jaystu11

guys, can anyone give me some directions on where to fish on the shore of lake anne? i dont own a boat, i usually rent if i need to, but i would rather try from shore first anyways. any help would be appreciated.

thanks steve. actually i know about lake fairfax, and was considering hitting that up this weekend actually. apparently they will be stocking it friday. however there is also a fee associated with trout-stocked waters in fairfax county. i think its $12/day, or $37/yr for a pass. anyone interested in reeling in some ditzy bows this weekend?

Thanks for the link. I will definitely take a look. However WV fishing isn't a day trip. It's definitely more of a weekend trip. I was looking for somewhere I could drive to in under an hr, nice and early on a Sat morning, and fish til late afternoon.

haha actually i was thinking about that. i know that i could easily head west towards the BR mts and easily find some nice natural stream patterns to fish. AND it would be much quieter. do you spin or fly fish? id like to take a trip down to GWNF, let me know when you are heading down, id gladly come with if you dont mind the company.

Hahaha. Well I prefer NOT stocked yeah, but it ain't looking good is it haha. Well I just figured I would ask. No hurt in that. I guess I can resort to fishing stocked dummies instead

Ahh. Thanks for the ideas, however if I wanted to head out that far, I would just head into the BR Mts. Plenty of natural creeks out there with regular trout, not the farm-raised stocked rainbows. I am mostly looking for local streams/rivers/creeks that might be good for UL spinning, or fly rods with waders.

04/10/10 - rented john boat

does anyone know of local places for trout fishing? i know there are some creeks/streams about 2-3 hrs away that have decent trout, but i am looking for somewhere in NOVA that has them. please PM me or re-post if here if you want.

Sometimes shore fishing at Anna can be good if you know where to go. My friend Mike caught an 8 pounder from shore at Anna about 3 weeks ago. Heck I can catch tons of small ones right off of my boathouse all year. For years I didnt have a boat and I used to catch bass, sunfish and catfish all day from shore on the warm side. There is even a public fishing area there where you can cast to the warm side or the cold side depending on which side of the bridge you stand on. I seen guys catch many big stripers off that bridge and it's free to use. You have to either know where to go or have friends who own property there. It doesnt have anywhere near the shore potential as the potomac tho thats for sure. I bet riverside park is heating up now, from what I heard the big bass are staging at the mouth of LHC feeding right before they spawn. And even all that depends on the time of year but there are better places to shore fish, especially within a closer distance. i agree to some extent. i think that those bodies of water ARE most efficiently fished from a boat, however since its still early, and the bass are entering spawn mode, the shallows are where you want to be anyways. these are ALSO the areas best reached from shore. however, if you DONT have a boat, your options (unfortunately) are rather limited. as mentioned before, local ponds, small docks, basically any place you can find that doesnt already have someone on the shore fishing is a opportunity. it should be noted though, that most of the water in this area is extremely pressured. people around here ARE just like they say: either you are a vulture, hunting the boards looking for other peoples honey-holes trying to land a lunker, or you are a REAL bass fisherman looking to enjoy the experience. most experienced fisherman WONT give you open information over these posts for the simple reason that people are free-loading constantly. your best bet is to contact people individually and try to fish with them. eg: i dont own a boat, however i will rent a john boat here and there when i want to fish all day. but, i do a LOT of shore fishing wherever/whenever i can. if you are interested in joining me, or have a spot and you want a buddy to check it out with and tinker, i am up for it. just PM me.

hey guys i am not technically new to NOVA, but i did just move down here in november of 09. i am always on the lookout for new waters to fish. if you are looking to stay local, i havent found much. a lot of those big commercial ponds, and some local parks, but nothing has REALLY produced. however, if you dont mind a 20-30 minute drive, you can try burke lake, occoquan res, and lake anna. those are some of the prime bass waters in this area. if anyone is interested in some other info, or some info about my personal results on some local ponds, feel free to msg me. i am definitely willing to offer any advice i can.

doesnt matter. if i was desperate enough, i could easily detach the OBM for the day. its not like its terribly hard on a john boat. aside from beavercreek reservoir, the rest of the lakes and the river dont have regs.

steve- i own a relatively new john boat with 5hp mercury and electric troller that is just sitting at my parents house right now. once i bring it back up to the NoVA area, ill have lots of open trips for you.

since thai and dan poached my idea of beer sandwiches and gas (and spare seats)...ill take any seat you have open on any day this wknd. im free both days and have nothing going on. let me know.

newangler- how is the fly fishing trial going? ive always wanted to get into it...especially since i like trout fishing...but never did. haha and its ok...i feel the same way when i ask around for a seat in a boat, or some fishing location. i dont have anything to offer since im brand new the to area and my boat is in another state lol. but thatll all change soon...muahaha

hahaha well played steve. well played.

im in the same boat (or lack there of) as steve. anyone who wants to plan a trip to ANY lake, or to the potomac, ill buy the gas, beer, sandwiches (depending on what you like). since my little dingy isnt up here right now, i could sure use a couple of fishing partners who have a spare seat. PM me if you have a spare seat.

dan- thanks for the optimism haha. i have a pretty loose schedule right now, and i know fishing is a bit slow. but anyone who wants to go out and get some fishing in, im down. so if you have a slot, no one to fish with, im down. quan- haha yeah i figured that was part of it. you guys seem real tight. i dont wanna barge my way into your crew, id like you guys to be accepting of a guy like me who just loves to spend entire days out in the boat or with his line in the water. hopefully this post will keep up responses, and ill build some relationships.

