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Name: Jeffrey Banko
Email:
Date: 11/28/05
Time: 1:00 - 4:00
Lower James River
windy and cloudy but 71 degrees out
very stained
Old Appomattox River Channel
1 LMB
Kreture bait
0 - 6 feet
Wanted to get a few hours in today before my boat weny into the shop for some work. Only caught one dink and lost one small one. Think the rain the night before plus all of the frontal activity going on shut my hot bite down.
Name: rattlesnake
Email:
Date: 11/24/05
Time: 8:30 - 2:00
Leesville Lake
sunny and windy
53 deg. and stained to dingy
from around goats island, up to bridge
one smallmouth
crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs
5 to 20'
tried to find fish in the back of some creeks or cuts without any luck at all. no baitfish seen. ended up going up the lake and started fishing a rock bluff wall on the sunny side, about 1/4mi. below the bridge. was throwing a black/blue jig bouncing down the rock when i finally got a bite. when the fish broke the water i could not believe it, it was a smallmouth. first smallmouth that i have caught from leesville. fish was a little over 21" long and weighed 4.6lbs on my digital scales. got off the water around 2:00 since the wind was howling. would have liked to keep fishing the rock bluff and see if i could have caught a few more but decided with wind picking up, i wanted to find someone i could show the fish to. ended up finding a family on their dock and they were nice enough to take some photos for me. tight lines and God Bless.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 11/27/05
Time: 11:00 - 4:00
Lower James River
50 Degrees and clear, light breeze
48.5 degress, stained
Old Channel Appomattox River
20 LMB
Creature Baits, Spinner Baits, Ring Worms
0 - 6 feet
Fish around laydowns and other hard structure
fished with Rich K. and one of his buds, Marcello, today. I caught 12 LMB and Rich and Marcello each caught 4. Pretty awesome to have 20 fish in the boat at the end of November.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email: vafishing@comcast.net
Date: 11/23/05
Time: 12:00 to 4:0
Lower James River
Windy, Windy, Windy, and cold 45 degrees
never checked
Appommattox River Old Channel
8 LMB
Creature Baits and Dead Ringer worms in June Bug
0 - 5 feet
Pitched the creature baits and the dead ringers around laydowns and along chunk rock walls.
Awesome day on the Appomattox today considering it was very cold and really windy. Caught 8 bass, biggest going around 4 pounds and several in the 2 - 3 range. Actually had probably 20 - 30 bites but the wind was just so bad it made it hard to get good hook ups. Anyway glad I froze my butt off it was worth it. Oh yeah, I know they proably won;t see it but want to say thanks to the 3 guys that helped me get my boat off of the bar. Really extreme low tide today caught me in it's arms, ughhhhh...
Name: Rich K
Email: wishiniwasfishi@verizon.net
Date: 11/20/05
Time: 9:00 - 3:00P
Lower James River
Clear with high clouds
53 deg Muddy water
Appomatox River, old channel, pye alley
11 LMB smallest was 12.5" biggest was 18"
Spinner bait and smallie beaver
1' - 12'
Slow rolling/bouncing
fished last half outgoing tide, and first half incoming, was on fish from my first spot above Hopewell. Good day for me, but they havent quite move into the areas I like best.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 11/19/05
Time: 1:00 - 5:00
Lower James River
clear skies, around 55 degrees out
Dutch Gap Area
O
Shad and Bream
Took a buddy to try and catch some cats today. Could not even catch bait. Looked everywhere and could not find any good concentrations of bait to catch with my cast net. Only managed four small shad and bream and did not catch anything on them.
Name: rattlesnake
Email:
Date: 11/11/05
Time: 6:30 - 2:00
Smith Mountain
sunny and a little windy
slight stain
campers down to becky's and betty's
largemouth
spinnerbaits, crankbaits, buzzbait, jigs and plastics
3-15
caught 3.3lber on a buzzbait first thing. tried jigs on docks for a while and had no luck.caught a few on spinnerbaits near the back of a creek and a couple on crankbaits on secondary points. ended up with 7 fish and 3 keepers.
fish were really scattered. could not find a lot of shad activity in the backs of any creeks i fished. was fishing against 2 other fellas and when i was checking the livewell they had spit out some crayfish. i caught my last keeper on a soft plastic crawdad. God Bless and good fishing.
