Hey guys,

Well my boss asked me to cover night shift Wednesday so I am taking the morning and afternoon to catch some smallies at a new location some of my dad's friends from work told him about.  Only TEN MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE!!! After reading up online on some fly-fishing sites and seeing articles guys in Va have written on it (hard to find on int exp) there seems to be some nice smallmouth in this run off of Lake Jackson.

I am parking on the shoulder of Aden Rd, after looking at all the regulations and ordinances in PWC and Fauquier County there is nothing that says parking on this part of the shoulder is illegal and I see no signs on either side of the bridge. So I'm gonna leave a note in my dash and hope for the best, worst case scenario I've done my homework and could have it cancelled out in court if I did recieve a ticket.

Luckily for me I have 3 hours of overtime leave so I'm going to use that and come in late for the shift since others don't leave for home til' 5 o' clock. Gives me at least 7-8 hours of fishing for smallies. Got my new smallie pole with Pflueger Reel ready to go and excited to try it out and fight these guys on 6lb test. Anyone else from the area try Cedar Run at all in NOVA? Looks like there is access off of 28 and Bristow Rd as well, so if it's not great my first time out here I can try one of the other access points another day.

I'm excited because this is creek has limited access an from what I hear is not fished very often. Should be a fun day. Any advice from the Northern Va smallie anglers as far as what baits to be trying out?

As usual I am going to have my rapalas for topwater action and shallow running (will work them as hard jerk baits), I will also use my Zoom and Venom tubes w/ jig heads and rattles and I may throw some 4" senkos and finesse jigs w/craw dad mini strike king trailers depending on how good the bite is. I may throw a spook or a buzzbait as well.

Hey man, now you've really hit home on me, that bridge is 5 minutes from my parents house where i grew up on Bristow rd. Parking on the shoulder is fine there's a little, your main concern should be water, is there any? I don't know as I haven't been down there in a while but I do know when it's dry around here that area is LOW. Watch out for electric fences as on one bank all the way down is cow pastures and they have electric fences up and down all the way. Usually you need waders in some parts but like I said I have no idea about the water level, I wouldn't expect too much. Good luck, wish I coud go with ya. Also, coming from 234 if you go over the bridge and keep going another mile or so is a development with a lake in it over the hill on the left. I did very well over there last summer.  so bring your largemouth get up too. They are still building on it so there is only like 10 houses tops. It's called lake eng.

Here's a pic, the lake is on the left as you can see down the dirt road which is no longer a dirt road and there is houses in the fields... you can see cedar run vertically in the picture on the right.

Trev thanks for the lake information.  I saw it but had not ridden over there yet in my car so I didn't know if it was private or not.  My dad and I thought it may be a private farm pond.  I'll spend half the day at Cedar Run (depending how well I do) and the other half at the lake.  Catch anything of size over there at the lake?

The water at Cedar Run looks like it is up quite a bit at Aden Rd, the creek is at one of it's wider points here (as oppossed to 28 where it looks more dried up).  I heard theres fish in here so I'm gonna give it a shot.  I know the drought may have affected it so we will see.  Oh well, at least now I have a backup with the lake.  I appreciate all the information buddy.  Talk to ya later.

here's some pics of what came out of that lake, by the way i'm not talking about the pond on the top left i'm talkng about the LAKE on the bottomw left of the picture, the pond i know nothing about, but it's definately in someones yard

me, crappy cellphone picture in the sun, sorry

my buddy brian and his FIRST huge bass, most genuine smile of all time, he was so gitty, buzzbait at night around 9

Nice fish dude.  Yea figured you meant the one in the bottom left.  Can't wait to get on em' now.  Now just gotta hope the landowners provide permission to fish it.  I'm always aprehensive about getting permission from people I don't know.  Anyway, let's hope Cedar Run works out...

Nice LMBs, I also see a boat in the picture.  Where did you launch the boat?  Is there a public launch area and parking?

Nice LMBs, I also see a boat in the picture. Where did you launch the boat? Is there a public launch area and parking?

Dad, I talked to Trevor, the lake is actually private and we would have to get permission to fish it.  I don't know if I'm gonna go through the trouble or not.  Probably just fish the creek and see what happens.

Holy crap dude, those fish are huge!

I think I need you guys to school me on some fishing.  LOL.

Just curious, but do you guys ever eat any of the fish you catch?  Seeing that most of these NOVA lakes are basically filled with storm sewer runoff would make me nervous.

Only fish I'll eat are either Perch or Bluegill and they have to come out of the Occoquan.  I will not eat out of any ponds, lakes or the Potomac.  Especially the Potomac.

pkschul

i don't eat them i catch them... 8-)

ron and jason, yes launched a boat there if you look the picture on the left side of the lake is a tree line my buddy owns property and i would drive my boat through the woods and launch it.... unfortunately you won't be able to launch a boat there...

I fished that lake as a kid and spent a lot of time on that farm.  It used to be owned by Dr. Eng.  He died and his wife sold the place to developers.  A lot of memories wiped out for me.  Needless to say, I don't drive down Aden Rd. anymore.

Oh yeah, if there is water in the creek back there you will find some decent smallies and lots of chubs.

JCrzy, try soft jerkbaits like a fluke, preferably in a brown or green color. Twitch them fast on the surface then just let them sink into holes, behind rocks, etc...Probably my #1 smallie bait overall. Close second is a shakey head worm.

I haven't fished this area, let me know how you do.

So that lake in the google earth picture IS private? Looks like a place to check out if it's not. And Lake Jackson IS private?

