Striper fishing has turned on at Lake Anna in recent weeks. Anglers are catching them on top at first light, then trolling down to 26 feet and picking more fish up throughout the day. Shawn Blankenship, Rosalyn Rhoads and Tommy Clough combined to catch 9 nice stripers on a recent outing. On an earlier trip, Blankenship and Clough put 8 stripers up to 30-inches in the live well.
Cody and Dave Heavenridge won the Sunday Morning tournament out of Anna Point with a bag of 5 bass weighing 15.04 pounds. The big fish went 5.50
Potomac River
Fish are coming off post spawn.
Summer patterns are here! Time to pop, walk and buzz!
Water will be in the mid 70s. Early morning topwater bites are on. Try Lucky Craft G-Splash poppers on 12-pound test GAMMA Copoly or 15-pound Torque braid. Vary speeds to find the mood of the fish. Faster generally when the water is very clear. Make long casts and cover water on inside grass edges. Low morning tides are great to use topwaters. Tease fish into coming out of grass.
Also walk the dog with Lucky Craft Gunfish.
At the lowest tide, try using Mann’s Baby 1-Minus on 12-pound test GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon line. Snap free from grass and target grass edge lines. Raise the rod tip to prevent the bait from running too deep.
Once the tide is out, pitch soft plastics into grass holes. Stickworms like Mizmo Quiver Stix Texas rigged on 3/0 Mustad Mega Bite hooks or wacky style with a 1/0 Mustad wacky rig hook. Also pitching Texas rigged Mizmo tubes. Hop off the bottom to trigger strikes.
Buzzbaits and hollow frogs on 60-pound Torque braid can also get big bites on lower tides. Once the tide comes in, move into the inside edge and fan cast swim jigs and chapter jigs with craw trailers. Either use Torque braid or Edge fluorocarbon line. Craw patterns or black/blue will work.
As the sun comes up with higher water, fish deeper along edges.
Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River. info@nationalbass.com
Chickahominy River
Capt. Art Conway of Conway’s River Rat Guide Service reported that Chickahominy Lake mid-day water temperatures were in the high 70’s in the lower main lake on Wednesday (6/15/2016). The lake level was about 2 inches above the top of the dam.
Most blue cats and bullheads were on flats and channel edges in the main lake and scattered in creeks and hitting live minnows and cut bait. Some crappie were scattered in major creek channels, some were on cypress knees and along shorelines in the main lake, and most had accumulated on mid-depth wood cover and along drop-offs in the main lake. Active crappie were hitting live minnows, Wright Bait Co. and Southern Pro curlytail jigs, small tubes, Kalin crappie scrubs, and small swim baits. Small to medium yellow perch were scattered or in loose aggregates on some main lake flats and in channels and on flats in major creeks and were hitting live minnows, small swim baits, and small jigs. Small and an occasional medium bluegill and shellcracker were scattered or loosely aggregated along some shorelines in major creeks and in the main lake and were hitting flies, small jigs, Nikko nymphs, small swim baits, and live worms. A few clusters of larger bluegills were located in shoreline pockets in and near cypress groves and may have been starting to spawn again. Some bass, pickerel, and bowfin were along shorelines, on lily pad and hydrilla flats, and along drop-offs in the major creeks and the main lake. When active, bass and pickerel were hitting live minnows, spinnerbaits, swim baits, stick worms, crank baits, jerk baits, and jigs.
Fishing with Capt. Conway, Paul Tubach had 1 bluegill, 7 crappie, 1 yellow perch, 1 bullhead, and 1 bass. Carolyn Conway had 23 bluegill, 1 yellow perch, and 1 bass. Tom Porter had 34 bluegill, 1 shellcracker, 8 crappie, 2 blue cats, and 1 bass.
River News
Will wonders never cease? The James, New and Shenandoah rivers are all at normal levels, clear to a degree and supremely fishable. Smallmouth are mostly through with the spawn and are feeding aggressively on everything from plastics to topwater to crankbaits. Muskies are active on both the James and New rivers. An angler on the New was playing an 18-inch smallmouth recently, when a muskie tried – and almost did – eat the big smallmouth. Don’t be afraid to throw big lures if you try for muskies.
Mountain Streams
It doesn’t take long for water levels in mountain streams to fall this time of year. With tree roots tapping into the water supply, intensive heat and evaporation, the mountain streams have gone from full-and-flowing to low-and-clear in the past week. Still, streams are in excellent shape for this time of year. Lots of insects are hatching and brook trout are gulping dry flies.
Hatchery trucks are through until October but there are still lots of holdover, stocked trout in streams like the Bullpasture and Jackson. Anglers are picking up some nice rainbows and brown trout in the tail waters of the Jackson River above Covington.