Fishing George L. Smith State Park

Pretty solid fish for a first-time visit to George L. Smith State Park in Emanuel County. Craig James caught the fish on video, and it’s on GON.com. For a longer video tour of the lake, check out his YouTube channel, GA BOY OUTDOORS.

I’ve never been much on fishing state-park lakes.

I know that’s a heck of a line to start a story profiling one, but hang with me. Some of my experiences on these lakes have involved long hours with little to no action, other than the occasional jet ski blowing by and nearing turning my kayak over.

So when my good friend Jacob Crews, of Waycross, told me about a state park where the fishing was good, the scenery was beautiful and jet skis weren’t allowed, I was at least interested in hearing more.

Right down the road from the not-so-big town of Twin City, George L. Smith State Park sits secluded at the end of small, two-lane road. The park itself is roughly 1,600 acres in size, with a little more than 400 acres of it made up of a massive, cypress-tree-filled lake.

We had planned to fish the lake together just before GON went to press, but due to his work schedule, we couldn’t make the trip happen. I decided to make a morning trip over to the park in my kayak to get a lay of the land and feel for the lake. Here’s a quick recap of my trip to the lake and Jacob’s strategy for picking apart the lake in April.

I started out fishing isolated trees with a buzzbait and a wacky-rigged worm hoping the bass would be holding in a prespawn pattern. After hearing and seeing several fish splash in shallow water, I moved in closer to the bank and immediately hooked into and boated a 6-plus pounder. I spent the next few hours fishing my wacky-rigged, black-and-blue worm around trees near the bank and managed four more bass and a couple of jackfish in the process.

With the fish in a spawning pattern, fishing for them was difficult due to the amount of trees that sometimes run 50 yards or so out from shore. I had my best success by finding tiny paths along the bank and working my way as far back toward the bank as possible. Most of my bites on the wacky rig came as the bait was on the fall, or directly after giving it a subtle twitch.

By the time this issue of GON hits newsstands, I feel like there will still be some fairly shallow fish that are late spawners, but I believe most of the bass in the lake will have already laid out and be holding in a postspawn pattern around isolated trees near the shore. When I interviewed Jacob, he agreed and said that the fish shouldn’t be hard to catch if you know where to look. Here’s a breakdown of his favorite baits to fish the lake in April.

Jacob Crews and his daughter, Mckiyah, with a couple of nice George L. Smith State Park bass.

Wacky Rig: A wacky-rigged stick worm is Jacob’s go-to for April, and he says if he could only bring one lure, this would be it.

“It’s versatile, you can fish it a bunch of different ways, and fish just can’t resist it, especially in the springtime,” said Jacob.

Jacob recommends fishing the worm around isolated cypress trees that are closest to the bank and says the ones that are located 20 or so feet off the bank are prime targets.

Jacob rigs a 5-inch stick worm with a rubber band hanging from a No. 2 hook and pitches it to every isolated tree he comes across, making sure to fish the base of the tree from every possible angle.

“I’m working around that cypress with the worm, and I’m hitting the tree every time I cast. I want my worm right up on it as it falls in the water,” said Jacob.

Jacob works the worm by letting it sink slowly, and giving it a twitch every three to 10 seconds, depending on how the fish are reacting to the worm that day. His favorite color combos are junebug, green pumpkin, black and blue flake and rotten banana (yellow and brown swirl).

To make sure he feels subtle pick-ups, he fishes the worm on a medium spinning outfit spooled with 20-lb. braid with a 12-lb. fluorocarbon leader.

“That braid is imperative when you’re fishing a wacky-rigged worm. You need that sensitivity to feel those really light bites,” said Jacob.

Buzzbait: Regardless of conditions, Jacob says he’s always going to dedicate his first 30 minutes or so to throwing a buzzbait on the lake.

“I’m running and gunning and trying to cover as much water as I can in a short amount of time. I’m not only using it to try and catch fish, but it’s also a good tool to see how active they are going to be on a particular day. Even if I’m getting some short strikes and misses, I know that the fish are wanting to eat,” Jacob added.

Jacob fishes the buzzbait on a medium-action baitcasting setup and says he likes to use fluorocarbon line for its abrasion resistance due to all the wooden structure he’s fishing around.