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 11/12/05
Time: 07:00-15:00
Lake Gaston
COLD AM 30 deg at blast off, foggy bluebird skies
slight stain 58-62 deg
Poplar, 6 pound and Holly grove creeks
2 short LMB for me
Rattletrap, spinner bait, flukes
2-25'
Slow, tried to top the grass in 5'-10' of water
Fished a mini T with some of the BBC folks, I think there were 18 boats total. 3 or 4 goose eggs including me. Best bag was 3 for around 7.5. It was a tough day fishing for everyone, most were on fish, but all short. It was still better than being at work!
Name: BassKat
Email:
Date: 11/11/05
Time: 0630-1330
Sandy River Reservoir
foggy am chilly @ 30 degrees then blue bird skies
clear to lightly stained
mid to upper
Bass
spinnerbait, senkos, trickworms, pig/jig
shallow to 12 feet
slow on plastics, burning the spinnerbait
Great day. Best 5 fish about 13 pounds. Caught on spinnerbait and pig/jigs. Saw one fish about 6 pounds rolled spinnerbait at the boat and another went airborne after the jig at the boat. They didn't want plastics today for some reason. Son missed a few on the hook set. May give up the first few days in a tree to be back on the water. Tightlines
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 11/08/05
Time: 3-5pm
Upper James River
great weather, warm and clear
very clear water with leaves
Pool under the "Pipeline Overlook" again. 12th and Byrd St. downtown Richmond.
2 LMB, 6 Crappie, lost count of the Sunfish.
Nightcrawler pieces on a hook and bobber.
2-3 ft below the bobber
Cast and wait, it doesnt take long.
Went back to this spot again today. It was my day off and I had plenty of "projects", but you just cant beat a couple of good hours of fishing. Threw all fish back today. My neighbor who eats them wasnt with us today. Bill
Name: Ray
Email: v23842@aol.com
Date: 11/08/05
Time:
Lower James River
warm & sunny
clear
main river from Osborne landing to just below I-295 bridge and the barge yard
LMB
Crankbaits and spinner baits
10 ft. or less
Caught only three today. I used to live on the river in the Fall and the fishing was exceptional then. For the last two years its less then desirable. I was told that the fishing would be back this Fall, but you can't prove it by me.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 11/05/05
Time: 4pm-530pm
Upper James River
sunset, nice, warm
clear
12th and Byrd St. beneath the "Pipeline Overlook" in downtown Richmond. Its next to the flood wall.
LMB, SMB, lots of Bluegill, Crappie, Channel catfish
The old worm and bobber.
2-3ft below bobber.
Watch the bobber
This is a great spot if you work downtown and want to wet a line during lunch break. Its full of panfish. Fish the "pool" of water directly below the "Pipeline Overlook".We were catching fish on just about every cast until it got dark. We did have two big pole benders, but with the small worm hooks neither got landed. Besides the fish we caught, there are also some large Bowfin (Grinnel) and Flat Heads in there. Stripers this time of year too.
Name: Ray
Email: v23842@aol.com
Date: 11/03/05
Time: 8:00--2:00
Lake Chesdin
Bright sunny blue bird skies
clear
Whippernock Creek
one LMB, one Pike
Rat-L-Trap, spinner bait
shallow, less then 3 ft.
Caught the bass on a Rat-L-Trap and the pike on a chartruse spinner bait
Tough post frontal conditions. High sky and bright sun.
