I literally live 5 minutes from Burke Lake and want to learn all about it. I've been taking my 12' jon on it lately but haven't had much luck. Catching a couple on t-rigged 5" flukes is about it. Now that mid-Summer is coming along I'd like to learn more about the deep structure of the lake. I'm hoping someone could point me in the general direction of deep structure. I normally fish alone so an open seat is always available.

Back around 2004-2005 I woke up early and headed over to Burke Lake Park to check out the scene on the pier. I witnessed one of the local Asian (fish for food) types pull in a bass that had to be at least 8 lbs. Biggest bass I had ever seen. I felt like I could put my head in it's mouth. The amazing part was that he (1) pulled it in by hand (no rod/reel), (2) used a soda bottle as a bobber and (3) baited his hook with previously caught large bluegill. It broke my heart when he put it on a stringer. I should have offered him $10 to release it, but I was in a different mind set at the time. About 10 minutes later I saw another guy pull in a 5+ lber using a live crayfish as bait. I came to the realization that Burke lake was a live bait only fishery primarily because of the pressure. I have recently learned that isn't necessarily the case. That info. got me really interested in learning the lake.

I live bout 12 minutes from the lake and have only fished iot once from shore this year.  Havent fished it previously in about 10 years.  but I do remember seeing about  5 pound bass I hooked on a grub and small jig head break the surface and shake my lure.   people will say its heavily fished, but i still think there are quality bass.  If you ever have an open seat on your john boat, I'd luv to fish Burke with you any time after work during the week or perhaps on a weekend.

I'll let you know the next time I get a chance to get out. I have been hitting up the smaller lakes in the evenings the last couple weeks.

_{I hit up Royal a few weeks ago and Crosspoint.   Havent done any local fishing the last three weeks though.}

There are so many of us Nova folks.  I think we would benefit from a centralized discussion thread.  

I used to live in Northern Virginia (15 years ago) and I fished Burke quite a bit. I did very well in the summer fishing Tiny Torpedoes for the first hour or two of daylight. The trick was to fish them right next to the willow grass. We caught lots of quality fish, but nothing over five or six pounds. The key was to use Tiny Torpedoes, not Baby Torpedoes or Pop Rs or Spooks. I think the smaller bait was key. I also fished them on a spinning rod with 8-pound line. That is also important, I believe. The bite was best early, early in the morning. I was often the first one on the lake. The best fishing came near deeper water and off points, but the bait had to be right next to the grass or in pockets inside the grass. Can't say if that pattern will be good now, but if it worked then, it ought to work these days.

 

BTW, that pattern also worked in the last hour or so of the evening.

Fished Burke several times this year. Usually when I fish this lake I am targeting muskie or walleye, but occasionally I catch some nice bass.

The larger bay southeast of Vesper Island has a large hump/sunken island which is a good spot for many species (including bass.) This is a decent year round spot as it has a shallow flat less than 5', several lay downs, a strong weed line and quick access to deeper water (20+'.)

This area is accessible most easily from a boat and hard to find without electronics, but if you can find the flat (c-rig, etc.) it's fishable from shore (conceivably.)