Smith Lake is the water reservoir for Stafford County. It borders Quantico and requires a Quantico fishing permit. We had never been there and wanted to check it out – conclusion – it’s a sweet lake!
Once you find the lake, there are two boat launches – one corresponding to each finger of the lake. Both look good – we used the eastern launch and then worked our way south towards the Dam. It was an overcast day with barometric pressure rising, water temp about 69/70. We fished for about 2 hours and caught two nice Bass as shown below – both were about 16 inches.
Actually, my wife caught both of them… I was skunked. But, it’s fun to watch the fight on these guys. With the first one, she fought it in and then concluded she was hung up on a log and gave the rod to me to free up the lure… we were both surprised when I pulled in the first fish! It must have gone deep and wrapped around a log. I explained to her that logs usually do not tug back.
This is a very deep lake – 35 to 50 feet in most places – even right up next to the shore. We fished the shoreline and got the two fish pictured – there is plenty of structure on the shore – be sure to rig your plastics so you can gently pull them over all the branches.
It’s confusing to get to Smith. From looking at the map, one would assume you merely go to the head of the dam on the improved road… don’t! There is no boat launch at the dam end. You have to drive into Quantico, show your ID and then navigate to the lake.
First fish!
This is the pattern we followed. We will investigate the western branch of the lake on another day.
Typical structure along the shore – plenty of deadfall.
Success – fileted these bad boys as soon as we got home.
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore