Anyone around here fish Leesvile much or at all?

I went for the first time this afternoon and really liked the way the lake looked and the water temp was around 70 degrees almost everywhere I fished but didn't have any luck but hey it was the first time I had been there. Still a good learning experience and the lake was very quiet and peaceful without much boat traffic at all. All in all a fun trip but was wondering if anyone around here had any advice for me on this lake. Thanks! -Eddie 8-)

I used to hate that place when I first started fishing there. There is no constant water level when they pull water almost every hour, very little shoreline cover and the bass were somewhat hard to find at times. The lake has very few docks which means not many houses which means not many people on the lake. I like that.

It's gotten better for me though and I actually dont mind fishing there now. It's a great crankbait/jerkbait lake. I've done my best either down near the dam or up in the skinny river section....there's a couple creeks in the middle that aren't bad but I definitely like the dam or river sections better. There are some big bass as well as huge stripers swimming there. I think it's very possible that the next Virginia state record largemouth may come out of Leesvile.  

One of my Team Fat Boy team mates (slider head) loves the place, maybe he'll stop in and give you some info. Where you at slider head?  

State record out of Leesville??????? FBL you have taken one too many Flintstones!!!!!!

The tidy bowl man needs to reside on Leesville!

There is no shoreline cover because its all floating around in the lake!

Here is the REAL LIFE Leesville breakdown....

First!: There are 5 bass in Leesville! (somehow over the last 2 years FBL managed to catch 3 of em each time we had to go to that hole) After the spawn this year there might be 6 bass. There are 3 "community holes" on Leesville each holding 2 of the 6 bass. Take a number.

Second: The water level will drop 6 feet per day sometimes.

3rd: Sadam's air horn will drive you nuts going off every half hour as they pull water!

4th: Its almost always full of trash. (A)I was there once and at the widest part of the stinking lake (about 1/4 mile) you could walk from bank to bank on the garbage! You could not even get to the upper half of the lake! ( another time....a tree trunk that was so big....if you carved out the middle you could of had a wooden boat big enough for 15 people drifted back and forth by me 72 times in one day while they pulled all that water! ©Yet another time, we got there one morning and it took 10 of us to pull a tree slightly smaller than the one above that had gotten lodged under the dock and blocking the ramp so we could launch. This was a result of them dropping the water level 12 feet the night before. (D) NEVER run wide open down that lake........when they start pulling water all that garbage gets pulled just below the surface! Anyone reading this.....if you know how to repair props. Sell everything you own right now. Move to Leesville lake Va. Open a prop/hull repair shop. This is a guaranteed cant miss get rich quick.

and now for the ALL time Leesville kicker.........

We were there for a tourney once. It was early morning. I was fishing in the back of this creek. Off in the distance.....about a half mile. A pack of 15 maybe 20 dogs get to chasing something. After about a half hour the dogs were on top of the ridge to my right. A hillbilly on the ridge to my left....takes a shot with a gun...OVER MY HEAD to scare the dogs off. Dogs come running down the ridge everywhere into the lake and swimming across to get away! I yelled at the hillbilly that I was down there....no reply. On a good note.....the barking stopped.

So in summary of Leesville......there are 6 bass in there. You may become sea sick from the fluctuating water level. You will have to dodge garbage all day in pursuit of the six bass. After 4 to 5 hours of Sadam's air horn you will begin to talk to yourself. Beware of packs of barking dogs and hillbilly's with guns.

Other than those few things......its a fine lake.....Enjoy and GOOD LUCK!

State record out of Leesville??????? FBL you have taken one too many Flintstones!!!!!!

The tidy bowl man needs to reside on Leesville!

There is no shoreline cover because its all floating around in the lake!

Here is the REAL LIFE Leesville breakdown....

First!: There are 5 bass in Leesville! (somehow over the last 2 years FBL managed to catch 3 of em each time we had to go to that hole) After the spawn this year there might be 6 bass. There are 3 "community holes" on Leesville each holding 2 of the 6 bass. Take a number.

Second: The water level will drop 6 feet per day sometimes.

3rd: Sadam's air horn will drive you nuts going off every half hour as they pull water!