He likes buzzbaits in the 1/4-oz. size and says that white with a black blade, black with a gold blade and black with a purple blade are some of his favorite color combinations to throw on the lake.

“The buzzbait is pretty versatile, and that makes it a great lure for coming out the gate in the morning. You can sling it at lone isolated trees and run it up close to the bank between trees. It will let you know what the fish are doing that day,” said Jacob.

Squarebill crankbait: Another lure that Jacob recommends for April is a squarebill crankbait, and due to its tight wobble and effectiveness at coming through wood structure, it’s a good choice for slinging on the lake.

Jacob likes to make the longest casts he possibly can to the thickest stands of cypress trees he can find. He works it back to his kayak using a moderate retrieve and pauses for a half second when it banks off of any submerged stumps.

“That erratic action when it bangs off of cover and then stops will make them eat it even when they don’t want to,” said Jacob.

When it comes to color choice, Jacob says the more natural the better. Options like Tennessee shad and other shad- and bluegill-like patterns get the nod over louder, flashier colors

Speed Craw: As the sunshine makes its move higher into the midday sky, and bass retreat to the shade and protection of the cypress roots, Jacob makes the change to a Zoom Speed Craw to slowly and methodically pick apart every isolated tree he comes to.

“The lake can be overwhelming if you try to look at all 400 acres at once. You’ve got to pick a small area, then pick apart every tree one by one. I try to find an area in the lake half the size of a football field and fish it thoroughly before moving on to another area,” said Jacob.

Jacob fishes the craw on a baitcasting setup and Texas rigs it with a 1/16-oz. weight. He goes with some of the same color hues, like black and blue and junebug, that he fishes with the wacky worm, but also throws in a curveball when fishing a Speed Craw.

“I like to throw a pink Speed Craw, and I do really well with it. When you’re fishing black cypress water that has all that tannic coloring to it, pink will get you bit,”said Jacob.

Jacob fishes the craw along the bottom as slowly as possible, sometimes pausing 10 to 15 seconds between hops. He keeps a close eye on his line to detect subtle pickups.

“When the bass are under the trees holding tight to the roots, most of the time they are just going to suck it in real quick and sit there. If you aren’t really watching your line, the bite can be hard to feel,” said Jacob.

ChatterBait: Jacob says in late April and into summer, a ChatterBait is a good lure to have tied on. He likes any color combination that’s natural and says that anything that has a little purple to it mimics a bluegill well. He fishes it differently than his other offerings.

“There’s a channel from the creek that flows through the lake. If you find the channel, make a long cast across it and swim the ChatterBait back over it, and you’re probably gonna get bit,” said Jacob.

Jacob works the lure at a moderate pace, giving it a very slight twitch every few seconds to add some action to the bait. He says most of the bites will come from fish that are holding right where the channel drops off.

Bass targets in the form of cypress tress line this state-park lake. In April, look for bass to be mostly in a postspawn pattern.

Location: Jacob says that though the lake fishes pretty good in all directions, he does recommend staying away from the front up by the dam.

“Up there on the dam gets more pressure then any other part of the lake. A bunch of days you won’t see a single boat or kayak, but there’s almost always people fishing on the dam,” said Jacob.

For this reason Jacob recommends fishing the far back side of the lake and says that if you’re standing at the boat ramp looking at the lake, the back left seems to produce a little better.

“It’s not as much about where you’re fishing as what you’re fishing. Those isolated trees closest to the bank are going to be the ticket in April,” said Jacob.

An important note about George L. Smith is that there is a 10-hp restriction on outboard motors on the lake. In my opinion, a kayak or small jonboat are the best options for fishing the lake. For those who don’t have a kayak, the state park rents them. For info on rentals or questions about the park, you can reach them at 478.763.2759.

Camping is also available with tent and RV spots on site. Also be sure and check out the refurbished Parrish Mill that sits atop the dam on the lake. This combination grist mill/saw mill dates back to the 1800s and is a neat part of south Georgia history.

April is the perfect time to fish, and George L. Smith is the perfect place to spend a day. Consider bringing the whole family and make it a weekend. The bite is going to be on fire, and you might just catch a big one!

Editors Note: For those wanting a better look at the lake, the author filmed a YouTube episode while fishing the lake for this story. You can find it on his YouTube channel GA BOY OUTDOORS.