The rivers are low and clear, which makes things a little tougher for a smallmouth angler, but a lot easier for a carp fisherman. Yes, carp are gaining in popularity as worthy opponents and especially on a fly rod.
Carp primarily feed by smell, but they will also pick up a bait if it looks good, then spit it out if it isn’t. A fly fisherman has a brief opportunity to set the hook when that occurs.
I had my best luck with carp on a fly by first chumming a cove at Lake Anna with Niblets Corn. A school of carp picked up the scent and moved in, sucking up the scattered corn. I had a gold yellow strand of yarn as a fly, trimmed down to about the size of a corn kernel and that did the trick. My line twitched, I set the hook and the battle was on, and I mean a battle. The 10-pound carp had me in my backing almost instantly and fought hard for 20 minutes before I could beach him and retrieve my fly. But it was sure fun. You can also catch carp on spinning tackle with bait, but for a real challenge, try it with a fly rod sometime.
Stan Cobb at Greentop says that the Chickahominy and James rivers saw a lot of action over the weekend with two good-sized tournaments. The winning weight on Saturday was 22 lbs. while 30 lbs. was the winning 2-day weight out of Osbourne Landing. Anglers did well with grass frogs, chatterbaits, and plastics on shaky head jigs.
Catches have been up in the Potomac River, as the grass is thicker as compared with last year. Many anglers are targeting the numerous Snakeheads on the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers.
The larger lakes tend to get smothered by boat traffic during the weekends. So, hitting these places during the week can be much more enjoyable. Another alternative are the horsepower-restricted lakes and electric-motor-only lakes like Briery Creek and Sandy River Reservoir, both of which were stocked with Florida-strain bass.
The Shenandoah is fishing well for smallmouth and bluegills. The shaded areas are best.
Virginia Beach Fishing Report
Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle reports that Spanish mackerel are plentiful off Cape Henry. Anglers are slow-trolling small spoons behind a planer or inline sinker. King mackerel are a possibility along the oceanfront for those pulling larger spoons, lures or using live bait. Lynnhaven River anglers are catching flounder, spot, croaker and puppies.
Nice keeper flounder have arrived in the lower Bay. Large flounder are also around seaside wrecks. Bay reefs are holding sheepshead, red drum, black drum, sea bass and tautog. The coastal wrecks are giving up sea bass, triggerfish and amberjack.
Spadefish are feeding around structure. They can be spotted around the CBBT pilings, buoys, over wrecks or near the Light Tower. Sheepshead are hanging around bridge pilings and jetties and prefer small crabs.
Cobia and big red drum are available along the oceanfront and throughout the lower bay.
Captain Dave Trax aboard the Oblivion put his crew on the yellowfin tuna and they caught their limits. Tuna continue to be plentiful near the northern canyons. The early bite has been on fire. Boats leaving well before daylight and deploying spreads at dawn have loaded up quickly. Mahi have made their way up from the south and the marlin bite is good.
OBX
Fishing from the beaches on Wednesday, anglers caught spot, croakers, sea mullet and flounder. The piers reported the same catches. Inshore boats picked up specks and drum while the nearshore boats returned with Spanish, ribbonfish and albacore. The blue-water fleet had nice catches of bigeye, yellowfins, blackfins, Mahi and Wahoo.