MikeW

I was out last saturday and it was pretty rough. 0 bass. i didnt see any bass on beds, but water visibility was poor, less than a ft. surface temps were around 63 at 7am and recorded a high around 69.

thanks guys. im going to be renting out of fountainhead, will probably hit the coves across the launch and then work my way upstream to a few of my favorite spots.

Was hoping to head out there fri or sat, havent seen much about about the bite there right now. I assume they're in spawn mode? Thanks

Does anyone know of fishing charters that run in early March for Lake Anna? Possibly would need a few boats too, i'm looking to go fishing for my bachelor party haha. Thanks!

forgot to update, but i went out of fountainhead sat and it was interesting. temps were good, in the 70s the whole morning/early afternoon. water levels were ridiculously high, probably a good foot or two. i noticed all the grass lines that i can usually see were completely submerged. water was pretty murky and there were huge piles of debris floating around. couldve easily picked up half a dozen sports balls floating. i did manage a good 2lber on a senko in the shallower water. i fished a handful of points/deeper water but couldnt manage to get anything. tried spinners, sinking jerk bait, texas rig, and we even had some live minnows lindy rigged. ill have to keep trying to figure out how to get the deeper bass!

thanks for the tips all! with the water all brown(and guessing going to still be tmrw), it was impossible to sight fish for the spawning bass in the shallows. i hit up a few usual spots that i've caught fish with senkos before earlier in the day before it got too hot, then i switched to using my fish finder and exploring points and drop offs. ill let you know what i tried/how well i do tomorrow!

yeah, i was thinking the same thing, but i dont remember if i tried that or not. i plan to go out back sat morning, should be a lot cooler and hopefully ill have better luck!

i fished out of fountainhead monday for a few hours, only ended up with 2. surface temps read around 80 on my fish finder when i left. figure its too hot to be throwing senkos off the shores and in the shallower waters, although people seemed to be doing that all day. i saw most of the fish hovering in the 10-20ft range(but not at the bottom). Any suggestions on how to target them. my crankbaits dont usually dive past 10ft, i could try doing a texas rig but i figure it will be hard to tell what depth its at any suggestions on what i can throw at them? thanks as always!

Thanks for the tips! The fish that I could see weren't being very aggressive to what I was throwing at them, yet not more than a few feet away I saw one large bass go completely vertical almost a foot out of the water, as well as another bass come up and swallow an injured perch. quite the sight. Having done some more research on bass beds and what to look for as well, hopefully I can get back out there before they start moving back to the deeper water.

i fished for ~4-5 hours on occoquan friday afternoon out of fountainhead and got owned. very frustrating day. had a few bites from small bass on senkos wacky rigged, but could not figure out what the larger ones were biting on. i went upstream past the dam and pretty much worked the whole north shoreline starting at the huge bend. i tried some suspending jerkbaits too and texas rigged worms(from the advice of a guy who had been fishing out earlier) without the weight to no luck.

im going to try and leave work early tmrw to get hit up occoquan for the first time this year. I'm renting out of fountainhead, any suggestions on where to try? Since I'll only have 2-3hrs to fish, I'm thinking i'll focus on the area upstream by the dam and cove across from it. thanks for the tips!

thanks for the info. Part of the reason I decided to go to burke was just to scope out some of the shore along the dam, but also knowing there's the possibility of other fish in the lake besides bass that are more active in the winter. didnt really expect to catch anything and just wanted to get my line wet a little. once icicles started to form, i figured it was time to pack it up haha. i guess ill have to just do some scouting at those arlington streams/ponds once it gets warmer.

I live in the nova area and am looking for somewhere to fish as well. Growing up in MN, this would normally be ice fishing time, but i don't think anything freezes over within an hour or two driving distance. im tempted to try burke lake and fish off the spots near the boat launch, is that successful at all? I'd love to try ponds i see dotting google maps, but I'm never sure if a) i'm allowed to fish there and if theyre natural or man-made or natural.

i'm going to try and hit up hemlock tomorrow. water levels looked low and water temp was in the 50s i'd guess and i didn't see any visible fish, we'll see how it goes!

I stayed out late sudany and never made it on monday...darn. But when you park in the parking lot, theres a rock/dirt/mud trail that goes downhill and leads to the stream. There's a gate/road that goes up, I'm pretty sure thats to the adventure camp so I never drive up that. http://www.switchfisher.com/navigation/smallmouth/Occoquan-Hemlock.html

Has anyone fished at hemlock recently? I plan on going there monday to fish, and wanted to see if there were any specific spots. I assume upstream near the old dam is the best spot? I went a few months ago and went further upstream and saw some large small mouth bass, but they could've been carp in hindsight.

I'd like to just carry them on . My larger pole is a 6ft6in 2 piece, so i'll probably need like a 40 inch tube. Do you think tsa/airlines would let me just carry them on in a poster tube container? I'd really prefer not to waste a check in bag on 2 poles, since I'm packing for 2 seperate trips(fishing and vegas).

I'm about to fly on Southwest(2 free checked bags!) and want to bring 2 rod and reels and tackle with me. My rods are 2 pcs, but unfortunately they don't fit in my largest suitcase by a few inches. I'm flying out sunday and was wondering if people had suggestions on how to transport these rods and reels. I i know i could probably just buy some pvc pipe/end caps or packaging tubes, but i'd prefer not to waste 1 of my free checked bags on just the two rods. Are you allowed to carry on 2 pc rods? I'm going to check out Dicks and Sports Authority after work, but any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks

Thanks for the info everyone. The blog was helpful in highlighting "reserve capacity". I'll be going strictly for a deep cycle battery, but i assume terminology stays the same. I'll stop by walmart and take a look at what they offer. any advice on chargers or what to look for?

thanks! i ended up going to fountainhead that weekend and had little success. im in the process of buying a trolling motor/battery, which should cut my rental fees. looking forward to places other than occoquan.

I've fished fountainhead twice in the last 1.5months and had very little luck. I've spent most of my time searching for big ones, so i dont fish the points or shallows too much. I picked up a lot of fish on my portable hawkeye if you go past the dam on the opposite side. the map shows 3 beds about 30ft deep. i went up and down at least twice but couldn't get anything to bite, but maybe someone else will have better luck.

I'm in the works to purchase a trasform mount trolling motor(minn kota 40lb) for use on rental jon boats. I know i need to purchase a deep cycle battery and a charger for it, but other than that I'm pretty clueless on a lot of the terminology and other things to be aware of. I'd like to keep costs down for the battery and charger($100 or cheaper) if possible, but I don't really know the going prices. Can someone kinda point out what I should be looking for when buying a battery/charger, and some suggestions? I live pretty close to major stores(walmart, sears, dicks etc) but can stop by a bass pro shop if necessary. Thanks!

First off, this site is great! I've been spending more time than i should while at work... Anyways I'm looking to do a quick day trip this saturday, but I'd prefer to get out of the NoVA area. Here's what I'm looking for: 1. A "good" fishing lake for beginners. I don't mind getting skunked, but if I bring friends I want them to enjoy themselves so they want to go fishing with me again! 2. Boat rentals. I grew up in MN dock fishing...I'd prefer to fish from a boat now that I'm older. 3. Location < 2hrs from NoVA(I live in the ffx area). I saw Hunting Run Resevoir might be a possibility, a little pricey but it seems like there's a lot of fish and shouldn't be as hard as occoquan? Thanks!