Name: Rich K
Email: wishiniwasfishin@verizon.net
Date: 10/30/05
Time: 11:00 - 3:30
Lower James River
Clear, warming throughout the day
55 deg incoming tide
Appomattox river, old channel
LMB largest about 2 lbs
Spinner bait, pegged t-rigged creature baits
0-12'
Slow rolling spinner, Flippin' creatures into laydowns
Great day for me, and my son. Caught the 2 lb'er on a spinner bait, the main hook got him on the inside, and the trailer on the outside. Moved to a different spot and got into them with the creature type bait. I caught no less than 10 fish off the same tree. It's been a long time since I've had fish hit that hard. twice I almost lost grip on my pole, man what a feeling. My 5 yr old helped me reel in a few of 'em. You couldn't beat the look on his face when he was catching his fish.
Name: Mike F
Email:
Date:
Time:
Open Team Bass Tourney @ Abel Reservior
Weekend Bassers will hold an Open Team Bass Tournament at Abel Lake from 7am to 3pm on November 6th Payout will be 70% with 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Big Fish. There may be an optional side Big Fish Pot too. 1 or 2 people allowed per boat. This is an electric only lake but gas motors must be trimmed up. For more info contact Mike at 571-247-1017
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 10/27/05
Time: 2:30 - 6:00
Lower James River
Clear and in the 60's
Stained
Barge Pit
5 LMB
Ringworm, Creature Baits.
0 - 10 feet
Cast around any structure
Fished with Rich K. today for a few hours. Only managed 5 fish no big ones. Rich lost one small one.
Name: Jeffrey Banko
Email:
Date: 10/22&23
Time: 7:00am3:15
Lower James River
Saturday overcast and breezy, Sunday was a beutiful day
Stained
Herring Creek, Main River and Barge Pits
Saturday 3 keepers for 5-4#s and Sunday 5 for 6-12# but caught like 40 fish.
Finesse worms in red shad, june bug, and mocassin blue. Creature baits in black and blue
0 - 12 feet
Pitching the worms and creature baits to hard cover. Most fish came from pilings.
Fished club classic on the James River. Saturday I finished 8th which was good enough to get to the second day should have been better but broke some good fish off. Sunday was great day. Caught like 40 fish and had my limit of 5 by 9:30. Spent from 9:30 to 3:00 trying to find that one kicker fish but never did. Cost me as I came in second by about a half pound to one of the other guys who only had 3 fish but had one 4 pounder. Well that is my luck or lack there of this year...
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 10/16/05
Time: 7 - 3:30
Lower James River
Windy, Widny, windy, but clear skies
stained
Herring Creek and Chippokes Creek
3 LMB
Finesse worms red shad and june bug, creature baits in blues and blacks
0 - 10 feet
Pitching every piece of cover
Fished ABA T on the chick/James. Not a bad day caught 3 keepers and lost one more that was a nice fish. Would have been close to the money but came in 3 minutes late due to a damaged prop and the penalty killed me.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 10/25/05
Time: afternoon
Upper James River
light rain,windy,chilly
That little pool near the new condos around 8th st. and Bank St. downtown Richmond. Right below the concrete overlook by the flood wall. Its hard to give directions to. Its not on a city map. But it IS there.
Bluegill, LMB, Flatheads
worms, bluegill, topwaters
There are all kinds of fish in this hole. Not very well known but its a honey hole and only access is from the bank. Saw some others walk out on the "pipe" walkway and catching stripers. They also had a 5lb LMB.
Name: Jeff K,
Email:
Date: 10/19/05
Time: 7:30-5
Lake Monticello
Beautiful, 80 at least
water temps in the 70's
camped 3 different spots.
LMB
BIG, MONSTER, HUGE, LIVE SHINERS (OR MINNOWS FOR SOME FOLKS OUT THERE)
UP TO 17-20FT
Ol bobber and wait. I picked areas where I thought fish would move to and from shallower water going after bait fish.
