Went out Saturday. Cool in the AM. got a flat on the trailer on the way out, that sucked and wasted an hour. got on the water at about 10am. An hour later caught two decent crappie within two casts out in the middle on a drop off and that was it all day. Dont know what I am doing wrong. full sun day, little breeze, water temps were between 50- 54. Threw black and blue jigs with trailers, rapalas Xraps(x2) different colors, deep diver cranks, crawdad cranks. All moving really slowly with pauses. From my (not quite sure how to work it yet) fish finder it looked like there were fish around. ? I dont know,  anyone in the VA area having any luck?

Abel is extra sucky in fall/winter. Spring and summer is okay but nothing spectacular. I live right down the road btw.

Six inch green pumpkin finesse worm on a shaky head. 

Abel isn't that bad  in the fall, just tough to find the fish. There are so many places for them to be. Last fall they were near the point on the other side of the launch.

Tried around that point with cranks and slow jigging, finder was showing only 6-8 ft of water?? looked deeper than that the way the bank sloped. Did see a big ol beaver go in the water right there. probably scared any fish that were there off. Any way gonna give my home lake a shot Friday out here in King George. Presidential lakes. Did well this summer missed the whole month of October due to work. they are definetly not hitting on or sitting in the same places they were in August...  Tried my lake twice only catching a small one each time, both on smaller cranks. but that was before I learned about fall/winter fishing and some of the techniques. SO any Idea where the bigger bass will be holding up?  just general tips would be appreciated, you know depth, cover, that sort of info would be great. thanks for the replies

By the way really enjoyed the lake, nice scenery, deep, tons of cover, lay downs, drop offs, rocks , it had it all. looks like a great place fish. Not sure though it was my first time there

anyone in the VA area having any luck?

I was out on Saturday in NoVa (Huntsman, in Springfield). Caught 7 lmb (biggest 3lbs 2oz), and not one of them was in water deeper than 2.5ft. I tried both deep and shallow, but they were all really shallow. Most were on a jig worked fairly slow, but I had a couple on Rapala Flat Rap. So I suspect that maybe you were thinking the fish had gone deep when they actually were still shallow. I don't know Lake Abel though, so that's just conjecture on my part...

I used to live in Stafford county and fished Abel alot. Great lake with many species. The scenery is awesome...... Used to fish it at least once or twice weekly. In the warmer months, a spinnerbait/buzzbait over the grass worked great. My pb largemouth was caught in the back of the lake a few years ago. Still miss fishing it .......

yeah , I think they are all sstill shallow in our parts, buddy and I hit our home lake, 2 LMB caught, both in less tan 5 feet. mine was right on the bank in a bout 2 feet of water near some logs, his was in the middle caught on a shallow running crank. crazy *** bass I got no clue where they are