Potomac River
Fish are on the move and can be found on remaining grass, and on hard cover. Water is slowly cooling down to the mid-50s, but back to the low 60s for the weekend.
Shallow diving Lucky Craft 1.5 crankbaits will cover water and snap free from grass to trigger strikes. Use 12-pound test GAMMA Edge on a medium heavy cranking rod. Reel to the grass, pause and snap free, pausing again. Use a fast reel to catch up to the fish when they take the bait. Also try LVR D-7 lipless cranks on the same line with upward snaps, pauses and upward snaps.
Don’t rule out topwaters. Walking baits like Lucky Craft Gunfish can produce big bites anytime during the day, especially with calm water and low tides.
Mann’s 1/4-ounce Classic spinnerbait, gold blades and white skirts, on 12-pound Edge can be worked through around and over grass remnants. Also target wood cover – bump and pause.
Slow moving white chatterjigs on 12 pound Edge can also be worked through the grass and around wood. Slight pauses and twitches will bring strikes. Try bulky trailers like MIZMO Swamp Monsters.
Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River. info@nationalbass.com
Upper Potomac
Charley Taylor reports that smallmouth bass are biting well on live crayfish, jumbo minnows, and small jig ‘n pig baits. Crappie are visiting the creek mouths from time to time, but results are iffy. Catfish and smallmouth bass are hitting aggressively in the clear water at the outflow from Dickerson Power Plant.
Shenandoah River
Smallmouth bass are active and are taking any slowly-fished bait. Horsehead jigs with spinners are very productive during this season. Topwater baits are also effective.
Rappahannock River
Some bass are being on the blow-downs on the south shoreline of the tidal section. Spinnerbaits, tipped with pork chunks, are the most productive baits, but jig ‘n pig and grubs are also working. Blue catfish are taking cut bait when fished in the outside bends of the main river channel. Some small stripers are being caught below the Route 301 bridge.
Lake Anna
Huge schools of baitfish are roaming around the lake, drawing attention from bass and stripers. Better areas have been the mouth of Contrary Creek, Rose Valley and the area around Jetts Island, at the Splits. Bass are orienting to steep dropping banks and points. Crappie are schooled tight, with the larger fish suspending over creek channels in the backs of the creeks. Beaver lodges are holding lots of crappie, as well.
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 60’s in the lower main lake on Wednesday.
Most blue cats and bullheads were on flats and channels in the main lake and scattered in creeks and hitting live minnows and cut bait. Most crappie had accumulated on mid-depth wood cover and along drop-offs and channel edges in the main lake. Active crappie were hitting live minnows. When active, bass and pickerel were hitting live minnows, spinnerbaits, swim baits, stick worms, crank baits, jerk baits, jigs, and topwater baits.
Fishing with Capt. Conway, Abe and John Longmire had 10 bluegill, 1 shellcracker, 2 warmouth, and 19 crappie. Tom Porter had 5 bluegill, 2 warmouth, 4 crappie, 1 pickerel and 1 bass.
Chickahominy River
Bass fishing has been good on drop offs on the main river, as well as the creeks. Diascund Creek is producing. Yellow perch and crappie fishing is excellent throughout the river. Live minnows are the best choices for bait. Stripers are available around the Route 5 Bridge. Jumbo minnows, Sassy Shads and Rat-l-Traps are the more productive baits.
Lake Gaston
Striper fishing ranges from fair to good. The fish are schooled up and show up well on electronics. Topwater lures early and late in the day, and Alabama Rigs, Hopkins spoons and rattling lures, after the sun comes up, are best choices for lures. Bass anglers are doing well on main lake points, adjacent to channels and in the creeks, where the channel bends close to the bank. Crappie are schooled around brush piles and solid structure. White perch are taking ¼-oz. Hopkins jigging spoons.
Buggs Island Lake
Crappie anglers are loading coolers with 1- to 3-pound fish. Small minnows over brush piles and around bridge pilings are effective. Bass may be taken in shallow water, as they hold on rock piles in the backs of pockets. Stripers are active, hitting Sassy Shads on ¼-ounce jig heads, fished under the schools of shad minnows close to the shoreline.
Smith Mountain Lake
Striper fishing is fair to good. Live shad and alewives are the better baits, fished in submerged standing timber in the coves. Trolling with bucktails will also produce some fish, as will topwater lures when the big fish are feeding on shad schools. Bass fishing is good to excellent in the backs of coves. Crappie are being caught on live minnows and tiny jigs over brush piles in 10 feet of water.
Lake Moomaw
A few smaller trout are starting to bite, perhaps a sign of things to come at Moomaw. Through much of the summer, trout fishing has been poor. Smallmouth bass are being taken by anglers fishing jig ‘n pigs and spinnerbaits on points, dropping into 20-plus feet of water.
New River
Top water lures continue to take many smallmouth bass. Some muskies have also been boated.
Trout Fishing
Good catches of trout for anglers using nymphs, streamers, and small spinners in the Tye River. The South Fork of the Holston River in Smyth County is also providing anglers with nice catches. Rainbow trout are hitting nymphs fished just under the surface at Silver Lake in Rockingham County. Another good spot for trout fishermen is the Tomahawk Pond in Shenandoah County.
The Jackson below Moomaw continues to fish well.