Since it was such a beautiful day Wed, I ordered up 4 dozen jumbo minnows from the local shop here and headed down to Lake Monticello. I camped out 3 different spots for about 3 hours each. Big cooler of food and drinks. Threw down 2 anchors and threw out 3 rods with live shiners. Caught 9 LMB. Smallest fish were 1 lb-1 lb 1/2 with lots of 2lbrs ... one fatty just shy of 4lbs and one really fat 5 lbr (on my scale). They really like those jumbo's .... no pecker heads can eat em (very easily that is). Unfortunatly .... I can't tell you how many times I either missed a fish (not getting to the rod fast enough) or was bringing in a fish when another bobber went under ..... this must have happend no less than 8-9 times ..... very frustrating. I feel like I missed some really nice fish since the ones I was catching had such nice bellies. Oh well .... I wanted to better my chances with 3 rods and I paid the price that comes with it. I wonder if this was my last GREAT day of fishing this year? I hope not. Cold front coming in this weekend with rain. Didn't use all the minnows so I may fish a farm pond near my mom's house on Saturday .... there are some nice fish in it. Tightlines all.
Name: Ray
Email: v23842
Date: 10/19/05
Time: 7am-2:30pm
Lake Chesdin
Bright bluebird skies
stained
Whippernock Creek, Stony Creek
LMB
Sp[inner bait, Rat-L-Trap
0-3 ft.
Caught one 4 pounder first this in the morning ripping a spinner bait thru the grass. Caught the next one 2 1/2 pounderfishing outside edge of grass on a Rat-L-Trap. Caught the third one another 2 1/2 pounder thesame way. Lost two at the boat both in the two pound range one on a spinner bait, and one on a Rat-L-Trap. All fish were caught in Whippernock Creek.
Name: Ray
Email: v23842@aol.com
Date: 10/18/05
Time: 7:00 am-2:30
Lake Chesdin
Clear Blue bird skies
stained
Whippernock Creek
LMB
Spinner bait, Rat-L-Trap
0-3 ft.
Fished the grass in Whippernock Creek, caught one dink, one 4 1/2 pound, two 3 1/2 pounds
First three fish came in the first 1/2 hour of fishing before the sun came up, last one came around 2:00 pm
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 10/18/05
Time: 10am-145pm
Private pond
Sunny 80*
Pond level about 1-1.5 feet below normal
Started shallow along banks and around dock. No luck. Took the canoe over to the dam side and had much better luck in the deeper water.
LMB. Caught 15 to 3lbs. And "The ONE that got away".
Rat-l-trap in Bluegill color
caught most fish deep. Pond is only 8ft deep. Fish were near the bottom
Havent been bass fishing in a while. It was nice to catch some fish. I will tell you about the big one that got away on the message board!
Name: Basskat
Email:
Date: 10/12/05
Time: 0600-1500
TomBigBee Waterway Columbus M TomBigBee Waterway
Foggy mornings blue bird skies in the afternoon
stained/heavy stain
Columbus Pool mostly, however did make several runs up or down river. Rules allowed to lock up 1 or down 1 only.
Bass mostly
Spinnerbaits, baby brush hogs, cranks
shallow
worked logs and hydrilla mats with any bait
BASS picked a heck of a place to hold a Regional. Picture a place like Briery, then add thick hydrilla mats and lilly pads as big as barrel. Prefished Monday, Tuesday and Wed. A lot of fish caught, but things slowed a bit on Tourney days. I thought a one time Santa had arrived when we pulled off the river and into an oxbow. Santa may have been there but he didn't leave presents. Then fished the mats in the midday sun. That was an experience. All in all not a bad year. Finished 9th overall in the division and 44th in Regional. Should have better, I know, There is always next year. Tightlines
Name: Joey Moore
Email: jjmoore@roperlumber.com
Date: 101605
Time: all day
Nottaway/Blackwater
little windy
little muddy
Sat-Nottaway Sun-Blackwater
2 bass, 1 bowfin Saturday 3 bass, i pickerel, 3 bream Sunday
soft plastics
4-10'
slow
Tough fishing this weekend, still had fun. I took friends with me both days, that was total fish caught between all of us! We will try harder next time!
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 10/16/05
Time: 11:00-2:30PM
Lower James River
Bluebird Skies, lots of wind
Choppy 68-70 Deg
Comstock
Bream-about 20
Nightcrawlers and bobber
2'
Toss it to the bank in shaded areas, and hand one of the kids their pole. Watch their face light up as they said I got another Dad.
