I made my first visit to Smith Mountain Lake in the Summer of 1999 upon the recommendation of a friend at work who has a sister which lives at the lake.   We rented a house in the Witcher Creek area in early July for a week of relaxation and enjoying some of the "Lake Life".   After reading about the good striper fishery at SML, I made a number of last-minute calls once at the lake to book a charter for my son and I.   We ended up booking with Capt. Dale Wilson and after an unseasonably cool July morning charter we had both caught our first Smith Mountain stripers using vertical jigging techniques.  With the "hook" set from that morning, I ventured out on the following mornings aboard our rental pontoon, "flying blind" with no electronics fishing around the State Park area.  Somehow we managed to connect with a few fish on that first solo trip, and then on the next morning in which I ventured our solo, I was experiencing the frustrating side of striper fishing until I tried one last spot on my way home - near the Franklin County State Park I hooked into a fish which gave my 5.5' bass rod almost more than it could handle, and after a 5 minute or more fight I landed a 13 lb striper - my biggest fish ever - and so was the birth of what has become a renewed passion for fishing - and what will probably go down as one of the most expensive vacations in history once the boat and lake-condo purchases are tallied.

As a young child I grew up fishing in the Albemarle Sound & Perquimans River in Eastern NC with my grandfather and later my uncle when back in NC for summer vacation.  While my memory is fading, I am pretty sure that on a number of occasions we caught "rockfish" as they are called down east - though smaller than those we generally catch on SML these days.  There was also the occasional pond fishing trip with my family or when at Boy Scout camp, and then later as an adult a few trips on head-boats at the NC coast, though fishing was not a major part of my life again until that first trip to Smith Mountain Lake.   Finding such an excellent fishery less than two hours from my home in Mebane, NC, it led to my wonderful wife, Carrie, allowing me to purchase our first boat in February of 2010 and then renting, and eventually purchasing a condo at the lake a few years later, which we use to enjoy SML's beauty as often as we can.   Our children, Emily (13) & Matthew (11) both enjoy time at the lake - Emily is not much of a fisher-girl, but Matthew enjoys catching when the action is hot - though sometimes the pursuit of striper is a little slower than he enjoys and he would rather break out the ultra-light tackle and chase some blue-gill or crappie.

I first found out about the Smith Mountain Striper Club by picking up a newsletter at Captain's Quarters.  I began to attend meetings in order to get to know others at the lake and pretty soon I was getting quite involved with Club events and assisting Bob Rowe with the newsletter.   Soon I found myself on the Board as well as creating & maintaining the Club's new Website and taking over the Newsletter editor role from Bob, chairing the Preservation Committee, coordinating the Freedom Alliance events and participating on the Tournament Committee.   I enjoy interacting with other Club members in these activities and helping to educate others on how to protect and preserve this great resource which we have the honor to enjoy.

I am primarily a live-bait fisherman as I believe big bait will consistently yield larger fish and I live for pulling big shad along the banks behind planer boards.   There is nothing that will get your blood flowing like a bait being blown up on by a big fish, and early Spring and Fall are my favorite times to fish.   However, I also enjoy mixing it up, breaking out the artificial lures for some spring-time night fishing or winter-time jigging - I fish year-round and enjoy the changing patterns that occurs throughout the year.  I've also made  few trips to Eastern TN as well as the Chesapeake Bay to chase stripers - each of which yielded my personal best - a 40" / 38 lb fresh-water striper from Eastern TN and a 45", 45.5 lb salty striper in the Chesapeake Bay.  I have been lucky enough to catch several "citations" on SML with my heaviest being one right at 20 lbs and two at 37" - with the most recent being caught on my birthday this past April while the game warden was on the boat - that's a great story and memory.

I spend most of my time on the Roanoke side of the lake, with most of that on the upper 2/3's of the river arm, though I am not opposed to making runs to Craddock Creek or the dam when the fishing is hot down there, and I fish on occasion with a friend out of Bulls Run.   I fish out of a 2010 Sea Hunt BX24 Bay Boat - 24' long with a Yamaha 250 HP motor which loves to drink fuel but is an awesome boat for live-bait fishing - we will frequently fish up to 14 or 16 rods at a time when going "all out".  Most importantly the boat provides enough room that I can comfortably fish with several friends or family.  I've made a number of great friends in and outside the Club as a result of striper fishing, and it's the time on the water with friends and family which is really the best part of it all - and the catching is just a bonus.

