Nitrofreak

I was having a conversation with some friends about this topic, I did not know that it was a group outside of the DWR that worked to get them stocked in SML, I found that pretty interesting, I forget the number that was originally stocked but he too had said they were doing very well.

That is one BEAUTIFUL bucket mouth??

That would be a no and just as I present my lures to my favorite areas I am going to tell you the same thing I tell the fish... bite me ??

Affirmative !

Thank you @Jigfishn10 that means a lot... I somehow expected a little more from you of a manner in which we best communicate, don’t be afraid to exercise that joking demeanor we share with one another in the future my friend. @Choporoz in the spring the wind and current there can be a good bit on the strong side of things so if you plan a trip there keep an eye on the weather patterns, I still fish it a lot so I will keep adding to this thread for those interested in fishing this stretch of the Shenandoah River, if your going to fish artificial baits, small square bills, spinner baits, jigs, floating worms are best on the current breaks, live bait I would suggest just one, hellgrammites, fish those around the rock ledges and overhanging trees in the upper section of the river. The family is well my friend and thank you for asking, I hope all is well with you and yours also !! @CountryboyinDC yes, there is a boat ramp there on the Bend, it is a little steep so do be careful if you put in there in the warmer days and months it does get quite busy, I would suggest being there pretty early on those days and for those who fish there with yaks and canoes be cautious that we have idiots with big boats there also ? If you want a shot at some bigger bass on that stretch your going to have to fish the deeper grass sections although there are times when you can get a good sized bass up river. If any of you are there and you see a black and silver ProCraft don’t be shy, come and say howdy !! Sorry, all I have is this IPhone, I need to work on posting pictures so that they are right side up guys, I will work on that.

Spent my growing up years fishing NOVA, Barcroft, Lake Manassas, Lake Jackson and surrounding streams, after my parents moved us from Manassas Park to Luray the Shenandoah River, surrounding public ponds and lakes as well as farm ponds when I could get permission. This place (Egypt Bend) is where I really dug in and spent a lot of my time and still do, in fact I went out this past Wednesday to work on my cold water stuff, I specifically targeted my drop shot work along with some jig presentations but I only took those three setups out of the rod locker. For those who are not familiar with the stretch of river it’s about a mile or so long, at its widest point it is maybe a little more than 100 yards and roughly has an average depth of 10’, it has hidden treasure spots of timber and rock, home to several species of fish like catfish, pike, pan fish, carp, small mouth and largemouth bass. Water temps were 36-38, clarity was roughly 3 feet, I focused on the deeper sections near the dam which is more or less a trench with some deeper pockets of around 18’, I started with some skirted jig presentations which if I had to confess is my #1 confidence bait, I struggled to get anything going for about an hour, picked up my drop shot and struggled some more until I could figure out what they wanted which happened to be a Missile baits Bomb Shot, I went with the mindset of not catching anything since I have always struggled when the water was below 50 degrees but my perseverance and a crap ton of patience paid off, I ended up with three on the day, all LMB, which in turn gives me a whole lot of confidence in being able to accomplish a goal, I am happy with that although looking back on the day I think I probably had at least two more bites that I had not recognized but all in all couldn’t be happier with the days events and the results.

Even then, you won’t know unless a biological test is done the way the article reads.

Work is keeping me busy right now, the babies are doing well, hard headed lil turdz but they will be 5 next month, they are learning like crazy and forever asking me to work on their casting, I am in hopes that this season will be their first real bass fishing outing, I just have to get them to listen a little better for safety reasons. Hope all is well with you and your family.

It’s been quite a while since I have fished this place with any frequency, this year will be different, I have lost touch with this ol girl but the good thing is that with what you learn here on this body of water really helps with other man made lakes here in my state, we will see what the year holds but I’m up for the challenge, thanks buddy !!! Back then she still had some relatively clean structure changes and plenty of vegetation that held lots of fish, while today the upper regions seem to have the upper hand, the integration of another species have helped to move the LMB it seems, I working as hard as I can to get back in touch with her since my hiatus, I will keep giving updates every time I am out there as long as it generates interest.

Visited Anna this past weekend, primarily fished mid lake, I ran across two schools of bass, multiple striper schools and had seen an immense amount of bait between the splits and the power plant, I did not hook up on any of the bass I was targeting but if you want a report, the waters in those areas were heavily stained at the splits and above, a little less stained near the 208 bridge and partly stained near the plant, surface temps were at 43 at the splits, 45 at the 208 bridge and 48 to 49 at the power plant. The bass were on the bottom in 30 to 35 feet near areas that had good transitions, especially near Jetts Island, striper were in the main channels but mid depth in the water column. Considering another trip this weekend to see if I can get a little redemption, y’all be safe !!!

March 27th and 28th is our first 2day club tournament there, I will post a report on the current conditions that weekend of you wish.

I just finished my first season as a co angler in a club, to think about what I would have done differently, I probably should have done what I’m doing now a good bit sooner. I needed to fish cleaner for one, poor decision making is another but the biggest mistake I made is that I tried to be to versatile, more so than what I was even remotely capable of. I can attribute some of that to the over enthusiastic approach of fishing large “new to me” bodies of water via social media outlets instead of seeing them first hand, geez, the money I could have saved or at least invested in the right way.