I didn't catch any, but between working the t/m, and two 5 yr olds who could. They had a blast.
Name: bill
Email: bassin231@verizon.net
Date: 10/16
Time: 830am to 630
Chickahominy lake
windy, water temp 65 to67
high and trashie alot of milfold grass
stand alones, points and drop offs
pan fish, about 2 doz good ones
bass-cranks and spinners for bream red worms
4 to 12
fished arond strutures and points for bass but no luck. switch to bream fishing about lunch. caught about 2 doz good ones on drop offs
first time fishing the lake. will be going back again to try more luck at the bass. anybody got any tricks for the lake let me know
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 10/16/05
Time: late day
Upper James River
Clear beautiful day
high and muddy
James river locks park
Blue Gill and Crappie
Night crawlers
Shallow
Nightcrawler pieces on a small hook with a bobber
Caught a few blue gill and crappie on a worm on the James. Nothin special but just pan fishin was fun. Beautiful day.
Name: Vyper-P&J Fishing Enterprises
Email:
Date: 10/15/05
Time: 7am-2pm
Sandy River Reservoir
Clearand bright. Wind 15-20 mph
Clear as gin!
The whole lake!
LMB
C-rig and finesse worm
2ft-18ft
Slow!
Fished several differant bait, but the C-rig and a finesse worm caught the fish. It was a little slow all morning, but when the wind picked up, so did the fish. Had to fish the wind blown side of whatever structure you were fishing. Caught them high in the water column and several on the bottom.
Name: Dan
Email:
Date: 10/16
Time: 8-10 :(
Motts Reservoir
windy, mid 50s to 60s
clear, average
Turkey Run and Mine Run
3 Largemouth
wacky-rigged senko
shallow
A 4-pounder early and a 3.5 pounder a little after that...the final one was a half-pounder...my cousin (who made us late and then had to leave early) caught one small bass on a texas-rig worm.
Name: Rich K
Email: wishiniwasfishin@verizon.net
Date: 10/13/05
Time: 1:30-5:30 PM
Lower James River
Cloudy off/on drizzle, windy
Outgoing tide, HIGH water 68 deg
Hopewell ramp to Anchor Point, then ran down to Herring Creek
None - Goose egg
Jig and trailer, and spinner bait
0-12'
Almost everything I could think of
Fished with Jeff again, actually behind him in seperate boats. Combined we had about 10 solid hits, but he managed the only hook up of the day. We were on fish the whole time, but they were super tight to cover, and very picky. I made a promise that I was going to practice pitching the jig, and stuck to it for most of the day. Got a few good pointers from Jeff which helped improve my casting accuracy. Maybe Sunday will be better
Name: rattlesnake
Email:
Date: 10/08/05
Time: 8:00 - 4:00
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
cloudy with rain late
73deg., 3 vis.
mainlake from rudds to nutbush
largemouth
crankbaits, spinnerbaits and plastics
top to 15'
fished mainlake points and cuts
fished against a few buddies in a little tournament. could not find any pattern. picked up 8 or 9 fish scattered here and there. majority caught on a crankbait on the mainlake. ended up with 5 for around 8lbs.
Name: rattlesnake
Email:
Date: 10/07/05
Time: 8:00-4:00
Lake Gaston
cloudy, windy and rain
temp. 73deg, 2' vis.
mainlake and peahill area
largemouth
topwater, crankbaits, jigs and plastics
top to 12'
tried to catch some schoolers early. caught a 8-9lb. striper right off the bat on a sammy.had a few blowups. went back in to some cuts and missed a 2 decent fish, one on a spinnerbait, the other on a jig. went back out to the mainlake and caught a nice 2.5lb bass on the sammy. was fishing a small tournament and ended up with 3 keepers a little over 6lbs.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 10/10/05
Time: 11:30 - 6:00
Briery Creek
CLoudy and rainy
fairly clear
701 ramp to south end of lake, stuck to channel areas.
