Nitrofreak

More or less Summer in my area, the majority of days here in summer are bright blue bird conditions which makes them “predictable” if that is what you may be after with your question.

That is a little further down the road from Egypt Bend, awesome Small Mouth and Musky water or used to be, I have not fished that area for quite some time now but down around Compton also used to be really great as well for some nice smallie fishing which was just down the road a piece from where you had stayed.

I’ll be 60 in March, I started fishing there “seriously” at 15 but I actually started fishing the banks there at 13, first time for everything I guess ?? Ahh yes, the ol’ skirted grub, one of my fav’s too, especially in Salt and Pepper or in that translucent pearl color but I believe that was Berkley or Zoom that may have had that color. Do me a favor and pass along a date if your ever thinking about coming back over, if I am free I will hit the water with ya, shucks, if I have an open seat you can fish from the boat if you would like, it’s not eye candy but it does it’s job pretty well ??

Since I had first come to this place, this was one of the first threads that I remember reading. During that span of time since then, what I took away from the post and believe it to mean to this day is that the time on the water is your time, make the most of it.

Just got back from the river, did some work with the Tokyo Rig (never used one before) I have some confidence with it so I’m going to put it in the rotation at the Chick and see how it goes, I also just got some Hi-Vis line for my dropshot from PowerPro and wanted to see the difference it made, the boat did have an issue but I believe it was a self inflicted event due to the negligence of its owner, the trolling motor quit on us because I forgot to plug the charger in and ran the batteries down to nothing...? There was one thing I had happen to me today that has NEVER EVER happened there, I GOT CHECKED ????? All was good, no tickets, the river was a lot of fun today, my buddy and I caught 15 total bass and 3 or 4 of those pesky gilled bait snatching thingamabobs, all the bass were small ones though, the biggest one on the day might have gone a pound, I know WOOOHHHOOOO RIGHT !! Another weird event happened to us today, oddly enough, everyone on the water was as courteous as could be, coolest thing ever !! Baits used were Berkley Bottom hoppers on the dropshot in Ike’s Magic and Morning Dawn colors, on the Tokyo Rig was Strike King Rage Craw in Green Pumpkin Purple/Gold. Water surface temps were 74-77, visibility was somewhere near the 2-1/2’ range, the winds on the other hand were making it difficult at times but all in all still a fantastic day on the water, hope to see y’all at some point in time over there soon and thanks for reading !!

Thank you very kindly for that, I’ll be on the trolling motor 99% of the day so the yak’ers have no need to fear me ?? Really appreciate the replies guys, hope you guys have a fantastic weekend, a safe and enjoyable Independence Day !!

Yes there are some good ones in the river for sure, I had just posted to Brad about cutting my teeth on this river, this stretch in particular, since I was 15 years old, long, long time ago, anyway, Egypt Bend for all of its flaws and quirks and pressure is to me an excellent training ground for lots and lots of situations, “pressure“ or angling pressure being one of those in which can build confidence in an individual as you learn to fish behind as well as around others. I am the opposite, I love the place myself, some of the boaters there, meh, not so much but I too am from that area so I understand and will always be a part of me ?? Would you by chance have a report on current conditions since last nights rains passed through? Appreciate the reply Bird, good to hear from you all !!!

There are Musky in there, I have never caught one myself but I have seen some big ones cruising the shallows near the top of that area. The fishing is like you say good to decent but this is where I cut my teeth on a lot of different techniques, a lot of different water conditions and scenarios like how to fish different currents and so on, this place is special to me and I think it always will be. I thought Riverton was like one of the best small mouth stretches of the Shenandoah River, is it not anymore? Thanks for the well wishes Brad, right back at ya !!

Headed to the river this Saturday to do some fishing and check over the craft for our Chickahominy River in two weeks, I’m not much on being on the waterways when there is a holiday involved but at least the boat will get a good workout and that’s the whole goal. Anyone else going to Egypt Bend Saturday? If so, I have a black and silver ProCraft feel free to say howdy and I’ll howdy back !!

