Doing battle with a smallmouth bass on a fly rod is one of the most exciting events in the outdoor world. And it’s not easy. First you have to lure the bass into striking, and then you have to have almost perfect timing to set the hook and drive the barb home. Throughout the battle you must keep constant pressure as the fish leaps 4, 5 or 6 times. To land even a 14-inch smallmouth on a fly rod is a genuine challenge. To land one at 21 ½ inches is a rare feat and to get one that big on your first ever attempt is like seeing Elvis playing cards with a room full of extra terrestrials.
But that’s exactly what Capt. Steve Chaconas was able to do last week on a guided trip with Matt Miles. Here is his account.
“My buddy Alan Friedlander and I went out with Matt on Monday and Tuesday on the Upper James River near Lynchburg. He has a very comfy PVC drift boat that is very stable for standing while fishing. It was nice weather both days, mostly sunny and the water was about 79 degrees, but just a bit low. We averaged around 75 smallmouth and another 10 spotted bass each day. I was using a topwater chartreuse slider that Matt makes. This was my first attempt at fly-fishing. He coached me through the casts, hook sets and landing.”
“Alan used spinning gear and a wacky rigged Senko with a Mustad 2/0 wacky hook, with the weed guard removed. The Senkos were 4-inch pumpkin with green and black glitter. He was using 8 pound test Gamma Copoly line.”
“Most of our fish were caught in about a foot of water up near the bank. Gravel banks were key as there was some shade there from overhanging brush and trees. Most of the hits came on or near wood. The bite improved around mid-day.”
“For the topwater presentation, I was making 20-30 foot casts and allowing the bait to sit or drift about 4 seconds. Lots of bluegill hit it, but the hook was too big for them. Matt Miles is an awesome guide.”
Contact Matt Miles at 434-238-2720 or at mattmilesflyfishing.com. For a guided trip on the Potomac, contact Capt. Steve Chaconas at info@nationalbass.com.
Lake Orange
Contributed by Darrell Kennedy of Angler’s Landing (540.672.3997). The water temperature is finally starting to cool with temperatures currently in the upper 70s and lower 80s. The water is clear. Bass are starting to leave their protective summer spots, moving in to shallow water and are striking crank baits. The crappie are also moving to more shallow water, somewhere in the 8-foot range. They are hitting small minnows. Walleye are biting in a little deeper water. The catfish action has really picked up in the mid-lake area with chicken livers the best bait.
September Lake Anna Forecast
Guide Chris Craft
Bass – The bass will still be in full-blown late summer patterns for the first half of the month. Forget about the top water bite until the latter part of the month, fish slow and look for deeper water (10-14 feet) with good cover. Fish deeper boat docks, brush piles and points that drop off quickly with lots of sumps on them. The key is to find the areas that have the most bait around them. You will want to have four baits tied on: a shakey head, a jig, a deep crank bait like a Spro Rock Crawler or Rapala DT10 and a drop shot for the more finicky days.
As the month starts getting past the half way mark, the bait and the bass will start to move to the creeks. Look for them in the middle towards the back of major creeks, they will move closer to the backs as the month comes to a close and October gets closer and the water temps really begin to drop. You can also break the top water baits back out and start catching schooling fish early in the morning with walking baits like the Paycheck Baits Repoman and the Damiki Rambler, Damiki MTB Noisy buzzbaits (on schooling fish the Natural Shad color is hard to beat) and soft jerkbaits like Damiki Armor Shads and Zoom Super Flukes.
After the top water slows, break out the search baits. My favorites include a ½-oz. Rat-L-Trap or a ½-oz. Dave’s Tournament Tackle Tiger Shad spinnerbait. Put the trolling motor on 75% and cover lots of water, if you catch two or three fish in quick fashion from a small area (no more than 50 yards) slow down and turn around. You may have just stumbled on a WOLF PACK!
Both early and later in the month, you should be able to find willing fish uplake in the North Anna Arm hiding deep in the willow grass. During the latter part of the month, they will become more aggressive. With the current lake levels, you will need to find the deeper grass with water still on the edges. I prefer at least two feet. Crankbaits on rock structures will also start to produce as the month comes closer to the end. On the Pamunkey side, look for bass on boat docks and rock piles in 5 to 15 foot depths. Shakey Heads, crankbaits and jigs are my lures of choice on this side!
CRAPPIE – The Specks are holding very tight on the uplake bridge pilings and deep brush piles at the current time. Anglers have been fishing after dark lowering LED lights into the water to pull the crappie and baitfish up to a shallower depth and have been doing very well with small minnows. As the water starts to cool towards the end of the month, crappie will start to move towards more shallow water following the baitfish. This is when you will find them on boat docks, with many fish willing to chase and take Kalin 2″ Curly Tail grubs.
STRIPERS – At the current time there are large numbers of stripers located around the 208 Bridge corridor all the way up past the Splits. Trolling with Deep Diving Redfins with Buck Tail Trailers and DD22’s have been producing well for many anglers. Toothache Spoons have been putting numbers of fish in the boat for anglers willing to chase the deeper schools around and vertical jig. For the folks willing to get out of bed really early and get to the lake before daylight breaks, they have been hanging lights around the uplake bridges and catching live bait in the form of Blue Back Herring and Peanut Gizzard Shad (4 to 5 inches)
As the month gets closer to half way, you will be able to find schools chasing baitfish to the surface early and late in the day. Broken Back Redfins fished slowly and just waking the surface works great. The Broken Back Redfin is a subsurface bait that only dives about one foot with your rod tip down. Stripers typically do not miss this bait, yet you still get the excitement of a top water strike.
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 (9/2/2015).
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 bluegill 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, Tom Porter had 34 bluegills, 2 crappie, 1 yellow perch, 4 roach minnows, 1 blue cat, and 2 bass. Terry Rivers had 34 bluegills, 1 crappie, 3 roach minnows and 1 bass. Capt. Bill Buck had 23 bluegills, 5 crappie, 1 gar and 1 bass.
Potomac River
Time to Trigger Strikes on incoming morning tides. Cover lots of water and make the fish bite. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and even swimbaits will produce. Water is holding around 80, but look for that to change as the nights get longer.
Baitfish are plentiful, so bulk up for bigger bites. The Lucky Craft BDS4 in Shad patterns is a great grass crankbait. The larger profile presents a visible target and its high buoyancy allows contact with the grass where a quick snap and hesitation will trigger strikes. A faster reel like a Quantum Burner and 12 pound test GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon help with hook sets. At lower tides, Mann’s Baby 1-Minus is also effective. Bulk up soft plastics too. Shaky head with stickworms on 1/8 ounce Mizmo BarbWire jig head. Texas rig 10-inch worms too.
Mann’s Classic spinnerbaits on 12-pound Edge also cover water. Swap the small gold Colorado with a nickel blade. Use the 3/8 at higher tides to reach the grass and 1/4 at lower tides. This is best when there is a bit of color in the water or cloud cover.
Use 16-pound test Edge fluorocarbon, and make long casts with Mann’s HardNose SwimShads. A 1/8 ounce weighted 6/0 Mustad swimbait hook allows the bait to achieve deeper presentations and faster speeds as well. As with all trigger baits, contact and lingering in the grass before snapping free is the key.
Punching mats and frog fishing is still on the table. Look for these opportunities throughout the day.
Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River. info@nationalbass.com