I have been been fishing for stripers on Smith Mountain Lake for around 20 years and has been a member of the Smith Mountain Striper Club for approximately 5 years.  I grew up in the area and have been on Smith Mountain Lake since the lake first filled up.    I attended and graduated from August Military Academy and then served in the U. S. Army.  I have the fortune of living, along with my wife, Nancy, in the Gills Creek section of Smith Mountain Lake.  When not fishing, we operating our own business, Sea Tow, which is a marine assistance company on Smith Mountain Lake. 

We primarily fishes Gills Creek, Blackwater, or at the Dam and fishes with both live bait and artificial.  The largest striper I have caught to date was around 31".  Nancy, like to fish together I will typically cast to stripers on the rocks while Nancy likes to live bait with down rods.

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I grew up in the Binghamton, New York area and started fishing as a young boy in a small lake outside of Binghamton. As a teen we took family vacations to the back woods of Canada fishing for Northern Pike and Lake trout. It was these family trips where I really developed my love of fishing. There is nothing like fishing from a canoe in the back woods and the shore dinners consisting of the mornings catch, beans, fried potatoes and black tea.

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I came to the lake to fish back in the early 1980's with colleagues from GE in Waynesboro VA. After that wild weekend of partying and some fishing, I became quite interested in SML. Came down later and camped and fished with Club member Gary Disbrow as we really started to discover the lake. Back then we used a 12 foot aluminum Starcraft with a 7 1/2 hp (I think) that came from Gary's father in Upstate NY. A far cry from what we use now. After being hooked on the lake, I purchased a self contained trailer and rented seasonal sites at the now closed Bass Cove campground near the State Park and later at Blue Ridge Campground near Gills Creek Marina.

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I grew up happy in Iowa, where everyone in the family worked their tails off for 51 weeks a year & fishing was limited to an annual vacation with relatives in WI & MN.  My best memories are helping my Mom garden (I sold vegetables door-to-door from my little red wagon); helping my Dad smoke hams, bacon, turkeys & dried beef; & riding horses.  In our Scandinavian family, the fish delicacies were pickled herring & gelatinous, smelly lutefisk made from salted or dehydrated codfish (I promise to never bring lutefisk to a striper club potluck!).



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I have fished for stripers at Smith Mountain Lake for two and a half years since buying a condo at Bridgewater Pointe. I have a home in Southwest Roanoke county as my primary residence but am at the lake as often as possible and spend time in FL during the cold water months. I regret not realizing long ago that Smith Mountain Lake is a great fishery. I have enjoyed fishing all my life and caught stripers in the Chesapeake bay in the early 80's. I would say that Joanne, my wife of 34 years is one of my closest fishing buddies although you would not know it when we are out there on the water. She caught a 20+ lb striper in the bay years ago while 6 months pregnant. We both are anxious to learn more about striper fishing. We have 7 grandchildren, 6 girls and a boy. Our boys live in Roanoke and Salem  our girls live in West Virginia. 




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I am a native of Salem, VA.  I left Salem after graduating from Andrew Lewis HS, ended up in the Air Force for 6.5 years, then moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and lived in Iowa for 29 years.  I worked at Rockwell-Collins Intl as an Engineering Lab Tech., Real Estate, Defense Contract Admin. Services as a Quality Assurance Specialist and Quality Auditor for ISO 9000-2K and started a computer company. I have a BA from Suffield University in Quality Systems Management and Accounting. 







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I have been fishing SML for seven years.  I've been a member of SMSC and a member of the SML Bass Club for three years.  I live in the Isles of Pine Section of the lake at the R22 navigational marker.  The location is just above the "S" curve and the SML State Park.   Some might be interested to know that I taught sciences for 36 years and coached Varsity Track and Cross County for 22 years. I was also a Red Cross Water Safety Instructor and a Canadian Wilderness Guide.


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I spent most of my life in South Florida and after 27 years as a police officer in Miami Beach, I retired and moved here in 2004. I was tired of the flat land, no seasons - except hot and hotter and way too many people. So we bought 14 acres in the Burnt Chimney area and built a house. We’re not on the lake, but there are 2 ponds in the neighborhood which are stocked with bass, crappie and bluegill. Our daughter graduated last year from Franklin Co. HS and is now attending Florida State University (Go ‘noles). I also have 2 grown sons and 3 grandsons who live out of state.

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My name is Mark Melius, owner of Mytoyz Fishing Custom Rods. The Mytoyz portion actually stemmed from a joke my wife once made about all my ”man toys” some years ago and it has stuck ever since.   I grew up as an Army brat and joined the Army myself after high school, of which I was medically discharged in 2007.  Shortly after my military career I meet my wife whom I married in 2009 and moved to Roanoke for a job.  In 2011 our first child, Madison,  was born.  Some of the things I do outside of work is to camp, travel, work around the house, make custom rods, and of course fish. 

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