3 lmb
Live shiner, plus cranks, jigs, and c-rig ring worm
10 - 25 feet
shiners on slip bobbers, everything else was just worked along channel drops and structure
Decided to go out and have a relaxed day fishing so actually brought live shiners with me. Only thing that i caught fish on. Landed 3 all in the 3 - 4 pound range and had one monster break my heart. Got it to within 10 feet of the boat and could see it was probably a double digit fish, guess it saw the boat because it took off tearing drag. On it's run it wrapped a tree, I tried to work it free but could not so I untied the boat from the tree I tied off on and motored over to the fish to try and get it free. Could see it clear as day wrapped probably 3 1/2 feet down. Tried and tried to get it off but could not, Finally after what was probably ten minutes I decided I had to try and reach it with the net and knock it off and hopefully get lucky. Well I got the fish off the hook and then she bolted right away from the net. Crushing to see a hog for that long and then not get it. :(
Name: Joey Moore
Email: jjmoore@roperlumber.com
Date: 100905
Time: 7:00am-3pm
Nottaway River
Overcast
little muddy
Various locations!
Spinnerbaits, plastics
2-12 ft
Slow and very deep in cover!
Me and my brother in law went Sunday, he has just started fishing this last few months, I've been teaching him well, he out fished me on Sunday! He did great, despite yesterdays conditions, we managed to have a great day on the river. I caught several bowfin, as he did as well! Largest, he caught, was 4-1/2 lbs, nothing to brag about. We both caught several bass, he caught the largest, 3-1/2 lbs. Others were small, this is the fourth trip on the river in a row we have caught and released a bass over 3 lb's, that is better than I have ever done! I did manage to catch a small small mouth, my second this year. Other notables for the day, he caught 2 pike that were 2lbs plus! Did not weigh them, only guessing! No redeyes yesterday, but still had a blast, given the conditions!
Name: Jeffrey Banko
Email:
Date: 10/9/05
Time: 11:30 - 5:30
Nottoway Lake
light rain most of the day
very light stain
entire lake
10 LMB, one big catfish
everything
0 - 20 feet
First time to Nottoway in awhile. Only managed 10 fish mostly small but did catch two nice 4# fish.
Name: Vyper -P&J Fishing Enterprises
Email:
Date: 10/8/05
Time: 7am-3pm
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
Overcast and rain. Little wind
Clear, slightly offcolored in bascks of some creeks.Temps-73-75
Bluestone to Rudds
Green ones and one toothy critter
Everything we had! Mainly cranks and blades
0-20ft.
Varied.
We caught what would have been a small limit. It was slow, piked up a fish here and there. Caught three on one spot in four cast was the best concetration we had. Bigger fish came on the rig and blade, numbers on cranks. We fished main lake from Bluestone to Rudds, then fished Rudds from the mouth to the back. Most fish came in the creeks, better fish came off main lake. Had shad everywhere, but nothing busting them. Most fish caught were deep!
Name: Jeff Banko
Email: vafishing@comcast.net
Date: 10/4/05
Time: 7:00 - 1:00p
Briery Creek
Mostly Sunny with some clouds, wind coming from the North end of the lake
Very Clear
From 701 Ramp all the way to the south end of the lake
5 LMB, 1 pickerel
Jigs, C-Rigged Worm, Buzzbait, Crankbaits, Horny Toad, jerkbait
0 - 25 feet
Fished the buzzbaits early on, then fished the horny toad on pad beds, and fished all other baits on channel drops.
