Cruising Virginia’s Smith Mountain Lake

There’s no doubt where Virginia’s Smith Mountain Lake got its name: the 2,038-foot namesake literally looms over much of the reservoir’s southeast shore, beckoning boaters to enjoy a broad stretch of wild scenery, tiny islands and quiet coves.

That’s not the case with much of the balance of the 40-mile-long lake located southeast of Roanoke in Virginia’s Blue Ridge, offering 500-plus miles of serpentine shoreline boasting everything from multi-million dollar mansions and marinas from modest to full-service. Mixed in is an assortment of resorts and rental properties catering to families seeking a waterfront vacation destination with an emphasis on boating and the lakefront living lifestyle.

Many visiting boaters, as was the case with us, make a beeline for the dam in the shadow of Smith Mountain to visit the visitor’s center and get their bearings before negotiating the massive reservoir. Some never see reason to leave the undeveloped south end of the lake where, to the east of the dam known as Sandy Level, the public shoreline begs boaters to stake claim to a small cove, rocky islet or a wooded point for the day. Others, with anglers aboard, will use electronics to locate submerged weedbeds in the same area and troll away the day hoping to attract the attention of one of the lake’s thriving striped bass population. More active watersports enthusiasts take advantage of the lake’s unlimited horsepower restrictions and minimal no-wake zones.*

Base Camp
When we visited Smith Mountain Lake on a long, early August weekend aboard a rented Manitou pontoon, we followed the Saturday morning fleet of pleasure craft, many bound for the state park lands in the shadow of the bluffs. Our cruise was shorter than most, practically a straight shot south down the Craddock Creek arm of the lake from our base at Mariner’s Landing Resort, which caters to boaters by offering an abundance of docks and a launch ramp on site. The resort also offers an 18-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis and pickle ball courts, fishing pier, private beach, fitness center, and dining options on-site.

Each summer morning spent swimming and relaxing in a quiet bay had us ready for more action atop the 20,600-acre impoundment, and in the afternoons we cruised north, exploring the various arms of the lake and the sights offered by each. With some 22 marinas and more than a dozen boat accessible dining options, as well as shopping and sights – including a docks-top miniature golf course – it would have taken the balance of the summer weekends to enjoy them all.   

Regrettably, among of the last things we discovered on our long weekend visit were the boat-accessible public areas on 1,248-acre Smith Mountain State Park offering 500 feet of shoreline on the northeast shore in the central area of the lake and the 4,998-acre Smith Mountain Cooperative Wildlife Management Area. Both offer the same public access and natural settings as do the islands and shorelines that flank the dam.

At the other end of the sights and sounds spectrum are the restaurants and at least one shopping emporium, the latter at Bridgewater Marina, which hosts three eateries, plenty of free public dockage, and the Sky-High putt-putt golf course. Bridgewater is also where we rented our Manitou pontoon boat, one of more than a dozen rental options serving the lake.

Manitou Rental
In the course of my work for Pontoon & Deck Boat, I have had the occasion to rent any number of deck and pontoon boats over the years. Doing so, I have experienced the best and the worst of “livery” boats, some of the latter living up to the adage “nothing parties like a rental” and showing it. At the other end of the rental boat spectrum is what we experienced at Bridgewater Marina. Not only was the 2021 150hp Honda-outboard-powered Manitou Aurora triple pontoon delivered to our dock at Mariner’s Landing, where Bridgewater has a satellite rental location, it arrived clean as a whistle with a GPS plotter and fishfinder standard. When I complimented Bridgewater’s Ryan Waters about the condition of the rental pontoon boat, he informed me that the entire rental boat fleet is replaced each season, after which the year-old rental models are sold. That explains their condition and why Bridgewater rental boats are highly sought after by Smith Mountain Lake visitors. 

While the standard fish-locating sonar is a bonus for those who like to fish, I consider the GPS required equipment aboard craft that will be operated by folks who have little experience navigating the massive, meandering water-body – including those who trailer their own boats to Smith Mountain Lake. That said, even with the electronics and the detailed map provided by Bridgewater, we got turned around a couple times boating between arms of the lake.

And the arms are where many of the lake’s more popular boating destinations are found. These include boat-in eateries such as Jake’s Place, Lumpkin’s Marina Snack Bar & Grill on the southern end of the lake not far from Smith Mountain Cooperative Wildlife Refuge, Los Amigos Bar & Grill at Crazy Horse Marina, Napoli by the Lake, located right next to Bernard’s Landing Resort, Drifters and The Landing Restaurant, located at Mariner’s Landing.

Exploring Rocking Mount
On such visits to new boating destinations, we always spend a day ashore exploring local landlocked sights that may come into play during “weather” days when boating isn’t practical. While our weather was just fine, we took a day to see the nearby town of Rocky Mount, shopping antiques stores and catching a great lunch at Rocky Mount Burger Company and sampling moonshine at Twin Creek Distillery. At least my wife Maria did; I was driving.

But with a spanking new pontoon boat at our beck and call at a slip located a long cast from our rental condo’s balcony, a fantastic boating lake in a beautiful setting overlooked by its namesake, we couldn’t wait to get back to Smith Mountain Lake. Six months later, that still holds true.


*If trailering your own boat to Smith Mountain Lake – especially if it will be kept at one of the more exposed dockages – come prepared with plenty of fenders and mind your dock-lines. We found ourselves rocking and rolling at more than one dockage, including our rented slip at Mariner’s Landing where we expected to find stricter wake restrictions than the state’s surprisingly liberal standard within 50 feet of docks and shoreline.