Until two weeks ago, the brookie streams throughout the state were on fire. Now, not so much. The streams are getting a little “boney” said Tommy Lawhorne at South River Fly Shop. Water flows are down and the fish are spookier.
There are, Tommy said, still some nice holdover trout through the downtown section of the South River. Tommy reports a good trico hatch around 8 am, and then it’s beetles and ants throughout the day. The special reg section of the South (near Lyndhurst) is fishing very well with lots of 10 to 12 inch trout, plus some bruisers up to 22-inches. Some monster browns are still prowling the lower South.
Reasonable water releases below Gathright Dam result in good fishing above Covington. The special reg section on the Jackson at Hidden Valley has slowed.
James River
The James River in the Scottsville area is at 3 ½ feet with water temperatures in the mid-70s. The smallmouth bite is on. It’s topwater early, followed by plastics and crankbaits. No citations have been reported so far, but expect them in the coming weeks.
The Potomac Report
Feeding Time
Bring out summertime baits and move around grass beds. Locate hard cover. Water was warm last week, in the mid 80s, and will stay there this week.
It’s going to be hot and feel hotter. Highs all week around 90 with a chance of thunderstorms every day. Welcome to summer. Overnight lows will be 65-70.
Think big! Jigs are a great bait to have tied on all day. Swim jigs, chatter jigs, and pitching jigs are all effective. For swim and pitching jigs, I like Mann’s Stone Jig, I use both on 16-20 pound test GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon line. For the chatter jig, 14-16 will work. A more compact lure package works best. Short craws with claws extending about an inch past the trimmed skirt works for all three. Present around grass. For other bottom presentations, Mizmo tubes on 3/0 MUSTAD Ultra Point tube hooks should be pitched to grass clumps and worked slowly. You can also swim this presentation through grass and kill it at holes and edges.
Over grass, Mann’s Classic spinnerbaits with gold blades and white skirts will produce. Use ¼ ounce at low tide and 3/8 at higher tides. In very clear water, go to chartreuse and white skirts with willow blades. Tie to 14-16 pound Edge. Mann’s Baby 1-Minus is effective over grass and around wood. At higher tides, the Lucky Craft BDS 4 on a medium heavy cranking rod and 14 pound test Edge will work. Go with shad patterns.
Topwaters early and at low tide will work. Poppers like Lucky Craft G-Splash and walkers like a Gunfish are good when the water is clear and light is low.
Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River. info@nationalbass.com
Shenandoah River
After some medical procedures, Ed T. is back on the water with up to date reports on the Shenandoah near Front Royal Outdoors. Here is his latest report.
First trip in two months. I was going through some medical procedures trying to fix up the skin on my face. The result of fifty years of surfing, fishing, assorted outdoor activities, and a general disregard for sunblock. One hint I must pass on. Use sunblock and whatever else you can think of to protect your skin from sunlight. You will save yourself a lot of hassle.
Anyway, it was very nice to get back on the South Fork. The river was at a pretty good level, never had to drag over a shallow spot. Started out in the park tossing a #3 Mepps spinner (gold blade). Caught a nice bluegill first cast. Third cast got a smallmouth. Fourth cast got another bluegill. Caught a bunch of nice bluegill by the time I left the park. Biggest went eight inches. I caught plenty of bluegill yesterday; they were biting pretty much nonstop all day long. Got most of them pulling the spinner across the river, parallel and relatively close to the rock ledges. But after that first smallmouth, the bass fishing was slow going for the rest of the morning. By noon I had only caught four more bass, all with 4” Senkos (green pumpkin). However, after noon the smallmouth started hitting pretty good. I was fishing 7” Berkley Power Worms (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz. splitshot rig. Fishing the worm in my usual way, moving it pretty slow on the bottom. Just a little drag, a bit of a twitch here and there. Slow and easy. Best pattern was working deeper holes around the rock ledges. Like I said, the smallmouth were hitting pretty good the rest of the day, about five fish an hour. I caught almost all the smallmouth with the 7” worms, although I did catch a few with Zoom Super Flukes near the end of the trip. By the end of the trip I caught a pretty fair number of smallmouth. Most of the bass were around twelve inches, with a few bigger ones in the mix. I must mention one area that was especially productive. A little ways past that small housing community, there is a very large ledge that pokes out pretty good and spans the entire river. It’s maybe a couple hundred yards above the twin islands. I pulled up on that ledge and started throwing the spinner and pulled out one bluegill after another, mixed in with several nice smallmouth. About twenty or thirty feet past that ridge is another small ridge with a few rocks that poke out near the middle of the river. I hit the deep pools below that with the worm and pulled out a half dozen smallmouth including a sixteen-inch and a fourteen-inch. So nice when you find them pooled up in a hole. The fishing in the afternoon more than made up for the slow morning. It was not great or super hot or anything, but it was plenty good enough to put a big smile on my face. All in all, a very pleasant first trip after such a long absence. Great weather all day and plenty of good fishing. It sure was good to be back on the river. Good luck with your fishing.
Lake Orange
Contributed by Darrell Kennedy of Angler’s Landing (540.672.3997). The water is clear with temperatures in the upper 70’s. The bass are locked in on their summer patterns with an excellent top water bite during low light periods of the day. Crappie can be found schooling in depths of 10-15 ft. with small minnows. The walleye fishing is most productive on the upper end of the lake. Catfish are biting on chicken livers and night crawlers in 8 ft. of water.
Lake Anna
Solid bass action continues at Anna. The recent Tuesday Night Tournament out of Anna Point saw Charlie Bowles and Will Phillips claim first prize with a five-fish stringer weighing 13.78 pounds. The big fish went 5.17, caught by Troy Foote. Bobby Queen’s 9-1 striper is the best fish in that category caught thus far in June. Crappie are on deep docks and near bridge pilings in 12 to 16 feet.
Chickahominy River
At Riverside Camp in Lanexa, Mike Johncox reports excellent action for blue catfish. Anglers using cut eels for bait are scoring on 20 to 25 pound fish. The bluegill fishing is also outstanding. Bass action on the right tides is still strong. No report for crappie and perch. The Chick is now in the low 80’s and fairly clear.
Chickahominy Lake
Capt. Art Conway of Conway’s River Rat Guide Service out of Ed Allen’s Boats and Bait reported that Chickahominy Lake mid-day water temperatures were in the mid 80’s to low 90’s in the main lake and in the major creeks on Wednesday (6/17/2015). The lake level was about even with the top of the dam. The water was moderately brown and moderately cloudy in the lower lake.
Blue cats were scattered throughout the lake and creeks 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 in some creeks and on main lake shoreline flats and were hitting live minnows and small jigs. A few nice bluegill were scattered and in small aggregates near shorelines in some areas near mouths in major creeks and 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 and were hitting live minnows, spinnerbaits, swim baits, stick worms, and jigs.
Fishing with Capt. Conway, Pete Toren and Dane Pedersen had one bluegill, 12 crappie, and 4 white perch. Terry Rivers had 36 bluegill, 2 yellow perch, and 1 bowfin. Jim and Jon Barnes and Gavin Everett had 15 crappie, 1 bullhead, and 1 bass.