Dan found a really good access point after scouting with my dad. There is definately good water levels here and I hear the fishing is pretty good for smallies. I'll pm you details after I fish it tommorrow and let you know. I'll try those soft jerk baits, thanks buddy. Later man.

P:s: That pond and the lake (jackson) are both private.  However if you look on google earth and follow bristow rd from independent hill you will see a road after the bridge on bristow (cedar run).  The next left after the bridge has two ponds on that road.  One looks like it may have a house near it and may be private but the other looks like its between an acre or two and right off the road.  It may be a drainage pond but I'm not sure.  I'll check this out tommorrow and let you guys know.

JCrzy, try soft jerkbaits like a fluke, preferably in a brown or green color. Twitch them fast on the surface then just let them sink into holes, behind rocks, etc...Probably my #1 smallie bait overall. Close second is a shakey head worm.

I haven't fished this area, let me know how you do.

So that lake in the google earth picture IS private? Looks like a place to check out if it's not. And Lake Jackson IS private?

They are both private, the small lake, Lake Eng is very private and you will most likely be chased off by this guys that lives there, he's a stickler and riders around on a 4wheeler, but i got cool with him, as i explained to him that i had permission to fish the lake from a guy who owne half of it, the half with all the woods near the bank, i used to put in a boat in the little cove on the top left of the picture of the lake... i had permission to drive through the field and launch though...

Hey Trev went to that spot today walked all along the creek down by the bridge and even down past the intersection of the two creeks. Found a floating dock aways down. Anyway threw anything and everything from cranks, jigs, senkos, topwater, etc. I managed to land one that was 1lb even (on a black/blue laminate senko) as I was leaving at your spot, and got another bite (but missed it). My friend Karen lost one at shore. We couldn't find the baitfish at all and it didn't seem like there was too much activity. Water levels looked good but I'm wondering whether or not the drought has effected the fishing here and whether or not the fish have moved further down the creek where it is deeper by Lake Jackson. Not sure. Looks like a fun spot if the fishing were to pick up. Maybe just not a good day with the winds and the cold and stuff. Anyway I'll post the pic a bit later tonight.

It was easy to get down the path aways because all the weeds, thorn bushes, and trees were all dying and starting to wither. I'd imagine during the spring and summer its pretty hard to navigate that far down there. Good luck if anyone else decides to try it. Plenty of parking on the right shoulder before the bridge. I left my car there for three hours, no tow, no ticket. No no parking signs posted either. Good times.

My friend Karen caught a 2lb 4oz at the pond we normally fish (by my place) afterwards. I got skunked there. It was her biggest fish in a couple months so I was stoked for her. We don't get to fish much more cause she moves to Florida next week so it was cool that she got a nice one today.

Pics from today:

Karen's 2lb 4oz

My 1lb

hey jason, wish you'd of had better luck... the part of the water that goes under Bristow where you parked is Cedar run and to the left about 20 minutes upstream on a boat would be the aden road part, the fork part that you were fishing is where Broad run merges with cedar run and to the right is Lake Jackson, here's a map....

it'd be a long *** day but we should put a canoe in at aden rd bridge and take it all the way to bristow rd bridge, road wise they're only like 7 minutes apart but river wise it's probably take at least 3 hours maybe more i'm no good at gaging that on a map, here's the image, i outlined the strem in blue you can see it in the trees, and i labeled the put in and take out spot, maybe you can guess as to how long it takes... again if we drove from bridge to bridge it'd take about 7 minutes, so i'm guessing between 2-4 hours... I imagine there isn't much current at all either....

Hey Trev man that would be a pretty sweet day. I would be ok with that. Wouldn't be too far to carry the canoe down by Aden Rd if we could find a decent path down to the water. I could park down at Cedar Run so when we get out I could drive you back to your car. I really didn't focus too much on smallies aside from the jigs and topwater I threw, more so on largies after the first hour and a half or so cause I was getting frustrated that my tubes, poppers, and jigs weren't producing. You know how it is when you throw on that senko though. Confidence builder man! Anyway, let's try and see if we can figure out a day to do that. I have November 24 open if we do it early (Sat after thanksgiving). Maybe put in around like 7am and be done around 11:30 or noon. Would be a sweet way to finish up the year for me. Let me know if you can do that.

P:s: Do you have a canoe??? Cause I don't lol.

Hey Trev man that would be a pretty sweet day. I would be ok with that. Wouldn't be too far to carry the canoe down by Aden Rd if we could find a decent path down to the water. I could park down at Cedar Run so when we get out I could drive you back to your car. I really didn't focus too much on smallies aside from the jigs and topwater I threw, more so on largies after the first hour and a half or so cause I was getting frustrated that my tubes, poppers, and jigs weren't producing. You know how it is when you throw on that senko though. Confidence builder man! Anyway, let's try and see if we can figure out a day to do that. I have November 24 open if we do it early (Sat after thanksgiving). Maybe put in around like 7am and be done around 11:30 or noon. Would be a sweet way to finish up the year for me. Let me know if you can do that.

P:s: Do you have a canoe??? Cause I don't lol.

d**n, i don't have a canoe either maybe we can figure something out.... or i know a way to walk through the woods i think and at least get us in the middle of that strecth, i grew up in this area and know all of these back roads you see...

I'll be willing to give it one more shot.  Let's shoot for that Saturday (the 24th) if your available.  I just need to fish slower and concentrate on structure a bit more.  It's hard to find the smallies when the current is not very strong at all.  Not used to that.  Different elements when there are no breaks like in the Rappahannock.  Maybe we can get on em.  We'll see.  Again just let me know.