Really appreciate the efforts Brad, this is interesting news considering all the lakes and rivers we have that are known to produce citation LMB. Last season a member from our club pulled out a 9+ from somewhere in the river, I guess that reaffirms my suspicions in which to say that, 1) It could be that people are saying this to avoid over pressuring the lake? or, 2) We as anglers are not taking the time to understand the lake and or don’t care to possibly? Regardless I personally find the area really interesting and with this information just increases my desire to want to fish it at some point in time soon. Again, I thank you for the work my friend !!

From the 903 bridge check out the entire creek, I can not remember the name of the creek but it is the second larger creek arm on your right before you get to the bridge, if I remember correctly there is a Gazebo on one of the two points, I have added a photo with a highlighted area. I was there in the spring just after the spawn and really felt like this area had a lot to offer, we didn’t get the chance to soak up all of its information but it defiantly had some prime structural changes along with a lot of idealistic cover, we just ran in there way too late. Personally the only way I have had any success there is with skirted jigs and a lot of plastics, worms on Texas Rig/Carolina Rig, swim jigs, drop shot, take your time and really pick the places apart and she will render some clues for ya.

I don’t know if we will fish the lake part but reading your post I defiantly want to just go there in my time off and fish it even if just for the experience of doing so, I have looked at that lake on google maps as well as spoken to some who have fished that place only to find a couple who agree with your sentiments, personally I really would like to explore the lake because of those reasons you had mentioned, I just can not see it being as bad as people make it out to be, maybe it was at one time I do not have the time invested on that body of water to agree or disagree but it is defiantly an interesting topic. Does the loc still operate or do you have to launch on the lake? I learned a long time ago from you about those GMCO maps and just how helpful they truly are. I can not remember if we had an easterly wind that weekend last year, shucks, I am lucky to remember 10 minutes ago anymore? I am certain that I have those details in my notebook however and I will most certainly read those before our trip for a new plan of how we are going to approach the weekend. I really appreciate the kind words my friend, I hope all is well !!

That was actually my point, I should have been a bit more specific with current, that place moves some water when the pumps are running already with two of them, I wonder about adding a third if they can not regulate the temps as “promised” or as “federally regulated” with two. Those triple digits I mentioned were in the teens, I can only imagine adding a third ?

I have been waiting for this one all year, last season was my first time ever seeing this river and what an impression it made, we didn’t have any real success there but I defiantly learned a bunch, I am hoping to fish some different areas I have in mind this time around. We had some good discussions going the last time I asked this question so I thought I would ask again, who in here also fish’s the Chickahominy? Is there one you prefer more the river or the lake? I think I fell in love with this place for its potential, so many nuances like grass and pads or different grasses in one area, it sets up just like a river system which is one of my favorite systems to fish being a Shenandoah River native, how can one leave out the cypress trees, man what a treat this place is.

I have heard that as well, I have not heard much about it for about 8 months though, you really think a third will help?

HAHA !! No not at all, the state however may be a topic for that discussion ??

Not necessarily, you almost have to treat the hot side like a river system at times with the differing amounts current that the plant produces in order to find better quality fish, not unlike the private side which produces a reverse current as well Big bass are lazy as we all know and they will move to find current breaks during higher flow rate times, this could mean that they might be behind bridge pilings or deeper brush piles or ledges, deeper creek arm pockets, it is very important to pick things apart and make multiple casts to these areas, in lower flow times it is important to make casts in multiple directions once you find something you think may hold bass, the more current there is, the more predictable they become, the less current, the more freely they roam which in turn makes finding them more difficult, it’s no different really than the public side, the only real difference being the mass of water one has to cover, trust me, there are PLENTY of dink’s on the public side also ? By the way, your welcome, I don’t have a lot to share with those that fish the private side but I’m more than willing to share what I can.

I have seen that place get in the triple digits before, this is a nuclear plant lake and where he was fishing is the first cooling channel out to the ponds from the plant.

Thanks Toxic !!