4th: Its almost always full of trash. (A)I was there once and at the widest part of the stinking lake (about 1/4 mile) you could walk from bank to bank on the garbage! You could not even get to the upper half of the lake! ( another time....a tree trunk that was so big....if you carved out the middle you could of had a wooden boat big enough for 15 people drifted back and forth by me 72 times in one day while they pulled all that water! ©Yet another time, we got there one morning and it took 10 of us to pull a tree slightly smaller than the one above that had gotten lodged under the dock and blocking the ramp so we could launch. This was a result of them dropping the water level 12 feet the night before. (D) NEVER run wide open down that lake........when they start pulling water all that garbage gets pulled just below the surface! Anyone reading this.....if you know how to repair props. Sell everything you own right now. Move to Leesville lake Va. Open a prop/hull repair shop. This is a guaranteed cant miss get rich quick.

and now for the ALL time Leesville kicker.........

We were there for a tourney once. It was early morning. I was fishing in the back of this creek. Off in the distance.....about a half mile. A pack of 15 maybe 20 dogs get to chasing something. After about a half hour the dogs were on top of the ridge to my right. A hillbilly on the ridge to my left....takes a shot with a gun...OVER MY HEAD to scare the dogs off. Dogs come running down the ridge everywhere into the lake and swimming across to get away! I yelled at the hillbilly that I was down there....no reply. On a good note.....the barking stopped.

So in summary of Leesville......there are 6 bass in there. You may become sea sick from the fluctuating water level. You will have to dodge garbage all day in pursuit of the six bass. After 4 to 5 hours of Sadam's air horn you will begin to talk to yourself. Beware of packs of barking dogs and hillbilly's with guns.

Other than those few things......its a fine lake.....GOOD LUCK!

;) ;)

Now that is what I call an "inside scoop"

All of the above stories are true. I will state that those stories were mostly from when I first started fishing Leesville 5-6 years ago. I think we went there once last year? Right FBL? And I will say........it was the cleanest I had ever seen it. It really did look good. The 6 bass is a bit of a falsehood. There might be 50 or so in there.

I had 1 good tourney there if you want to call it that. We had a guy in the club back then who spent as much time getting reports from everyone and reporting it to everyone else as he did fishing. He came up to me and said what do you have? I had 4.5-5lbs. He said well you have second then. X has 6 lbs. I thought man another fish or 2 and I can win this. I have 4 hrs to do it......I can do this! Then the remnants of Hurricane Charlie rolled through the lake. It flat freakin poured sideways for the final 4 hrs. At one point I had a couple inches of water standing in the back of the boat and the bilge never quit for like 45 minutes at one point. The other guy never caught another fish and I did not either. I got second. The spot where I caught those fish as of last year was on dry land 2 feet avove my head as I stood in the boat! Now that's water drop!

Another time it was about 110 degrees. I had been out there 7 hrs and was blanking. Sweat was pouring and I was beat. It was the last cast. I was putting it on the trailer and slinking out of there. I was standing there and about 6ft from the boat a 2lber comes swimming by. I remember laughing to myself.......man well there is 1 bass in this lake. Wait:.....whats that hanging out of its mouth? Its my worm! Hot dog I am not going to blank! I was not going to miss this fish. So I rared back and threw steel like never before. Jerked it right out of his mouth....line flew back and something smacked me in the sun glasses. I thought holy crap I have broken my Oakleys! I took them off real quick and was pleased I did not bust them. About that time I began bleeding pretty good. The bullet weight made a perfect circle cut in my forehead. I was certain for awhile it was going to take stitches.....but it didnt.

Leesville has never been good to me.....something always happend. Like all of the above stories. I am not a big fan of Leesville!

All of the above stories are true. I will state that those stories were mostly from when I first started fishing Leesville 5-6 years ago. I think we went there once last year? Right FBL?

Yep, thats right, last week in February, water was about 43-44. You and JVD both weighed in some that day didnt you? I went into that tournament not expecting much with the cold weather and water temps but it turned out to be the best day I've ever had on Leesville.

And I will say........it was the cleanest I had ever seen it. It really did look good. The 6 bass is a bit of a falsehood. There might be 50 or so in there

I dont know about that....the Feb. tournament last year I caught probably 12 or 13 off one big tree limb then another dozen or so on one dock on the Pointer. Problem was, nothing I caught was over 14". I finally put the Pointer away and whipped out the jig....I only caught 3 or 4 on the jig but one of those was almost 5# and one of the others helped me cull.

I know slider head remembers that cause he asked me what I caught that big one with and when I told him a jig he called me a liar about 20 times.

