Any Northern Virginia folks up for fishing this Saturday 12/8/07? I am thinking possibly Beaverdam Creek Reservoir or Lake Brittle but I am open to other locations.

If your talking about Beaver Dam Res in Loudon County, it is way-way low on water. You will be walking in 50 yards of mud to get to the water. It will be spring before it's up to snuff!

How about Lake Brittle? It looks to have a lot of shore access and the 2007 fishing report from VDGIF looks pretty good.  Anyone up for the trip?  I will drive from Woodbridge, VA and I have room for three others.

The information below is from the 2007 Lake Brittle Biologist Report.

The population structure of largemouth bass remained similar to findings from

2003, with Proportional Stock Density (PSD) values slightly decreasing (PSD 57) over

the previous sample in 2001 (PSD 58). Relative Stock Density of Preferred fish (RSDP)

greater than 15 increased to 26 in 2006, which is similar to the RSD-P value from the

previous sample year (25). Catch per unit effort (CPUE) of largemouth bass was 111

fish/hour. Angler success should be very good at Lake Brittle with good numbers of bass

larger than 15 available for the catching.

          Ron, have you fished there before? I have fished it alot years ago and once no to long ago and have yet to see numbers or size come from that lake. It seems to be pressured as much if not more then Burke. Maybe it's just me.........

Brittle is pretty busy. but this time of the year i'm sure it will be a ghost town.  I put my jon boat in there a few times this summer and it has one deep channel running down the middle toward the earthen dam.  Most of the "near land" water is shallow.  There is a pier there but I don't know how close it gets you to the deeper water.  

As for fish I've caught a few in the 2 lb size but nothing to write home about.  Remember those VDGIF reports are based on electro-fishing so numbers seem high.  Sometime the grass seems greener....

Sunken Bobbers

Wow, I am disappointed to hear about the fishing in this lake.  I may still try it just to see if I can get lucky like I have with Lake Mercer.  

Have fun! Wish I could make it but my father in law will be in town this weekend.

How do you guys think the fishing will be at Bull run? I'm thinkin of giving 28 a shot on saturday

The smallie bite should still be ok, I don't know about the LMBs though.  I went out today and tried fishing Lake Brittle and Lake Mercer and could not get a single bite at all.  Maybe it is due to the front that came through or maybe the water temps are to low for the LMBs to be active.  I guess I will find out when I try fishing these two lakes again this weekend.  I am leaning toward the water temps being to cold, the season may be finally over, I hope not.  

yeah, thats why i'm thinking of trying for smallies.  I found a lake by my office, Lake Cook, that has trout. I might get myself a trout stamp and try that out. maybe accotink creek too. I need my FIX!

    Andrew, I think your dead on about the smallmouth choice. Everyone needs to remember that the "season" is never over!!  As long as the lake or river is not frozen, fish are to be caught.

ado124 - Depending on the presence of deer at the end of my rifle tomorrow afternoon you may see me on the water if you go to Bull Rum on 28.  That or I'm going to try and hit the Rapp in Rednecksburg.  

If you do go to the 28 bridge concentrate on the deeper holes in this colder water.  I was out last week and found most fish in at least 3 foot water.  Don't know what they are on now but then they were close to wood and undercut banks.  

A word of warning: Prince William side of the river is "private" so you might want to don the blaze orange to stay safe (at least a hat)

Keep those snoopy rods bent.  

Rob,

Let me clarify my earlier post, the LMBs are going to go dormant soon if they have not already.  I have noticed a siginificant drop off in LMB reation strikes and catch rates after having a great fall fishing season (my best ever).  The water temps are dropping fast in the lakes around here and that should be no surprise based on our recent weather.  The only bites that you will see from the LMBs now are going to be reaction bites.  It is going to take a bit of luck to trigger a reaction bite now due to colder water temps and those will be few and far between.  The best fishing now is going to be SMBs and trout, not LMBs.

Change in plans due to the weather, I have decided that I am going to try smallie and trout fishing at Thompson Lake this weekend. Anyone interested in going?

Ron

i'm kinda interested. Where's this Lake Thompson located?

It is in Faquier County in the Thompson Wildlife Management Area. If you want to go we could go together and leave from my house, I'll drive.

Ron

It's North about 45 minutes from 66 and 50.  Good luck!

Hrmm.. an hour 10 minutes from me.  I was hoping to stay more local but very tempting. Depending on the weather, I should be in.  I might drive seperately though, just in case i have to leave early.

Thats cool if you want to meet there.  I plan on fishing the whole day weather permitting.  Unless it rains hard I will go and I have my whole day free to fish, I don't have any other plans for the weekened other than to fish.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/waterbodies/maps/Lake_Thompson.pdf

Rob,

Let me clarify my earlier post, the LMBs are going to go dormant soon if they have not already.  I have noticed a siginificant drop off in LMB reation strikes and catch rates after having a great fall fishing season (my best ever).  The water temps are dropping fast in the lakes around here and that should be no surprise based on our recent weather.  The only bites that you will see from the LMBs now are going to be reaction bites.  It is going to take a bit of luck to trigger a reaction bite now due to colder water temps and those will be few and far between.  The best fishing now is going to be SMBs and trout, not LMBs.

The day a Largemouth Bass goes dormant is the day I quit fishing...They still have to eat, not as much because the cold water slows their metabolism, but they still have to eat and will be actively feeding at some point throughout the day.

Bass will suspend at different depths in the water column, but never will a Bass go "dormant"

Let me try this again the LMBs are no where near as active as they have been around here. catching LMBs is getting tough around here since the water temps began dropping with the all of the cold fronts and the snow that has been coming through the area. The water temps have dropped considerably over the last two weeks.

Dormant does not mean they will not feed it means they will feed less while in that state and react slower.

You might want to check out moving waters tomorrow.  Unless it gets real warm real quick the water will be a little hard.  Almost all the ponds I passed today had a roof on them.  The Rapp was flowing nicely but smaller creeks were iced in.  Albeit not thick ice but ice none the less.  Just thought I would mention it.

I am going to drive out and look anyways since it is not that far away.  It it is iced over I am going to try a bigger body of water.  I do appreciate the heads up though.

    News flash, the are all frozen. Talk to a few buddies and all the lakes and ponds locally are frozen......

Rob,

Let me clarify my earlier post, the LMBs are going to go dormant soon if they have not already.  I have noticed a siginificant drop off in LMB reation strikes and catch rates after having a great fall fishing season (my best ever).  The water temps are dropping fast in the lakes around here and that should be no surprise based on our recent weather.  The only bites that you will see from the LMBs now are going to be reaction bites.  It is going to take a bit of luck to trigger a reaction bite now due to colder water temps and those will be few and far between.  The best fishing now is going to be SMBs and trout, not LMBs.

The day a Largemouth Bass goes dormant is the day I quit fishing...They still have to eat, not as much because the cold water slows their metabolism, but they still have to eat and will be actively feeding at some point throughout the day.

Bass will suspend at different depths in the water column, but never will a Bass go "dormant"

Basspro48, you hit on the head.  Suspending jerk baits, small jigs and the ole shaky head will be producers this time of year. You may catch only a few, but it is very rewarding.