Darrell Kennedy of Angler’s Landing (540.672.3997) at Lake Orange reports clear water with temperature in in the upper 60’s and anglers are catching some nice walleye. Local angler Charlie Blankenship brought in a beautiful 24-inch 4 ½-pound walleye this week. Some saugeyes, a sauger-walleye cross, are showing up after having been stocked two summers past. Largemouth bass are hitting top water baits in the upper end of the lake in low light periods of the day with soft plastics enticing the during remaining periods of the day. The crappie bite has picked up in recent days with small minnows being the bait of choice. The 8-10 ft. range seems to be the ticket to find schools of crappie. Catfish are being caught all over the lake now with minnows and chicken liver. Bluegills are still in a spawning mode with some sizable fish caught on red wigglers and with the warming trend, this weekend should be fantastic.
Shenandoah
Ed T of Front Royal Canoe was back on the Shenandoah again with this report on a float from State Park to Karo:
Almost a month since my last trip. Thought about building an ark at one point. The river is still pretty high, not many rocks showing. It’s stained and a bit cool as well. On the way to the State Park, I asked my driver if anyone had been fishing lately. He said a group went out over the weekend and had four fish between them.
Hmmm, just let me catch a few fish today.
Stained, fast water means action lures, soft plastics are pretty useless. I used two lures yesterday, a #3 Mepps spinner and a Bandit 100 crankbait. For once I didn’t rummage about in my tackle box. I used those two lures all day. The first fish was a nice twelve-inch smallmouth. The second smallmouth, about ten minutes later, was nineteen inches. The biggest smallmouth I’ve caught in a long time. To say I was excited doesn’t even start to cover it. I’ve had a pretty slow season so far, so it was nice. Both fish were caught on the spinnerbait. The rest of the morning was decent fishing. The bass were scattered, not much pattern so I had to search a lot of water, but I did all right. Just casting my lures in different directions and different locations. It was shotgun fishing and floating downriver at a fair speed. Caught eight more bass and one bluegill before noon and I caught a nice sixteen-inch smallmouth. Most of the time, I relied on the spinner. The bite slacked off a bit after noon, but picked up again about an hour later. The afternoon fishing was a lot like the morning except a larger percentage of the bass were under a foot. l caught sixteen more smallmouth and one more bluegill in the afternoon. I got out at four because I had already floated down to Karo Landing. It was very little paddling all day. So, twenty-six smallmouth in six hours with a nineteen inch in the mix? Not a bad day of fishing. When I hit the water yesterday, I was not optimistic. All that rain and high water the last few weeks, plus the lower water temps, didn’t look promising. But you never know. It turned out to be a trip I’ll remember. I had a good time for sure and getting that lunker in the first half hour of the day just made the rest of the trip a bonus. To top it all off, the weather was perfect. After all that crap for weeks, it was perfect. If the weather doesn’t get crazy again, the fishing is sure to improve.
Potomac River
Warm up to Bass Fishing
Much better weather, but totally different strategies. Look for clearer water and move in with high tides and out with lower.
Water temperature will get into the 70s this week making fish more active.
With morning high tides, fish topwaters up close to the bank or shoreline cover. Poppers like Lucky Craft G-Splash 80 walked on 12-pound GAMMA Copoly will bring strikes. Also try walking Lucky Craft Gunfish. As the tide falls, back out and target grass and other cover with Chatterbaits and Mann’s Baby 1-Minus, both on 12 pound test GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon line. Contact grass and snap free. With sunshine, docks can come into play. Wait until the sun is out and up high and then target the deepest part of the docks with soft plastics. Texas rig Mizmo tubes on 14-pound test Edge.
Texas or wacky rigged stickworms with braid and a fluorocarbon leader. Fish these weightless. Skip under docks and allow the bait to fall and watch for bites on the drop. Snap free from grass and allow the bait to fall. For a variation, crimp a small round split shot to the wacky rig hook and shake on the bottom. These worms can also be rigged on a shaky head and fished the same way. Bright colored floating worms can also lure fry guarding bass into taking the bait. Twitch and pause. For spinning gear use the braid/fluorocarbon line combo. 20-pound test braid with 10-12 pound fluorocarbon.