Caught nothing on the buzzbaits, not even a blow up. Had two hit the horny toad in the pads but couldn't hook up with them. Then caught two smaller fish on a deep running crankbait, switched over to jigs and caught one 4+ on one of the channel drops I always fish, continued to head down lake alternating between the jig, worm, crankbait, and a senko. Few light pick ups but no real taker. Got to the end of the lake and fished some of my spots up there with no luck, the water is super clear up there and with the sun being up high it is tough. Also by then the wind got pretty strong and it was getting tough to fish so started to work my way back. Cuaght two more on the jig on channel drops one small and one around 3, then switched to a jerkbait to fish over all the grass beds on the way back and caught one pickerel. Tough day only 6 fish, only had maybe 7 or 8 hots all day including the fish caught. Seems that whenever that wind is blowing from the dam end of the lake to the south end of the lake that place just practically shuts down.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email: vafishing@comcast.net
Date: 10/3/05
Time: 12:30 - 6:00
Lower James River
Sunny but windy
Stained
Appomattox New Channel and Herring Creek
1 LMB
Jigs, Riongworn, Spinnerbait, Small Crankbaits
0 - 10 feet
Fished around docks, laydowns, any other structure i could find
Caught the fish off a Cut just as the outgoing tide was ending. Then plugged away through the slack and incoming tides with no success. Not even a pick up.
Name: Joey
Email: jjmoore@roperlumber.com
Date: 100205
Time: Afternoon
Nottaway River
pleasant, little warm!
little muddy
Lower end, down south!
A couple small bass, a couple small bowfin, one really nice 12" redeye!
Plastics
4-10 feet
Fished lay downs and drop offs, I think the tournament guys fished my honey hole out Sunday! Still had fun!
Still had a great day, I will report again Fri, taking Thursday off, me and the wife doing a little pond fishing! Nottaway later in the day!
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 10/02/05
Time: 10am-3pm
Lower James River
Sunny beautiful day
clear, 80*
Spray pits, barge pits, dutch gap, jones neck loop, all over
Blue cats
cut and whole live eels
shallow behind cove and deep in the channel
Carolina rigged
Fished hard today. Only caught two small catfish.. Thats the way it goes some days. Better luck next time. Lots of boats on the river. The sunken barge/crane/junk back near the spray pits is on a slow fire. Smoke and heat are coming from it. I dont really get it, as there is nothing on there that could burn. My girlfriend thinks homeless people are living on it but she has a vivid imagination. I fished under it.Caught one fish. Tide was low. Tricky getting back in there. Polarized sun glasses helped alot. Bill
Name: Ray
Email: v23842@aol.com
Date: 9/28/05
Time: 7 a.m.--2 p.
Lake Chesdin
bright blue skies, no wind
clear
lower end of lake
LMB
Rat-L-Traps
10-20 ft.
Streight crankin
Very tough day. only caught three. One went 2 1/2 lbs. one around a pound and one a dink
Name: rattlesnake
Email:
Date: 09/23,24
Time: 7:00 - 4:00
Smith Mountain
fri., hot & sunny. sat., cloudy and a little cooler
stain, 77-79deg.
around hales ford bridge to B41 in blackwater
largemouth
plastics
5-15'
texas rigged worms worked the best
friday fished back up in blackwater. buddy and i caught 11-12 fish, but only 5 would keep.largest was around 2.5lbs. fish were scattered. caught a few off docks in cuts off main channel. few off of lay downs and some of chunk rock/bluff walls. fished the blue ridge marine tourney on sat. partner and i only caught 2 fish for approx. 4lbs. fished schooling fish most of the day. had a few blow ups but could not get hooked up. the 2 fish caught were on a worm and crankbait. winning weight i think was around 14.5lbs. on 6 fish? was leading when we left anyway. tight lines and God Bless.
Name: Joey
Email: jjmoore@roperlumber.com
Date: 092505
Time: Morning
Nottaway River
partly to mostly cloudy
a little muddy
Various locations
Both of us caught 20 largemouth, 1 redeye, 2 bowfin
plastics
less than 10 ft
slow
1-bass was 3.5 lb's, my brother in law caught that.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 9/24/05
Time: 7 - 4pm
Lake Chesdin
CLoudy and windy
Fiarly clear down lake, mid lake and up moderate stain
Entire lake, points down lake and mid lake then finally docks mid lake
20 - 30 LMB
C-Rig, Cranbkbaits, Wacky rigged senkos
0 - 30 feet
Fished the C-Rig and Crankbaits on a bunch of points that I fish. No fish caught but broke two off. Swithced to pitching a wacky rigged senko in tight to dock pilings hit pay dirt in numbers.
