Heading over there on tomorrow May 15th, Anyone fish there yet this month... anyone know what the biggins are hittin'   ... Had some luck with dark spinner baits at some near by ponds so most likely going to start with them.

Thanks for your help...

Yeah im a newbie on this site keep your hazing to a min...  ;D j/k haze as much as you want.

Can't help you with Burke, but Welcome aboard.

Thanks

I don't usually fish Burke anymore because of all the fishing pressure so I can't really help you. Send me a PM if you want directions to some other lakes in that area.

Friends were there a week or so ago and hand luck on minnow type jerk baits. Not sure how they were fishing them but they caught a few small keepers and some decent sized walleye.

Fantastic park for family outings, but not so hot on fishing (in my opinion only...)!  Try Fountainhead, your chances of catching a biggin will go up exponentially!

It's funny how Burke is ranked #2 in bass fishing behind the Occoquan but noboby seems to be able to catch fish there (myself included). There has to be a way.  ;D

Slick, with Northern Virginia traffic all I can suggest is that you leave home at 2:30 AM and hope you get to Burke by sunrise.  ;D   ;D   ;D

It's funny how Burke is ranked #2 in bass fishing behind the Occoquan but noboby seems to be able to catch fish there (myself included). There has to be a way. ;D

Those ratings are based on electrosampling, not catch rates. The fish are there, they are just difficult to catch. I am confident that this is because the fish in Burke Lake are just smarter than your average bass.

I bet there is an excellent forage base in that lake.  Well fed fish are loathe to bite.

It's funny how Burke is ranked #2 in bass fishing behind the Occoquan but noboby seems to be able to catch fish there (myself included). There has to be a way. ;D

Those ratings are based on electrosampling, not catch rates. The fish are there, they are just difficult to catch. I am confident that this is because the fish in Burke Lake are just smarter than your average bass.

Yeah I know, they're highly pressured but there has to be a finesse technique or something that will catch em'. I may give it another try or two this year.

BTW I heard some guys talking last weekend while at the launch at fountainhead, and one guy said he was "whackin' them at Burke" the day before...

Burke Lake is full of large fish. Bass, muskie, walleye. I used to fish Burke twice a week 15 years ago and can tell you things have changed a bit since then. Water clarity is the biggest change, next would be the amount of fertilzer that runs off into the lake. Believe me those big fish still exsist. My favorite time to fish Burke is December! Big fish all together in the brush piles. Next best time would be dead of summer at night, clearer water makes the daytime bite tough at times. Let me know if anyone needs more help at Burke

It's funny how Burke is ranked #2 in bass fishing behind the Occoquan but noboby seems to be able to catch fish there (myself included). There has to be a way. ;D

Those ratings are based on electrosampling, not catch rates. The fish are there, they are just difficult to catch. I am confident that this is because the fish in Burke Lake are just smarter than your average bass.

Yeah I know, they're highly pressured but there has to be a finesse technique or something that will catch em'. I may give it another try or two this year.

BTW I heard some guys talking last weekend while at the launch at fountainhead, and one guy said he was "whackin' them at Burke" the day before...

I heard something similar last week when at Accotink.  A guy said his son pulled in a 10lber at Burke recently...but then again to untrained eye a 4/5lb LMB might look like a 10lb fish.  Btw, we were there because my son participated in a community kids tourney....my boy won "longest fish", but was beat out for "heaviest fish" by his friend who caught an eel.  Believe it or not my son PROTESTED...haha, when I heard that, I was LMAO  .  He said technically it's not a fish.  They obviously counted any species at that kid's tourney...it was a fun day for him.

Yeah, I'd definitely call BS on the 10lber

Onthereel: Congrats to your son! sounds like a fun day.

Quanjig: Thanks, I'll shoot you a pm before I decide to head out there.

I fished Burke yesterday.  Had a pretty good go at it.  Got on the water around 9am (Late I Know) and started first thing on a topwater poppers, off of the little weed edges and the fish were sucking it under and not hitting the bait, very subtle strikes all day.  The buzzbaits were too aggressive I suppose cause no hits on those.  The topwater stopped producung fast.  The pattern for the rest of the day was catching the majority of the fish on laydowns and stumps in the small bays off the main lake and around the island or isolated weed clumps in the shadows when the sun came out.  T-rigged creatures,  space monkeys on weighted swimbait hooks and wacky rigged senkos were the weapon of choice, all in watermelon with red flake.  Around 2 or so the Sun came out and the wind picked up and the bites completely shut down.  I did manage to pull a few hits on a "Sexy Shad" plastic swim bait, but they were short strikes and even with a sure set style treble rigged on the back of the main hook I couldn't get a hook set.  Seems to be a problem of mine not to be able to get a hook set while using the plastic swim baits.  I think I yank the bait out of the mouth before they get a good chance to eat the bait.

Never counted but must have landed about 15 fish, the majority in the 1-2 pound range, 3 or so in the 3-4 pound range but nothing too big.  Quality healthy looking fish though!  Good chunkers.   Hope that this report helps.  Any questions just ask.  

Thanks for all your responses.

I ended up going to Fountain head got a couple 1 on a shallow swimmimng live minnow and the other on a Rapala Deep diver other than that nada. spent 4 hours on the water but it was still nice to get out.

another siteER- nice report glad someone had some luck this weekend.

Not to stray off topic, but if you guys get a chance, Lake Fairfax should be really good this week. A couple of late spawners are sitll sitting on beds and I caught a 5 bass limit there on Friday just sight fishing from the bank, all averaging about 3 lbs. Still a fun time to just sight fish nevertheless.

when does the designated trout season end at Lake Fairfax? I don't want to buy a trout stamp to fish for bass...

I'm pretty sure trout fishing has ended at Lake Fairfax...

I work there in the summer and was in the back room yesterday and saw all the trout signage so I can only guess it's ended.

Cool. I thought it said June but that's good to hear. Do you have to pay to fish the lake? I always wanted to fish it but it's location and trout stocking program always put me off.