Mark Scott, a former Virginian who abandoned Jefferson Country to settle in on the southern beaches of North Carolina, made a return visit to our Commonwealth and caught some nice shad at Fredericksburg. Mark and Dan Beisner caught about 15 hickory shad between them. The shad run typically begins with the first dogwood bloom, so it’s about over for this year. At Buggs Island Lake, the … [Read more...]

  As the water heats up, so does the freshwater fishing in Virginia. At Lake Orange, bass and crappie are mopping up after their spawning duties and feeding heavily in shallow water. The walleye bite has picked up and nice bluegills and redear sunfish are moving to the bedding grounds. Bass’n in the tidal rivers is outstanding A bag weighing 24 pounds claimed first place in a recent … [Read more...]

  (It ain’t what it used to be, especially smallmouth fishing on the James. Below is Bruce Ingram’s account along with some stats and Q & A with DWR biologists)   By Bruce Ingram   It’s no secret that the smallmouth fishing on the upper James River has declined in recent years and that Virginia’s river enthusiasts are concerned. DWR fisheries biologists George … [Read more...]

    (The dogwoods are blooming, and that means one thing: the shad run is in full swing. Dr, Peter Brookes, below, writes his accounbt)   By Dr. Peter Brookes   Perhaps nothing lights up online message boards and email inboxes of Old Dominion river anglers more than the much-anticipated arrival of spring shad from the Atlantic Ocean to Virginia’s rivers for … [Read more...]

  By Rick Perry, the Assistant to Executive Director for Law Enforcement at DWR. His goal was to catch a Virginia walleye, and he was shocked at what happened! This last Thursday, March 3, I caught the fish of a lifetime in the New River. I had always wanted to catch a walleye, but didn’t really want to go to Canada to catch one. Last September I was working with CPO Wes Billings when … [Read more...]

  The big news on the Virginia saltwater scene is that large red drum have arrived on the shoals near Fisherman’s Island. Dr. Ken Neill, Stan Simmerman and David Brabrand made a run over and caught a shark, had two drag screamers, and pulled the hook on one. But David did manage to tag and released their first bull red of the season. Good puppy drum action continues in Virginia Beach … [Read more...]

Fisheries biologists with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) recently identified gill lice on rainbow trout in Blue Springs Creek, a tributary to Cripple Creek, located in Smyth and Wythe Counties. Gill lice are tiny, parasitic copepods, a type of zooplankton, that attach to a fish’s gills, mouth, and fins. The gill lice recently found is likely Salmincola californiensis, a … [Read more...]

  It’s spring, for sure. Lake Orange is open for business. Darrell Kennedy with Angler’s Landing at Lake Orange says the water temperature at the lake is creeping into the lower 50’s and things are starting to happen. Bass and crappie are leaving their winter haunts and are in a preseason feeding mood. They’re hungry! Bass are taking advantage of the lake’s large shad population as well as … [Read more...]

  The next time I get married, it won’t be in early March. The fishing sucks that time of year. When Nancy and I head out to celebrate our anniversary each year on March 3, the trout streams are too cold, the smallmouth are still wearing mittens, and the only thing biting in the Outer Banks surf are skates and dogfish. Or so I thought. This year, we went to Nags Head and rented an … [Read more...]