I joined a club here a couple of years back that does IDPA as well as USPSA style meets, I did not want to be in competition as a whole, I was simply looking for the experience with an emphasis on safety since I was new to the whole idea. I find that I like the whole atmosphere of the challenges, I like the idea of being timed for the reason of giving yourself some idea of drills you can utilize to aid with improvements in speed, distance and accuracy.

I think that’s what a lot of anglers suggest using also, some like longer some like shorter but the majority I see suggest using a shorter rod.

For never having fired a shot, that’s pretty dang good man !!

I just joined my first bass club this past season as a Co-Angler, there is a lot of information that is shared among the anglers during events, not many speak about techniques nor other aspects about a particular body of water, basically it’s a club where the fees for tournaments and membership fits my wallet size ? I think it’s something that you have to figure out what it is that you want from a club, visit as many as you can to see if they fit your desire, jot down the questions you have, like, are there fees/refunds for missing any of their tournaments, what contributions you may be responsible for, maybe they have Christmas/Holiday socials or possibly a classic style tournament in which they expect a sizable contribution for each, find out what is expected of you monetarily/socially from boaters. I hope you find what you are looking for, it took me a long time to find this fit.

Skipping baits is one of those techniques where the equipment is an intricate part of being successful. I can skip jigs decently with a 7’ medium heavy casting set up using a roll cast but that’s about the extent of it, the rod needs to have a tip that will allow the bait to load relatively easy without putting much muscle into the cast, the action itself needs to come primarily from your wrist and forearm and not much else, too much effort will cause accuracy issues and frustration. It is a given that using a bait casting set up for the first time will inevitably end up with a “professional overrun” but with enough practice you will soon be able to accomplish what you wish to do.

Jigs are like lays potato chips in the sense that you can’t have just one. A definite favorite is the Dirty Jigs finesse football head jig paired with a Zoom ultra vibe speed craw 3.5” colors vary but my most used combo is black and blue on the jig and watermelon seed as the trailer.

Here in Va. some bodies of water ice over but not too many but, then again it really depends on the season and how long we have sub zero temps. The river systems here rarely freeze over but do get relatively cold, in the 40’s, I like to experiment and work on cold water techniques, other places that have nuclear power plants rarely see those kind of temps although they will freeze in the upper portions, the lower portions still have warmer waters, mid to upper 50’s generally, I like to go scanning just to try and learn a few things about where they go, how many will be in groups if they are in groups and of course try to fish for them, not much success admittedly but it’s still educational to me.

Anytime, I really do not have a favorite, I do however like to fish my home lake better when the pleasure boats are hibernating but anytime is a great time to fish for what I like best.

Yes, no big ones to show for my efforts, it was still a great day however even with the heavy rains at times. Surface temps will soon dip into those low 60’s, you will see a more productive body of water at that point.

Veterans Day report. I fished Anna on Veterans Day, down lake surface temps near Dukes Creek were still very close to 70*, Mid Lake was at 67, the back of Contrary was starting to stain as the creeks were starting to flow from all the rain and developed a defined line while I was back in that area, I fished along that line as it moved, also with no results. Both areas of the main lake were relatively clear, roughly 3-4’ of visibility. The backs of the creeks were not productive at the time I was there, there was activity but very little with some bait being marked, most of the fish that were marked were in the 30’ range and suspended 3-5’ off the bottom in the creeks, main lake points and pockets were productive with many cookie cutter sized fish in the 2- 2 1/2 range, mid lake between the 208 bridge up to the splits is where I focused most of the day. Jigs, Swimming and casting style skirted jigs were by far their preference in that area.

Typical fall fishing, fronts with warming trends, fronts with cooling trends seem to have them all over the place and in all levels of the water column, my home lake is a Nuke Lake, finding stability this time of year is difficult for all of us but the mid (main lake) has several pockets that hold good structural characteristics that gradually dish or flatten to 15-20’ of water, fish also have access to deeper water on the main lake with channel swings very close to these pockets, a good supply of cover like brush piles, lay downs, rock piles and docks and more of a consistent temp as well as current flow make these areas more productive than most of the other parts of this lake. Surface temps were at 67 and stayed pretty consistent throughout the day, if you can find areas with a bit of consistency that may help, I hope it does. Good luck and be safe !!

Had to be an experience of a lifetime man, thanks for sharing this with us !!!

Thanks IntroC, means a lot, I too have learned so much as well, it's interesting how much things change, I was there the Sunday before and things changed so dramatically, something I was not prepared for at all. i fished our veterans tournament and suffered once more with only a single fish, I learned a bunch more but still, it's difficult knowing we were on fish and couldn't get bit, still trying to wrap my head around that one, ended up in the last hour breaking my trolling motor rope, lost two high dollar baits, well, about 40 dollars worth, expensive loss for me LOL , ended up having my cranking battery die, swapped one of my trolling motor batteries and it wasn't strong enough either, ended up trolling back at half speed, took us an hour and 15 minutes to get back from 5 minutes away under engine power, had a lot of fun though because I was with my son-in-law, we made the best of a bad day exploring the uses of facebook live LOL !! Best of luck in your future as well, again, many thanks and God bless !!