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 high 60’s to low 70’s at 2 feet below the surface in the lower main lake and in the major creeks on Wednesday (5/25/2016).
Fishing with Capt. Conway, Eric Olgers had 49 bluegill, 2 shellcracker, 3 crappie, 3 yellow perch, 1 roach minnow, and 2 bass. Tom Porter had 56 bluegill, 10 crappie, 2 yellow perch, 1 bullhead, and 2 bass.
Little Creek Reservoir
Largemouth bass are biting well on cranks and bottom rigged night crawlers. Stripers are going for deep diving cranks. Crappie will take minnows and jigs around structures and docks. No word on bream. The water is 65 degrees, rising and clearing.
Beaverdam Reservoir
The water has been holding at 67 degrees this week. The pool is extra full and the water clarity is muddy at 3 feet. The lake conditions are perfect for crappie, but they are hidden in the deeper waters. There has not been a lot of crappie action from the shoreline with the bass still dominating the banks, but they will return in the next week or so.
Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers
Contributed by Riverkeeper Jeff Turner. Spirit of Moonpie and I spent the 15th through the 16th on the Blackwater below the Rt. 603 Steel Bridge, upriver from Burdette. The water was high at 7 ft. on the Burdette USGS gauge, fast and 65 degrees. Air temps ranged from 40 to 72 degrees. I was surprised the fishing was as decent as it was. I caught right many nice bream, some speckles, bass and chain pickerel. All were caught on a Mepps Minnow. Most of the fish were up in the woods with the high water, so I just fished in the woods.
James at Lynchburg
Tom Reisdorf at Angler’s Lane, (434) 385-0200, www.anglerslane.com says that the James has been so “big and wide” that they haven’t been on it for a little while. But things should improve soon. The water is high, brown and in the 60s. Big rainbows and browns in the Jackson are biting on streamers. The water is 55 degrees, high and fairly clear. Brookies in the mountains are “on fire”. The water is “on the high side of perfect.” The best bets are Little Yellow Stoneflies.
Lake Gaston
Holly Grove Marina says the largemouth are in their summer patterns. Try jerks, top waters and wacky or Carolina Rigs. Cats are going for alewives, chicken livers and clam snouts. Crappie can be found around structures and will attack minnows and jigs. Bream are in the shallows and around docks. Small worms and minnows are good bets. The water is at a normal level, slightly stained and in the high 60s to low70s.
Smith Mountain Lake
Daytime bass fishing has been pretty tough over the last few days. Anglers are reporting seeing a lot of fish cruising the banks, but are finding them hard to catch. There are a few fish still spawning on beds and guarding fry. The full moon next week should bring whatever fish which have not spawned shallow to finish up.
Finesse tactics are the way to go right now around shade created by overhangs or boat docks. Shakey head worms, wacky worms and drop shots have been productive baits. There is an early morning top water bite with walking and popping style baits as well.
The night bite is definitely the best way for you to connect with numbers and quality bass. The alewife spawn is in full effect and the Storm Thunderstick continues to catch fish consistently. Parallel riprap banks on the main lake and mid sections of the major creeks and reel the bait extremely slowly so it creates a wake. This type of fishing is a lot of fun but be careful fishing at night!
New River
Shawn Hash says things his way are “on fire” and that this will be “the best week of the year.” Muskies are biting well, but the BIG bite is smallies. Soft plastics are the best bet. Try green or brown pumpkin or crawfish. The level is perfect, temperature is up and the color is perfect.
Upper New River
New River Trips reports that fishing on the Top New, Mouth of Wilson to Fries, has been good. We have had wet weather but not as much rain as further east. The water is brown now but should clear up in a couple days. Top waters are working well so we have had some fun with that. Water levels are above average and several days of sunny weather are predicted this week, thus making for a good Memorial Day weekend.