On a tidal river like the Potomac, sometimes a good tide isn’t everything. It’s the only thing. Capt. Steve Chaconas notes that the tides are right – right now.
“Grass is thick and there’s plenty of bait,” Steve said. “Take advantage of early morning lower tides and cover water. Water is still in the low 80s, but cooling and there will be sunny skies all week with temperatures falling into the mid 80s by the weekend. Should be in the mid 60s overnight.”
“The last 2 hours of outgoing tide and first hour of incoming are pretty good! Cooler mornings are great for moving lures. With lower light try Lucky Craft G-Splash poppers or walkers like the Gunfish. GAMMA Torque braid, 30-pound test enables long casts, better hook sets and the ability to keep fish from taking baits into grass mats. When possible, upgrade to strong Mustad short shank triple grip trebles, a size larger.”
“For the 3-4 hours before low tide or when topwater action slows, use Mann’s Classic spinnerbaits. Try swapping front gold Colorado blades for nickel. The back Indiana blade, allows this combo to be reeled fast in clear water. Snap from grass. Use 14-16 pound test GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon line. White chatter jigs will also produce. Try shad or chartreuse Mann’s Baby 1-Minus.”
“Have a wacky or Texas rigged stickworm ready. Work slowly, especially in the heat of the day. Allow to sit for a few seconds for every foot of water being fished. For wacky rigging, use a 2/0 Mustad red octopus hook. A 3/0 Mustad Mega Bite hook for Texas rigs. High water offers afternoon challenges. Target hard grass edges or hard cover and no grass. Skip shaky head, Mizmo 1/8-ounce BarbWire heads, with 5-inch green pumpkin or Chartreuse pumpkin Doodle worms. Shake and sit!”
Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River. Contact him at info@nationalbass.com
Shenandoah River
Ed T out of Front Royal Canoe filed this report on a Shenandoah River float from the State Park to Karo Landing. “The weather was just beautiful on Tuesday, Aug. 25, about as good as it gets. The river level was about the same as last week, meaning I had to get out and drag the canoe over a few of the rock ledges. Lots of rocks were showing all the way down this stretch of the South Fork of the Shenandoah. Got to really read the river and do a good bit of paddling to find your way through the rocks and ledges. Plenty of grass and algae, cleaning off lures is a constant labor. Just part of late summer fishing. My first cast with a #3 Mepps spinner landed a nice big bluegill. I got a few more bluegills and a couple of medium size smallmouth with the spinner before I switched to 4″ Berkley Power Worms (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz. Carolina rig. The worm was working pretty well, catching a fair number of smallmouth during the first couple of hours. The size was so-so, some up to thirteen inches, but also a number of bass under ten inches. Also included were some straight-up dinks. I was fishing both the rocky areas and the flat water. Around the rocks, the most productive tactic was fishing the very bottom of the slack water, just above the next ledge. In the flat water, I had the best luck fishing around submerged rocks and structure. I was also using a Rebel Wee-Craw crankbait in the shallower water, particularly around rocks. The worm was more productive, but it was fun to occasionally get a hit on the crankbait around the rocks. I also fished 4″ Bass Pro Senkos in green pumpkin in the deeper areas out in front of the housing development. By the way, I always fish Senkos weightless. They still cast a mile and I think they get better action weightless, especially if you are drifting them a lot like I do. I only caught a couple of fish that way, but one of them was my best smallmouth of the day, a fourteen-incher. I went from the Senko to a 7″ Berkley Power Worm (green pumpkin), and the same 1/8 oz. Carolina rig when I got past the deeper section. Still tossing the Craw in the shallower spots. The bite improved somewhat in the afternoon, but it never got up to the level of fishing I saw the last few weeks. I did not catch the number or the sizes like I did on my last five trips. I caught a fair number of eleven to thirteen inch smallmouth, but I would say about a third of my catch was under ten inches. About two-thirty, I started fishing 5″ Zoom Salty Super Flukes (green pumpkin magic) with fair results. Some smallmouth were hitting them on the top, some were hitting them after they sank. Fluke fishing is always fun, especially the topwater strikes. At day’s end, I wound up with a reasonable count, down from what I saw the last few trips, but still pretty good fishing. Size was okay, some nice twelve to fourteen inch bass, but mixed in was a substantial portion of small fish. A good day of fishing, for sure, but certainly not great by any means. I have seen some really good fishing the last month, maybe my reference point has stepped up a little too high. Like I said, the weather was amazing. The water was crystal clear. The South Fork is one beautiful place to spend a day.
Lake Orange
Recent ticks downward in the nighttime thermometer have fish sensing that fall is on the way. That means, at Lake Orange and many other smaller impoundments, fish are moving from deep to more shallow water and they are hitting baits and lures. Bass fishing has been excellent. Top water is working and fish are patrolling the points, seeking to ambush a wayward shad or panfish. Catfish are hitting livers and worms throughout the lake and the walleye bite continues. Crappie schools are staging in 6 to 8 foot depths on brush and points. The yellow perch fishing has been terrific for nice fish up to 12-inches. Look for Lake Orange to be a hot spot for perch in the near future.
James River Richmond
Monster catfish are being caught on a regular basis on the lower James. Fish up to 80 pounds with a good many in the 60 to 80 pound class are coming in. Fresh bait is the ticket. The stretch from the City limits down to Jamestown has been the top producing area. Above Richmond, the water is clear, clear and clearer. Anglers are dropping back to lighter line and smaller lures to keep the “spook factor” down. Flyfishing has been good with popping bugs as the smallmouth chase damselflies.
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 80’s in the main lake on Wednesday (8/26/2015). The lake level was about even with the top of the dam. The water was light to moderately brown and moderately cloudy in the lower lake.
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 bluegills 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. We may possibly get another small bluegill spawn on the upcoming full moon. 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 33 bluegills, 3 crappie, 1 gar, and 2 bass. David and Jacob Madren had 6 crappie and 1 bullhead. Scott and Ellen Agner and Carolyn Conway had 24 bluegills, 1 shellcracker, 1 yellow perch, and 3 bass.