HistoryNerd27

I was wondering about the shad population. I thought maybe they were just extremely active yesterday but I could see them everywhere on the top of the water. Thanks for the info about Lake Ridge

Didn't end up getting there til about 9:30 am or so since the rain put us a bit behind schedule. Cloudy and showered on and off all morning. Started off by throwing around grass right off the launch and then went to the point across the reservoir and didn't get a bite. I wanted to get out of the deep water so I headed up a bit back to the Fairfax side and fished some shallower water. I thought I figured something out after catching a 3 lber on a grassy point, but couldn't get turned onto a pattern at all for the rest of the day. Ended up catching a few other small ones on spinnerbaits and jerkbaits. My dad caught a nice crappie off his jerkbait. Fish were definitely up in the water column but just seemed like they were roaming around, not really relating structure or cover that I could tell. I'm assuming the rain this week and cool, cloudy weather probably had something to do with it. Water really didn't seem muddy to me though. Then again, I'm used to fishing the 'Doah where mud is a constant. Still, it was a nice day out and I really enjoyed my first trip to the reservoir. I will definitely be back again. The only issue I did have was getting to Fountainhead. I came in via the Prince William Parkway and I think a different way might be easier. Seemed like tight turns and narrow roads to me, especially since we were towing a bass boat. I was also wondering if there is a place to launch that has a dock you can walk down. I don't mind getting in the water but it's just a bit easier to get my father in the boat off a dock instead of getting in the water and climbing in from the shore. Thanks everyone for any advice.

Fountainhead. I think it is the closest and best launch site for me coming from Winchester. I'm really glad to hear that plastics and jigs in the grass and heavy cover works well. I need to learn how to power fish one day but I'm more at home with soft plastics.

My father and I are going to try the Occoquan for the first time tomorrow if the weather allows. I've read a lot on this thread and others so I feel pretty well prepared but any last minute advice is always welcome. Hoping to get there nice and early to get a topwater bite and then move to points and bluffs as the sun comes out. Maybe try and fish the grass too if that doesn't work. I'll post a report Wednesday hopefully to let everyone know how it went.

Sorry it took me awhile to get back into the swing of things after vacation but I wanted to thank everyone for their help. We ended up having a solid fishing week as we caught multiple fish in the 3 lb range though nothing too huge. My week started off pretty rotten as I broke the tip off my Fenwick after pulling through some grass (A little dissapointed but hopefully I'll be getting a replacement soon) and then found faulty line on another rod which caused me to lose two fish. But I ended catching a few nice ones and really enjoyed fishing there. Most everything was on soft plastics off cover. I am hoping next time to maybe try a little striper fishing too. Again, thanks for all the help and making the trip a fun vacation.

Thanks for all of the information. My understanding is I'm staying just a bit uplake from Terry's Run but I'll be probably be fishing in that area. I'm really glad to have that information and I might check in with some of the marinas when I launch to see if they can give me any info. Thanks again!

Hi Everyone, I know there are several topics about Lake Anna here and I've been looking through them for some good information. I recently purchased a boat and am going to take it for a week on Lake Anna. My family is staying at a rental house uplake on Woodside Branch (according to google maps) and I'll probably be fishing around there mostly until I break the boat in a little at least. I've been looking at McCotter's facebook page and saw they are currently spawning but I don't know the area he was fishing. Was just wondering if anyone had some good information on what phase they would be in, if there are good spawning areas uplake, etc. My hope is that since we are in the shallower area of the lake the water temps will rise more quickly and maybe we will hit the postspawn. Thanks everyone for any helpful tips.

I saw this on the featured new items on TW and was wondering if anyone has tried yet or had any luck with it. My friend and I will throw rooster tails a lot to catch a variety of species in the river but still give us a good chance at hooking a smallmouth or two. Was wondering is this might be something else to try next year. Thanks for any feedback.

Thanks I think I'll try a wacky rig next time I go. I've never used it much in the past because I've been more comfortable throwing a senko t-rigged weightless or a dropshot. But I need to try something new.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

I saw you were from Staunton on your profile location. Plus I travel up and down the Valley a lot for work. I usually can tell my Valley when I see it.

I'm from Winchester.

Good ol' Shenandoah Valley too I agree with the soft jerk baits or a weightless t-rigged lizard.

Thanks for the quick response and welcome. I've fished with nightcrawlers most of my life up until the last few years. Primarily I have only had luck catching lots of bluegill with them. Which is what I did during the peak of summer in a nice shady spot The lake is part of a park with a playground, ball fields, and soccer fields. They also have a pool which may or may not run off into the lake, I haven't seen firsthand how they drain the pool or anything. I'll try and slow down my presentations. I do have a habit of rushing through to try and get the most casts in as possible before dark.

Hey Guys. I've been lurking around this website for awhile looking at articles and reports and decided to post this topic in hopes of getting a bit more specific help on a lake I've been fishing this year. I had a rather successful spring, catching good sized fish every outing though only catching a few. I believe my best day I totaled 8 in a few hours. Once summer hit my luck died, catching only a few small fish. I chalked it up to the summer heat and didn't worry much about it. However I haven't returned to any luck this fall. I've been trying similar patterns to how I caught them in spring with no luck. Tried dropshots, senkos, t-rigs, spinners, cranks, flukes, poppers without much to show for it and definitely not hitting any sort of pattern. Seems more like I'm just throwing on their heads and getting lucky. To talk a little about the lake - it's rather small as I could walk all the way around it in a few hours if I really sped through. Has a couple of small coves and some overhanging trees. Most of the bottom is covered in some sort of thick algae (not sure what it is exactly) that makes bottom fishing difficult (hence why I dropshot a lot). Maximum depth probably isn't more than 10 foot or so with one side of the lake being much shallower than the other. 1 idea I do have on why I'm not catching fish the same is that I believe they treated the water for the algae. It used to grow up to the top of the surface and at times would cover nearly half of the water. This year the water was a weird blue-ish green color a few times when i went and it seemed like they put chemicals in it. There also was hardly any growth on the top of the water this year. Could just be a coincidence though. Any ideas on how to attack it would be appreciated. Unfortunately I don't live close enough to another public lake so it's my only option for a quick couple hours of fishing after work. Thanks!