Looking to get out tommorrow and trying to find someone who would like to split rental costs for a full day.

Places I'm considering are all less than an hour drive from Nova, we could meet up at my place or at the lake.

Want to be on the water around 8 and off by 3:45 or 4.

Probably Brittle. Was gonna include Germantown but they don't do weekday rentals until memorial Day like most. Orange is closed Tuesday and Wednesdays this month so that option is shot too. Motts is closed til April 1st for rentals.

Later.

Dang! I'd love to fish tomorrow, cept I have to work =/. Good luck though, I hear that place is pretty tough and gets a lot of pressure.

no bueno indeed....

Yea I know about the pressure and stuff.  More so just a lack of options.  Don't have a yak and most places don't rent during the week until Memorial Day.  So I'm gonna give it a try.  I've gone over the map on the vdgif site a few times (depth areas and artificial cover), checked the lake out on google maps and thought about patterns and such that I'm gonna work on.  I figure I should be able to get something going.  We'll see...

If I don't get anyone in on it I'll probably just fish from shore at one of the local lakes as I'm not dropping 70 bucks for a day of fishing, no matter how much I want to be off shore.

I haven't tried Brittle yet this year, but my experience is that this early there isn't much there. I was at Germantown Sat. from 7am-1pm and didn't get anything there. The water temps were between 50-54 then. There were probably 10-15 boats out inclulding my son-in-law & I and everyone I spoke with said that with the temps things were real slow, but should pick up in a week or two. I may try brittle this weekend with my brother-in-law, but will see how the weather is going to be first.

Good Fishing  8-)

Thanks Rick.  Germantown was an option until I called today and they said they aren't doing weekday rentals yet.  My dad and I have done decently well there in the past.  The crank bite bait there in another week or two should be awesome.  Especially the Red Eye Shad.

I'll let you know how Brittle goes and if it's worth you goin' next week or not.  Any advice on what isn't working per Germantown right now since the lakes are in similar condition?  How muddy was the top end of Germantown (opposite the dam) with the run in there?  What type of patterns were you working?  Just trying to get some ideas as the lakes seem to be in the same time frame right now as far as the temps go.

Not sure why but we threw everything we had in multiple spots and didn't get a hit all day. I heard that earlier in the week spinners were working some. The water was still murky Sat. and may clean up some if we get decent weather after this rain today. There was some action as off the dock they were catching small crappie & cats. I'll look forward to your report on brittle and wish I could be of more help.

Good Fishing  8-)

Good stuff man, ANY help helps.  Even if it's to eliminate unproductive stuff.

My first thought is since this rain isn't terribly cold is to try the run in area on the shallow end of the lake.  I was gonna throw spinnerbaits and smaller swim jigs there to start.

If that doesn't work I have a underwater point uplake opposite side of the launch I want to try with various baits.  Problems gonna be locating it without a depth finder, gonna have to wing that one.  If the water is clearer up here I'll probably try some jerkbaits, but aside from that I was thinking lipless cranks, a drop shot rig and possibly some SK Coffee Tubes.

Last resort I figure I'll just fish the area where the two sides of the lake come together as there is a nice channel that runs through it about 14 feet deep, I figure this area may possibly bunch some bait if there is a bit of current from the higher than normal water level and post front breeze.

If anything else I'll just throw a shakey rig with a pro senko or baby rage craw and see if I can force a bite on the deep 10 ft flats I found south part of the lake (figure the fish have probably backed off some with this weather).

I seriously think you'd be better off beating the bank than paying to fish a place like Brittle. You are very likely to get skunked at that place, why pay for it?

Ponds that have been muddy lately are warming up very quickly. If you can find some that are starting to clear now, they should give up some fish although with more rain today that might be hard.

My boat will be done soon so no worries. We'll get out there on the river asap! Oh and I went down and checked the ramps at leesylvania today and there was tons of logs washed up on the ramps and the water was brown. I dont see how anyone is catching fish out there unless the creeks are alot clearer then the main river. Guess I'll have to see for myself as soon as I get out there .

The darker water is warming quickly. Almost 60 degrees last I heard.

Well, no body was interested in the Brittle trip (though I got two awesome pms from a couple of long time vets on here with tons of info on how productive the lake can be), so today I will more than likely pond hop.  Fishing a new pond I found that is about 8 or 9 miles from my place, looks promising, also probably swing by another local pond with my dad around 2 and inbetween that I am trying to get permission from a local golf course to try out one of their ponds.  So anyway looks like pond hopping.  If anyone is interested I'm not leaving here til 11, just hit me up and I will pm you with my number and we can make plans.

Steve, thanks dude I can't wait to hit Potomac and Anna with you man.  Should be good times.  Later.

On my way out.  Golf course pond, Pond 1, Pond 2.  I pmed a few of the guys I have been talking to over the last few days in case you get a chance to meet me out there.  Later.

My boat will be done soon so no worries. We'll get out there on the river asap! Oh and I went down and checked the ramps at leesylvania today and there was tons of logs washed up on the ramps and the water was brown. I dont see how anyone is catching fish out there unless the creeks are alot clearer then the main river. Guess I'll have to see for myself as soon as I get out there .

The creeks are better but still stained for the most part.  Aquia (mouth) is fairly clean and the grass is thick but the bite was hit or miss their Sunday.  Some people caught good ones but others got skunked.  Definetly not as hot as it was this time last year.  Inside the creek the bite is better.  Mattowoman is stained but again the bite was hit or miss.  Saturday it was hot but Sunday we saw very few keepers caught.  I remeber last year seeing 10-15 boats sitting in the grass outside Smallwood.  Sunday I saw one or two.  I think it's still early.   

I'm sure Brittle can be good, I just wouldn't bet the price of boat rental that the day you go is going to be one of those days but maybe that's just me.

Gotta chance to fish with Jason yesterday for bout an hour from shore. No bites but at least I got some exercise ;D

Thanks for the info NOVA Angler. Hopefully by the time I get out this weekend or so, the water will have cleared up some. All this wind and rain doesnt help much.

Hey Steve,

I had fun meeting up with you though yesterday wasn't the ideal day to fish apparently. Still great chattin and gettin' some casts in.

It's down to  Briery this weekend with my dad (Saturday).  Our big trip for the spring.  Been planning it for a while.

Will post when I return Saturday night and hopefully I'll have some pics.  We will see.  I'm swinging for the fences all day.  No other way to do it down there.

I made it back down to the spot you showed me today and did catch one about 2 pounds on a spinnerbait. Didnt get any other bites tho. This was around 6-7 pm. Talked to the guy at the marina today and my boat will be ready as soon as the part gets there any day now. So I'll be back up and running soon.

Good stuff man, glad one of us got bit.  I guess we were right when we said if they were gonna hit anything it was gonna be that.

Let me know what days are good for you the next couple of weeks.  I already have Monday off this upcoming week and I'll be headed out with my dad so it may have to wait til' the second week in April, but we will see.