OMG that is a SICK canoe!!! i love it!!!

ick...you foul-hooked a carp...unlucky.

that shot cant be real. that would be a world record trout.

haha im not looking to snag anyones honey hole. i prefer fishing with friends. like i said before, i joined this forum to find friends to fish WITH. if i wanted to find sweet holes, i would do the legwork myself (which i have already begun). therefore, AGAIN, the offer is open, if anyone wants to do some fishing (even though the bite is dying down), i would love to go. we dont have go to "your" spot, we can simply run the river, or wade, or find a nice bank somewhere...anything. basically i love fishing. id love to meet some of you guys since you seem like a very close, tight knit (even though you are pretty exclusive), but id still like to hang out with some of you guys and get some of your input and experience. like i said, im relatively new to fishing. for the trout creeks, ive done some research on that, and although its fun, the stocked streams just dont have the fish im looking for. i dont care for farm-raised rainbows...they bite everything, dont put a big fight, and arent really natural to those types of environments. im looking for natives or browns, but i dont see too many streams around NOVA that are listed to holding these species. it looks like ill have to run to WV or even NC to get nice trout fishing i suppose. btw- if you want to fish, PM me...i think some people are scared of posting on the boards.

updates: so ive been putting in some leg work...since no one seems to want to share any locations. i have checked out beaverdam creek reservoir, lake fairfax, and of course a couple parts of the potomac. i have found some access points from shore...but i still think fishing from boat is probably better at this point, as fish seem to be isolated and slow this late in the year. i plan on checking out some spots a bit further from home after this wknd...and also planning a wknd trip or something to find some suitable trout streams. can anyone PLEASE send me some info on fishing holes...pond, lake, reservoir, river, whatever...i REALLY just need a nice place i can have some quiet and throw my line in the water.

hey guys...haha first off about the keepers. i dont keep ANY fish...i happened to be fishing with a buddy (he only managed one bass that day) and he kept them all. he ate em all, so at least he didnt waste em. i am a C+R FISHERMAN ONLY. i fish for the fight and the excitement of hooking into a biggun one in a while!! also, the bass were the only ones kept...the pike and carp were released safely to be caught another day. haha pike are a special...i suppose you could say. shimmy is VERY correct about northerns. they tend to beat out bass to topwaters, and reeling them in takes significantly longer. also because of their teeth, they tend to shred line and lure alike, making them a costly catch. however, they can get VERY nice in size, and can also put up an aerobatic fight...worthy fish, and special trophies if you land one large enough. anyways, i hope that no one took offense at the sight of 5 bass sitting on a picnic bench. like i mentioned before, i am not one to keep fish (mainly because i dont eat any of the species i like to fish for), but also because i, like most of you, like to preserve the waters i love to fish. i want the future generations to have fishing holes like we do. ill keep in mind that crappie and perch are good to keep, especially since they probably limit the bass population in most waters. anyways...again i hope this doesnt deter any of you from asking me on a boat or to a local hole. i didnt mean for people to get the wrong idea. the bass were just a show...to let you guys know how great the fishing spots were from back home.

hey guys thanks for all the kind words. i will definitely hold you to it i would LOVE to get out sometime before christmas time...so if anyone has any plans in the near future to spend a day on the water, or just out with a pole and some bait, im definitely down. just to give you guys a taste of what im used to...it seems that most of the water around here is mostly smaller fish and fewer of them to begin with...but where i went to grad school, fishing was a #1 hobby of all of the small towners there. these kinds of days were regular. the 3rd one was interesting...i had never caught a northern before...and then we just starting hooking into them while fishing lilly pads for bass. pike seemed to be a LOT more aggressive in hitting the lures than bass would, and fought about the same. strong but fragile fish. nasty teeth too. the last one was a 18lb carp we pulled out of the canal. these things are ridiculous. they fight like large cats, and are nuts when you are trying to reel them in on an ultra-light with 4 lb test like we were. they almost snapped our line multiple times. these fish are a regular out of the canal...we pulled out multiple 20+ lbers out of there! they have an annual carp derby up there in NY...haha.

my buddies and i are graduate students, and we fished carp out of the NYS canal system. we have pulled carp >20 lbs on a regular basis. medium action pole, 15-20 lb test, #6 baitholder hook. use an egg sinker with a barrel swivel. buy a can of corn at the market, throw 4-6 kernels on the hook, toss a few handfuls in the water, and throw the line in. set the drag super light...when the carp grabs the corn, the line will go out...quickly set the drag comfortably (not too hard), and start reeling. they fight like a catfish, so HANG ON!!!