Fishing Under the Lights for Bluegill on Smith Lake

 This weekend B.T. and I decided to make a night fishing trip on Smith Lake. This time of year you can only fish the lake at daylight or make a night trip under the dock lights because of the heat. We arrived at the launch around 6:30 PM and spent the better part of sundown moving from each nook to divert all the boat traffic. We landed the usual small gills with the fly and microlight until dark. At 8:30 we hit the first dock light and I got the first hit fishing in depths of 70 to 80 ft. I managed to land a nice strip bass using my micro-light under a dock light 5 ft. above the water.

Nice Strip

Fighting an 18" strip bass on a microlight rod is quite a challenge. Landing this strip using my 7 1/2 ft. micro rod was like using my Temple Fork 7 1/2 ft. fly rod, both rods require the angler to use finesse in landing a fish of this size. I learned a long time ago when I first started using the long rods that you got to have patience when playing a larger fish on 4 lb. test line and lighter otherwise you will have more break-offs than fish caught. My son-in-law used the fly rod while I went with the microlight. We decided it would be less line tangle if we fished that way, especially in a pitch-black dark situation. The fly rod proved the winner of the night with my son-in-law catching numbers of gills directly under the lights using the deadly moth.

The Moth is the winner again

We noticed moths flying beneath the lights right after dark so this was the most logical fly to go with and it proved successful. This trip was a change of pace for both of us resulting in less humidity and heat. Really an enjoyable trip.