Sure, it snowed two feet last week, but Virginia’s yellow perch population doesn’t mind. They are preparing to spawn and are biting right now.
Mike Johncox at Riverside Camp in Lanexa says he thinks it will be two more weeks before the bite begins in earnest, but one of his customers, Karen Wells of Sandston, weighed in a citation perch that measured 12 ¾ inches and weighed in at 1 ¾ pounds. Karen caught the nice perch on a ½-ounce Riverside Ripper, a custom spoon made and sold at Johncox’s Campers Paradise.
The Chickahominy River is one of Virginia’s top perch fisheries, but other good choices include Machodoc, Maddox, Aquia and Occoquan creeks; Western Branch, Prince, Waller Mill, Little Creek, Holliday, Moomaw and Claytor lakes; and the Potomac, Rappahannock, Chickahominy, Nottoway and New rivers.
Yellow perch begin their runs in large schools up the tributaries as early as February. No nests are built since the females release eggs in long gelatinous “ribbons” or “streamers” which are fertilized by the males as they are released. Spawning activity takes place at night. February or early March when water temperatures reach 45° to 50°F is ideal.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s go catch some perch.
Trout On The Way
The Game Department is going full throttle with their spring trout stocking. The following waters received fish within the past few days:
Augusta Co.: Falls Hollow (02/02); Back Creek (02/03)
Bath Co.: Bullpasture River (02/01); Jackson River (Hidden Valley) (02/02)
Carroll Co.: Crooked Creek (02/03); Little Reed Island Creek (02/03)
Craig Co.: Potts Creek (02/01)
Dickenson Co.: Cranesnest River (02/01); Pound River (Flannagan Dam) (02/01); Russell Fork River (Bartlick) (02/01); Russell Fork River (Haysi) (02/01)
Floyd Co.: Goose Creek (02/03)
Grayson Co.: Elk Creek (02/02); Fox Creek (02/02); Middle Fox Creek (02/02); Helton Creek (02/02)
Highland Co.: Bullpasture River (02/01)
Washington Co.: Whitetop Laurel (Upper) (02/03); Whitetop Laurel (Lower) (02/03); Tennessee Laurel (02/03)
Wythe Co.: Cripple Creek (Rt. 94) (02/03)
Lake Anna
The crappie bite is on at Lake Anna, despite snow and cold. Dr. Greg South landed a couple of citation crappie on a recent trip. Crappie are still deep but should begin making their move to shallow water in a few weeks.
At Anna Point Marina, Kevin Dorr weighed an 11-0 pound striper. Eric Kunz scored with a 6-8 largemouth.
Chickahominy Lake
Capt. Art Conway reported that Chickahominy Lake mid-day water temperatures were in the mid 40’s in the lower main lake on Wednesday (2/3/2016). Water temperatures were in the high 40’s at the upper end of the lake and in the lower parts of major creeks, and into the low 50’s in some shallow areas near heads of creeks. The lake level was about six inches above the top of the dam.
Blue cats and a few bullheads were in channels and winter holes and were hitting live minnows and cut bait. Crappie action was still very slow due to the cold water. Most crappie were in loose schools in the main lake in channels and on channel edges, usually at depths of 8 to 15 feet, frequently in the neighborhood of wood cover, and when active were hitting live minnows, Wright Bait Co. curlytail jigs, small tubes, Kalin crappie scrubs, small swim baits, jigging spoons, and blade baits. Numbers of active crappie had not appeared in the creeks yet, but may over the next few weeks. Small to medium yellow perch were scattered or in loose aggregates on some deeper main lake flats and in channels and were hitting live minnows, small drop shot baits, and small jigs. Only an occasional bluegill or shellcracker was active along the deep edges of hydrilla flats, on mid-depth wood cover, or in channels and very lightly hitting live crickets and worms, small blade baits, and small plastics on drop shot rigs. Most bass and pickerel were on deeper flats and in channels in the main lake, but some bass, and pickerel and a few bowfin were along drop-offs in the major creeks and were hitting live minnows, spinnerbaits, swim baits, stick worms, crank baits, jerk baits, and jigs.
Bluefin Off The Outer Banks
Dr. Ken Neill, III
Anglers chasing after rumors of Bluefin tuna found acres of big rockfish about 15-25 miles off of Virginia’s coast this week. They did not find any Bluefin tuna. Boats fishing out of Oregon Inlet did. In addition to big Bluefin tuna, boats out of Oregon Inlet caught some Yellowfin tuna. Further south, boats out of Hatteras are jigging up good catches of Blackfin tuna when they can get past the false albacore, amberjack, and sharks.
Fishermen looking for rockfish in the open coastal waters, inside 3 nautical miles, have not had any luck so far. Anglers targeting tautog are having better luck with tog up to 19 pounds weighed in this week. The mild winter has created a bit of a challenge for tog fisherman in that even the inshore wrecks are still holding a lot of sea bass. This makes it a challenge to get your baits past them to the tautog. Sea bass by-catch would normally be a good thing but with that season closed, any sea bass must be released. Tautog are being caught on all of the coastal wrecks with the Triangle Wrecks producing the largest tog this week.
Blueline tilefish are available along the 50-fathom curve. Again, you will have to release any sea bass that you catch and there are the dogfish to put up with. Golden tilefish and grouper would be possibilities in deeper water.
Local angler and scientist, Dr. John Graves, has been selected to be inducted into IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame at their fall meeting. The IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame recognizes extraordinary achievements in recreational fishing around the world by anglers, captains, scientists, conservationists, writers, or fishing industry leaders. Dr. Graves was selected due to his tremendous contributions to fisheries science, education, and conservation. He is also a tireless participant in fisheries management at the federal and international levels.
Oregon Inlet
One boat went out of Oregon Inlet earlier this week. They caught Bluefin and Yellowfin. In the surf at Nags Head, it’s dogfish and skates. The water temp is 45 degrees.
Hatteras Surf
Red Drum reported a 51-inch Red Drum caught at the Point on Wednesday morning around 9:00 am. The big red hit a shrimp bait.
Slot-sized Red Drum are out there mixed with smaller Red Drum. Another happy couple was glad to report that there were Black Drum caught on Tuesday.
Hatteras Offshore
Hatteras Harbor reports on Wednesday: Weather was warm today with a decent wind. Boats reported excellent Blackfin Tuna fishing and a scattered Mahi bite.
The “Bite Me” with Daniel Bashlor of Lanexa, VA aboard, caught a 20-pound Blackfin Tuna. Joseph Perger of Hayes, VA caught a 24-pound Blackfin
Last weekend, one boat fished offshore and returned with a good catch of Blackfin Tuna and a few Amberjack. It has been a while since anyone has made it offshore and it is good to hear that the Tuna are biting!