Day one of our 2 day classic event went as expected, we fished around and behind some pretty good sticks out there on Saturday. The Potomac was a little attitudinal Saturday morning with 2 foot breakers in areas we traveled, we started our day in Chicamoxen (I think that’s how it’s spelled but I’m probably wrong) within the first handful of pitch’s with a finesse flipping jig we pulled out our first bass from a dock piling which was something that we noticed no one else was doing, we picked apart every single little area that had some sort of vertical timber no matter if it was a stump, a dock piling or a sign post, we pulled out 3 decent ones working that angle but the grass areas were still full of anglers so we moved up to Mattawoman, the water there was a little more stained and targets were a little harder to pick out so I switched up to a dropshot and used a June Bug Strike King Ocho since my partner was throwing a chatter bait, we had just started fishing an area when one of the pros had pulled in on us and started fishing the same area in front of us, not saying that as a bad thing but our limit was filled plus we culled once fishing behind this guy, I am merely offering encouragement to those who fish heavily pressured waters because we do not all fish the same way with the same baits ? We ended our day in Mattawoman picking apart isolated clumps of grass and timber and ended up with 11.95 on the day. Day two went a bit better for us but certainly not the day we had hoped for with less pressure in the area we started in, which by the way was the same as the day before, why? well we figured that the upper regions were still highly pressured even with only 10 boats left in the MLF event and that our area was not hit near as hard, we simply figured our chances of a successful day were a little bit better, and it was, we started out with the same pattern and pushed it hard for about 45 minutes and had to make a change, we switched to focusing on the grass so I picked up a Zoom Brush Hog and went to work with it, by 9:30 we had our limit and it was a decent bag already, probably a little better than our bag from day one, not by much mind you but better, the bite just died after that with very sporadic bites here and there, we culled three times until the bite just completely quit on us so we moved to the point on the left before you enter the boat launch area at leesylvania state park, my partner was able to catch two culling bass in the last 15 minutes which put us up and just over the 14 pound mark at 14.17, the hard work and perseverance gave us a total of 26.12 for the two days which in turn rendered a 5th place finish for our Classic event. We are doing everything we can as partners and we are learning everything we can as we go along, another couple of seasons together and I believe we will be right there contending for more wins, we are having a great season it just seems like we are missing out on the kickers we need and we would be right there already. Thanks for reading everybody and have a great day !!!

Sounds like a great outing regardless my friend and thanks for the awesome report !!

I thought I had seen your boat as we were working up the creek yesterday, do you still have the same one? The guy on the front even reminded me of you, I almost went over to see for sure. Aquia ramp is really not bad right now, there is construction equipment there but it did not hamper the launch, the launch fee is ridiculous though !!! I wanted to venture up toward D.C. yesterday and explore some of those areas too but there was a small craft warning and Toxics advise was heeded as well, with me not having the boating experience, I decided against going up there, I can wait for a better day to get up that way. Sam, thank you for the well wishes and I will be sure to add a post to this thread about the event.

Conditions change minute by minute too ? That place has so very much character that it’s both beautiful and challenging with a side order of danger, it’s really got me hooked for sure !!

Had a pretty good day putting things together, still have lots to learn but non the less the whole Creek was explored today, first fish came on a black and blue Missile Baits mini flipping jig, somewhere between a 5 and 6 pound Snakehead, never knew they would take a jig presentation, oddly enough it felt just like a Bass bit it, I set the hook and thought I had a good one until it took off then I knew it was something else, boy those things are something else !! Tons and tons of carp, they were stacked in there today LORD HAVE MERCY I have never seen so many in one area like that. We finally found an area that had a few that wanted to play along, I picked up a Zoom speed worm and started skipping it under docks and working the grass, we caught 5 pretty quick and moved on to exploring more, total bass might have been maybe 9 pounds for the 5. Had a fantastic day just learning about Aquia, a little chilly and breezy to start the day, water temps I did not record because I didn’t even bother putting the graphs on the boat, the start of the day the water clarity was about a foot up in the upper regions of Aquia, it quickly turned to mud as the tide began to roll out which really started to roll about 10AM, we physically saw the mud line start and followed it out to the opening of the upper creek area, the middle of the creek had roughly 2.5 feet of clarity and the mouth had over 4 feet in places, between the wind, current and grass I had overheated my trolling motor batteries and it just gave up so we ended on that note. So many wonders in that river it’s no wonder so many love the place, I am becoming quite fond of it myself.

Much appreciated !! Ill pack accordingly and keep my head on a swivel too, thanks man !!