Dave Gladwell of Goode and Glen Busch of Lynchburg had a smallmouth trip lined up with Guide Matt Miles on two occasions this summer, and both times the trips were postponed due to high water. This Wednesday, the pair of veteran fly fisherman finally connected with both Miles and a cooperative Mother Nature and the wait was well worthwhile. Glen scored with the big fish, a 20-inch smallmouth. Except for a brief shower late in the day, the party had cool temperatures and cloud-cover most of the way, ideal conditions.
Said Busch, “We had a long, but productive day, floating eight miles of the river below Lynchburg. The water was low in spots (we have had significant rain since) and very clear. Fish were on the banks – not in great numbers, but enough to keep things interesting. There was one dry spell around mid-afternoon before the action picked up again. We used poppers only, and caught somewhere around 30 fish.”
“Matt Miles,” added Busch, “is an exceptional guide and knows the river well, having fished it since he was a boy.”
Matt Miles specializes in fly-fishing trips, but is happy to guide conventional anglers as well. He fishes the Staunton, the James and the Jackson below Gathright Dam. To book a trip, contact him at matt@mattmilesflyfishing.com. Glen Busch writes a weekly blog. Follow him at glennbusch.com.
Potomac River
Dog Days!
Cover water in the morning and then slow down to target areas with some current and off-color water. Water is cooling a bit into the mid to upper 70s. Early morning rising tides will favor top water later this week.
First thing in the morning, take advantage of any low water and scattered grass in front of grass edges with Lucky Craft G-Splash poppers and Walking Gunfish. Cover water and look for clear water early. As the tide comes in, with full sun, go to docks and sea walls. Pitch wacky-rigged stickworms like Mizmo Quiver Stix on 2/0 Octopus hooks on GAMMA 12 pound test Edge fluorocarbon line. Let baits sit 5 seconds for every foot deep you are fishing. Slowly lift and drop. Hold in the grass and gently shake for a few seconds. Snap free and allow stickworms to fall and sit once again. Soaking in an attractant like Jack’s Juice will encourage fish to hold on longer.
A Shaky head is also a good way to get fish this time of year. Try 1/8 ounce Mizmo Barbwire with a 5-inch green pumpkin Doodle worm. Tie a 12-pound test Edge leader to 20-pound Torque braid. Fish hard edges, especially ones that drop to deeper water. Drop shot is worth a try here too.
With chop or clouds anytime, try Mann’s Baby 1-Minus in Shad patterns and white or craw patterned chatterjigs on 14 pound Edge.
Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River. info@nationalbass.com
Chickahominy Lake
Capt. Art Conway of Conway’s River Rat Guide Service (804-746-2475) out of Ed Allen’s Boats and Bait reported that Chickahominy Lake mid-day water temperatures were in the low to mid 80’s in the main lake on Wednesday.
Blue cats and a few bullheads were scattered throughout the lake and were hitting live minnows and cut bait. Moderate numbers of crappie were in loose schools in the main lake on deeper flats and channel edges, usually at depths of 6 to 12 feet. A few crappie were scattered singly or in small schools on shallow to mid-depth cypress knees, wood cover, and shoreline weed beds in the main lake and in mouths of major creeks. Active crappie were hitting live minnows, Wright Bait Co. curlytail jigs, small tubes, Kalin crappie scrubs, and small swim baits. Some small to medium yellow perch were scattered on main lake shoreline flats and were hitting live minnows and small jigs. Some nice bluegills and shellcrackers along with numerous smaller bluegills were in small loose aggregates and scattered along shorelines and cypress trees and just out from shorelines in the main lake and were hitting live crickets and worms, flies, and small tubes and jigs. Some bass and pickerel were on lily pad flats and along shorelines in lower reaches of major creeks and in shallow bays and some shorelines in the main lake, while other bass and a few pickerel were on deeper flats and channel edges in the main lake. Bass and pickerel were hitting live minnows, spinnerbaits, swim baits, stick worms, and jigs, with some topwater action early on many days.
