It’s a no-go for the James, the New and Shenandoah rivers this weekend. In fact, the coming weekend may not be an ideal time to fish any river or stream in Virginia. With early week and late week dowpours, many streams are out of their banks and dangerous to negotiate. That’s the bad news. The good news, however, is twofold. First, all the mountain streams that were perilously low, are no longer low, They are gushing, which should carry the small streams into the late fall at full pool. After the high water subsides, it should bode well for the brook trout spawn.
Secondly, nature has a way of cleaning itself. The extremely high water will flush our rivers and to some degree our lakes. By next weekend, we could be in for some great fishing.
Potomac River
Cooling Water
Shorter days, cooler water and the grass is breaking up! Mats create obstacles and opportunities. Water temperature is slipping to around 70 this week.
Cover water and target hard cover. Fish grass edges at low tides.
With morning high tides, use loud topwaters over grass patches. Lucky Craft walking Gunfish create commotion. Use 30-pound test GAMMA Torque braid. Move toward the bank.
Fish flooded marsh edges inside grass lines. Pitch Mizmo Texas rigged tubes with 3/16-ounce weights on 12-pound test Edge fluorocarbon line. Pitch weightless, wacky or Texas rigged, stickworms to targets and allow to drop. Watch for bites.
As tides fall, use moving lures over and snap free from grass. Under cloudy skies use dark or craw pattern Lucky Craft BDS 4. Use Mann’s Baby 1-Minus when lower. On sunny days use shad patterns. For both, use 12-pound test Edge fluorocarbon line and a medium heavy cranking rod to rip from grass.
With the lowest water use hollow frogs on braid like Mann’s Goliath or a buzzbait. Replace buzzbait skirts with white HardNose Reel N Shad for sunny days and a darker one for cloudy conditions.
Docks and wood cover come into play. Tubes or stickworms can be skipped under docks or pitched to wood cover. Peg weights for better hooksets.
Find slightly stained water rather than clear water. Clear water is best with cloud cover or chop. White chatter jigs and swimbaits are also good baits.
Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River. info@nationalbass.com
Lake Orange
The action is picking up at Lake orange, though it’s unclear how all the rainfall will play out for the coming weekend. Last weekend, crappie were biting well at the handicapped pier. Some nice bull bream also made appearances. Bass are right on the shoreline, cruising and looking for wayward grasshoppers and bugs. Catfish are biting throughout the lake. The water temperature is 70 and dropping. The lake was clear but will likely have some color by week’s end.
Chickahominy Lake
Capt. Art Conway reported that Chickahominy Lake mid-day water temperatures were in the mid 70’s in the main lake on Wednesday (9/30/2015). The lake level was a few inches above the top of the dam, but will probably rise with the predicted rain this weekend. The water was light brown and slightly cloudy in the lower lake.
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. Moderate numbers of bluegill and shellcrackers were scattered along shorelines, around cypress trees, and just out from shorelines in the main lake. Many larger bluegill had moved out to mid-depths, especially around wood cover. Bluegills and shellcrackers 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.