0 hooks are my preferred method of catching the ‘eyes’ this month. Live shad, cut shad, worms and crawfish are all good live baits to try when going after these fish. The full moon should kick the spawn into high gear and make them a little easier to catch than normal. If you find schooling fish after the spawn, try vertical jigging a Kastmaster spoon on their heads, and they will destroy it.”