Leesville aint all that bad as long as things like slider head mentioned dont bother you.  

yeah yeah yeah...............

One more note. The one morning we had to remove the 15 foot log from underneathe the dock and off the ramp. Once we all got in....we had to wait for good light and troll out because there was so much garbage in the water no one could even blast off.

FBL had a good tourney last Feb.....he remembers it fondly now. I had one close to 5 lbs if not 5 that day. I figured it would be good for lunker. FBL's topped it. Still not convinced he caught it on a jig. I don't really care at all.............I AM JUST GLAD I do not have to go back there anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FBL? Given a choice would you really choose to go back to Leesville???? Seriously???? Kinda like Scruggs wouldn't you say?

FBL? Given a choice would you really choose to go back to Leesville???? Seriously???? Kinda like Scruggs wouldn't you say?

Yeah man, I aint skeered! I actually went back down there the week after I won that last one. Go on and get your stuff ready and we'll hit it in the morning.

Scruggs Ramp is a dump but there's hardly anybody on Leesville.....ever, well, except your gun totin' hillbilly buddy. The lack of jet-ski's, pontooners, skiers and tubers is very appealing to me. Cant get that on Smith.

Yeah man, I aint skeered! I actually went back down there the week after I won that last one. Go on and get your stuff ready and we'll hit it in the morning.

Leesville??? in the morning???? ummmm I ummmm I can't..........I uhhhhhhhhh.....I gotta.......ummmmmmmm.........I have a bikini wax appointment.......and then uuhhhhhhhhh I ummmmmmmmm gotta go visit my mother in law and uhhhhh wash her car. Yeah thats it!

Sorry....cant make it tomorrow. I will see you  bright and early Sunday though on SML. Try not to be late for once!!!  

Wow sounds like you don't particulary care for leesville too much lol but I really liked the lake due to low boat traffic but yes there was trash and trees and crap floating around but it wasn't too bad where we fished. I put in at the lower boat ramp off of 29 which was a mistake on my part because I really wanted to get up to the ramp near the dam and come down the lake a bit.

The water level increases and decreases was very weird for me at first, it looked as if I was floating in 3 different directions at one time when I was on the main channel   I still would like to try it again and see what happens. Keep in mind I'm pushing a 12 foot jon boat with a 9.9 so im not blasting up the lake too fast so the small sticks and trash don't really bother me too bad.

I gotta.......ummmmmmmm.........I have a bikini wax appointment

I shoulda known....

I will see you  bright and early Sunday though on SML. Try not to be late for once!!!

If we could actually have a tournament on the upper end of the lake for once, arriving late wouldn't be an issue. It takes me almost an hour and a half to get to the State Park. It's only about 35 minutes to Scruggs though. I'm voting Morman's Ramp for every tournament next year.

IMPY, if you've got a 9.9, I'd recommend the section down by the dam, the upper river type section has some serious current.

You mean putting in at the ramp where if I was to take a left out of the cove I would be headed towards smith mountain, right? or is there another boat ramp up the a lake a little further?

You mean putting in at the ramp where if I was to take a left out of the cove I would be headed towards smith mountain, right? or is there another boat ramp up the a lake a little further?

Yes, the ramp at the dam (lower end) is the one I'm talking about. There is some good fishing close by that area, several main channel points and cuts as well as lots of rocky banks.

There is another ramp at a little place called 'Pit Stop'....it's a convenience store type deal with a public pool, it's up the lake on the left behind the island. You can get there (by land) by keeping straight instead of turning to go to the dam ramp.

Ok I got ya, Thanks a lot guys.

I've fished Leesville a decent amount and it is definitely a challenge.  I used to fish out of a 14' carolina skiff so I spend a good deal of time on Leesville during the summer months so I could avoid the crazies on SML.  It definitely has some big fish ( I caught 8lbers on back to back trips one July on a carolina Rig) and you get to experience different water levels by the hour. I agree with 5bass that it is a great jerkbait/crankbait lake as well as a good jig lake.

One thing that I did figure out though is that the fish don't move as much with the changing lake levels as they do on other, more stable lakes.  So when the water gets high and in the bushes and looks like you should just cave their heads in flipping, they tend to be near the original bankline instead.  I guess they know the lake isn't going to stay high for more than a few hours so they don't waist the energy.   ;D

I don't know about the fishing, but the hunting is d**n good.