Capt. Steve Chaconas says it’s officially a summer pattern. On tidal rivers like the Potomac, the veteran fishing guide says that unless there’s cloud cover, start on top and work down – with one exception.
The exception is hollow frogs over matted grass, even with full sunlight. This is especially effective during the hottest and calmest parts of the day. It’s also a good time for punching mats.
Early morning low tides are great for top topwaters like Lucky Craft G-Splash poppers and walking Gunfish. For grassiest areas use hollow frogs on 60 pound test GAMMA Edge braid. White when sunny and black in stained water or with cloudy skies.
Before the tide drops, Mann’s Baby 1-Minus on 14-pound test Edge fluorocarbon line will pick up when the topwater bite slows. Once the tide drops and the sun comes out, it’s time to go deeper.
Swim jigs and chatterjigs on either 30 pound Torque braid or 14-16 pound Edge can get baits deeper as the tide comes in or the sun forces fish into grass. Craw patterns with soft plastic craw trailers.
With sun and higher tides, docks with scattered grass are great places to pick apart. Pitch Mizmo tubes, Texas rigged on 3/16 ounce pegged bullet weights o Edge 14-16 pound test. A good soaking in Jack’s Juice encourages fish to hold on longer.
Pitch tubes to deeper grass as fish retreat to cooler spots. Try weightless stickworms rigged wacky or Texas rigged. Allow to fall and sink into the grass.
Contact Capt. Steve Chaconas at info@nationalbass.com
Shenandoah River
Ed T out of Front Royal Canoe floated the Shenandoah on July 12 and had a productive day on the water. With Senko worms. Below is his report.
The Shenandoah is at a good water level with a water temperature of 78 degrees. More grass and algae are showing up and growing on the bottom, but it’s not much of a problem at this point. I caught some big bluegills and lots of smaller bass in the morning. I was tossing a #3 Mepps spinner, usually working it across the river between rock ledges. The smallmouth were mostly around ten inches. Every once in a while I caught something twelve or even a little bigger. I ran into Will, a buddy of mine. He said Senko’s were working quite well, so I switched to 4” Senko’s in green pumpkin and I immediately started catching larger smallmouth, particularly in the deeper areas. I did finally manage to catch a fifteen-inch smallmouth, the only midsize smallmouth I caught, but I had to cut my trip short. At one-thirty, I paddled in with a catch of a dozen bluegills and over twenty smallmouth.
This will be Ed T’s final report. He’s giving it up after many years. Thanks, Ed, for all your entertaining stories.
Chickahominy River
Mid-day water temperatures on the Chickahominy Lake are in the low to mid-80’s. The lake level was above even with the top of the dam.
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, Mickey Cleveland had 5 crappie.
James River
Quite fishable with clear, normal flow. Barring late week gulley washers, fishing should be on point this weekend on the James. The topwater bite will be very good as damselflies and dragonflies take wing.
Muskie action is picking up from Lynchburg to Scottsville.
New River
Outstanding smallmouth action on most any bait. Muskies are taking noisy topwater offerings. The river is clear and at a good level.
Lake Anna
With the spawn completely over at Lake Anna, the big female bass are hungry and some nice catches are coming to the scales at Anna Point. In a recent tournament, the first place bag weighed 20.52 pounds with a 6.3 pounder as big fish.
Brian Canterbury caught a nice citation yellow perch at 12-inches. Catfish and carp are keeping bottom-fishing anglers busy throughout the lake.
Lake Orange
Darrell Kennedy of Angler’s Landing (540.672.3997) says the water temperature at is around 82 degrees and the lake is clear. Largemouth are hitting top water baits in the mornings and evenings, with soft plastic working in the mid-day time frame. Crappie are setting up on brush at 10- to 15-foot depths, with minnows being the bait of choice. Walleyes, mostly in the upper end of the lake, are hitting live bait. Catfishing is super-good for anglers using chicken livers and night crawlers.