Fishing with Capt. Conway, Brad Reynolds and Karson and Aydan Kirby and Carolyn Conway had 22 bluegills and 2 shellcrackers. Malcolm Turnbull had 60 bluegills, 1 shellcracker and 1 yellow perch.
Lake Orange
Heading into September, fish at Lake Orange are getting a head start on the fall bite. Bass are being caught all over the lake. Darryl Kennedy at Angler’s Landing, a marina on the lake, weighed in a 6-pounder last weekend. The lake is turning over and the crappie have moved into more shallow depths, around 6 to 8 feet. The yellow perch are biting well on minnows (medium size) and worms. Catfish are scattered throughout the lake and are looking for chicken livers. The walleye are still hitting. Fish to 6 and 7 pounds have been caught in recent weeks. Big bluegills are staging on points in about 6 to 8 feet of water. As the water cools, the fishing should only improve. Call Kennedy at 540.623.6085 to reserve a boat or for up to date information.
Shenandoah River
Ed T out of Front Royal Canoe, took the State Park to Karo float on the Shenandoah this past Tuesday and filed the below report.
The water level was down some from last week, I had to get out and drag the canoe over a few spots. There was lots of grass and algae – cleaning off lures all day long, it’s part of the game when you are fishing this late in the summer. It was sprinkling when I hit the water. Pretty soon it was raining. It rained all morning. I started out with a #3 Mepp’s spinner. I only caught a couple of smallmouth and bluegill before I switched to a 4″ Berkley Power Worms in green pumpkin on a 1/8 oz. Carolina rig. I started getting nice smallmouth in no time. Most of them were right around a foot. Only a couple of fish were under ten. I caught the majority in flat-water areas or at the tail end of large pools between rock ledges. A lot of the hits came right after the worm sank, or right after it hit the bottom. Once the worm was on the bottom, I fished it slow, either slow dragging or small hops off the bottom. The bite was pretty good. By noon I had caught a fair number of smallmouth, a better count than usual for a morning. Nice size as well. Like I said, mostly eleven and twelve inch fish. A few were a bit larger, one went fourteen. Around noon, because I was in deeper water, I switched to a 4″ Bass Pro Senko (green pumpkin), hoping to get a bigger fish. I was slow fishing, often dead sticking in deeper water. The Senko worked okay, I managed to get another fourteen incher, but no lunkers. After an hour with the Senko, I switched to a 5″ Zoom Salty Super Fluke (green pumpkin magic). I began catching bass at a nice pace. A fair number of bass tried to hit the fluke as soon as I jerked it on the surface, but most of them missed it or just hit the tail and let go. Nice boils and all, but I only got a good hook set on a few fish right on top. Most of my good hits came after I let it sink. So, most of the time I gave it a jerk on the top, let it sink, swam it a little, then pulled it up for another little jerk on the top. I was swimming the Fluke at different levels in the water. Some of my bigger fish actually hit when I was drifting the bait or just twitching it on the bottom. I was fishing the tail end of the pools between the rock ledges for the most part, but I had pretty good luck fishing flat-water spots as well. From one o’clock on, the Fluke was just about the only lure I used. Afternoon fishing was nice, plenty of smallmouth and the size was good. I could count the number of fish under ten inches on one hand. Chalk that up to fishing soft plastics. You just don’t get as many dinks on soft plastics as you do on spinners or small crankbaits. I caught another fourteen inch bass in the afternoon, so that made the three fourteens for the day. But I was okay with that because I caught so many twelve inch smallmouth and so few under ten. I was a little worried when it stopped raining around two. Smallmouth often hit Flukes and topwater lures well when its raining. I think the rain keeps them looking up at the surface. So sometimes when it stops raining they stop hitting. Yesterday they kept right on biting. In fact, the fishing got better later in the afternoon. Overall I averaged about six fish per hour. The afternoon bite was better than the morning, but it was pretty good all day. I’m not crazy about fishing in the rain, who is? But yesterday was worth the effort. Week after week of quality fishing for the latter part of this summer, it’s been hard to beat the last month or so here on the South Fork of the Shenandoah. If you did not get out on the South Fork during the last month you missed out on some really fun fishing. Reading about it is one thing. Doing it is way better. Good luck with your fishing.