Smith Mountain is always a fun tournament for FOBA. It’s a long haul to get there, but rarely do you hear any complaints after the boats hit the water. Largemouth, smallmouth, and the occasional spotted bass are the tournament fish of choice, but the morning striper frenzy is also welcome. Most of the members get there on the Wednesday before the tournament, but a few stragglers arrive on Thursday.

 

The pre-fishing was very good and fish were found in relatively shallow water, 3-10 feet deep. Some bass were on beds and others were just roaming about. One club member boated a 5 pound, 7 ounce largemouth off a bed right near the ramp in practice, but it was nowhere to be found on either tournament day. During practice, there was a good topwater bite on main lake points and finesse tactics did the trick after the morning bite stopped.

 

On day one of the tournament the weather was chilly and rainy, but there were a few decent bags brought to the scales, including one over 15 pounds.  Since no information is shared between anglers after day one, only the usual whispers were heard throughout the dock of sliderheads. The day one leader, Greg Snider, was heard saying he caught his two 4 pound, 10 ounce fish on a jig and pig, but knowing his affinity for the jig, no one was surprised.

 

The weather on day two was only slightly better than day one and the Caps playoff game loss the night before put most of the field in a sour mood.  Snider figured he needed 12 pounds to win, but he knew there was always the possibility of someone bagging a big sack and catching him. The morning topwater bite was lackluster on Snider’s boat, but others had better success.  After the topwater bite died, most anglers made a move to main lake hard cover and switched to finesse presentations. Docks, laydowns, and pilings produced keeper bass and at the end of the day, Snider held onto his lead, winning the boater division by five ounces.

 

Greg Snider won with a two day bag weighing 25 pounds, 7 ounces in the boater division.  Gary D’Angelo made a late day charge with a weight of 25 pounds, 2 ounces and Greg Greene captured the third place spot with 22 pounds, 2 ounces.  Snider had the day one lunker at 4 pounds, 11 ounces, and Gary D’Angelo had the day two lunker at 5 pounds, 13 ounces.

 

In the co-angler division, Zack Showman won with a weight of 25 pounds, 1 ounces, Grant Buttrey finished in second with 17 pounds, 13 ounces, and Mary Snider finished in third with 16 pounds, 5 ounces.  Zack Showman had day one lunker at 3 pounds, 14 ounces and Adam Simpson had day two lunker at 3 pounds, 8 ounces for the co-anglers.

 

Written by Greg Snider