It was brought to our attention by one of our Bulletin Board members that B.A.S.S. is bringing its 4th tournament here to Smith Mountain Lake in April of 2009. This is one of those good news bad news type events because for the economy it brings in fresh revenue and new visitors, but for the locals it brings in more people and boats.

I also wonder how this type of fishing pressure impacts the local fish populations. I have been at a weigh in for one of the tournaments here and all though almost every fish that is brought in is still living, who knows what type of damage the incur while being hauled around in a boat all day until weigh in. I say this as an avid fisherman who practices catch and release.

We can’t pretend that fishing does not harm fish, because I have had a hook firmly planted in my hand it does not feel good. Imagine being dragged through the water by you lips! Then locked in a “Cooler” type space and jetted around a choppy lake for 4 hours. Not a lot of fun.

Of course our lake is large enough to handle the added traffic, and the fish population seems to be able to handle the effects so I guess I am just bringing these points up to look at both sides of this event. It truly does great things for the Smith Mountain Lake economy because for those few days the hotels are booked, the restaurants are filled and all those boats need a place to be stored and gassed up.

In the end I look forward to B.A.S.S. coming again and wish all the anglers the best of luck and a safe time here.

Share your opinion of the B.A.S.S. Tournament at Smith Mountain Lake here.

I am extremely pleased to announce that our Smith Mountain Lake Forum is now open, active and ready to use. We are now accepting new members and all are welcome to sign up. This forum is designed to be Smith Mountain Lake specific, however we will always make room for unrelated discussions as long as they are appropriate to the audience.

I realize that at this time there are very few members, however I ask that you don’t let that stop you from registering. Every great forum has to start at zero and I am confident that with your help our SML Forum will be a smash hit.

Also, remember to refer your friends and fellow Smith Mountain Lake enthusiasts to the site as well. Make sure they enter your Username into the referrer field of the registration form so that you are credited with their membership.

Again we are excited about the addition of our SML Forum to our website and we are looking forward to you becoming our newest member.

Regards,

Joe Furrow

After extensive testing and tweaking we are excited to announce that SmithMountainLakeToday.Com is going live today. It will still be in BETA for the next week to 10 days as we test our applications live on the net so that we can continue to test our applications in live on the net, however we are expecting few complications.

If you notice any problems, bugs or errors please go to our BUGS section of our forum and report them there. We will promptly respond to any issues you notice and will keep you apprised of our progress in resolving them.