Was fishing the Fed Region 6 T and it seems it was a pretty hard bite. Happy that I caught so many fish but stinks only brought one 2.65# in to weigh in (dang slot). Stinks even more that I had two 4 - 5 pounders come unbuttoned right at the boat, no non to net them for me... :(
Name: BassKat
Email:
Date: 09/24/05
Time: 0530-1500
Sandy River Reservoir
overcast and breezy
clear visiblity 3-4 feet
midlake and creek arms
Lmb
buzzbaits,pop'r, jitterbug. Then senkos, floating worms and jig/pig
topwater early then swallow to about 8 feet
slow retrieve on topwater. Fish would just swirl at it at fast retrieve.
Took the old man out with me and the oldest and caught a total of 20 bass between us. Only one nice fish about 3 pounds. The rest were 9-12 fish. Fun to catch but not what I was looking for. Will try again soon. Tightlines.
Name: Dan
Email:
Date: 9/23
Time: 6:30am to 10
Motts Reservoir
low 70s, sunny
low, warm
Mine Run flats and Turkey Run flats
5 Largemouth, 1 Channel Catfish
5" Senkos, Nightcrawlers
0-10ft
Started off fishin' for some of the big carp I see cruisin' around all the time...chummed with corn and pitched out a corn/bread doughball and a nightcrawler...nothing- just watched them swim around and stir up mud. Put on the senko and started fishin' the shallow cover around the flats. Caught five bass on the senko including a 21", 5 pounder. Channel Catfish bit the worms I threw out in the middle of the channel just for fun right before leaving. Planned on fishing for carp so I didn't have the tackle I should have brought to check on the fall pattern- the bass I caught were shallow and fat though so it is probably startin'.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 9/19/05
Time: 6:30 - 2:30
Potomac River
beatiful sunny day bareyl any clouds but breezy
Very light stain
Piscataway, Mattawoman, and Pomonkey creeks and also a few cuts on the main river
7 lmb
Senkos, jig and trailer, baby brush hog
0 - 10 feet
Fished senkos in openings in the grass and hydrilla, fished the baby brush hog florida style with a 3/4 ounce weight to get though some of the matted vegetation and fish below that, jig and tralier was fished around docks pilings along with the brush hog.
First pre-fish day for a club T on the river in October. The Potomac is awesome. did not catch too many because I was experimenting a lot trying to come up with something to target bigger fish but did catch 7 on the baits mentioned above.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 9/17/05
Time: 7:00 - 3:00
Lake Chesdin
Clear but breezy
Stained mid and pper lake to light stain down by the dam
Cattle Creek, Jack's Creek and several main lake points and grass edges
7 LMB
Senko, Swimbait, Jerkbait
0 - 25 feet
Fished senkos around grass edges. Fish the swimbait and jerkbaits by casting to pods of baitfish and wroking the baits through them.
Fished club T. My partner and I had 7 fish in the boat, 5 for me, but could not find the bigger fish that were over the slot size of 15". Very dissappointing day.
Name: Rich K
Email: wishiniwasfishin@verizon.net
Date: 09/18/05
Time: 7:30-12:30 P
Lower James River
Clear Bluebird Sky with some wind at times
Muddy, outgoing tide most of the time
Appomattox - Mouth of the old channel, and then about a mile past I-95 on the man made side.
2 lmb
Jig and Trailer, Spinner, weightless Fluke
0-10'
Worked baits through wood laydowns
Both were about 2 lbs each, one came off an area of chunk rock, and the other from the outside edge of a laydown. I did not realize it until after I got loaded on the trailer, but apparently there was a woman's T going on. While speaking with one boater about what a tuff day it was, I said "I almost always pull one off this tree, but today - nothing". After I moved off of it I watched her pull up to it, and pull one off. I didn't see what kind of size it had to it, but it went into the well. So congrats to her.
Name: Basskat
Email:
Date: 09/17/05
Time: 0645-1500
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
sunny blue bird skies
clear to slightly stained
bluestone area
None
Everything possible
1 foot to 25 feet
slow, super slow, medium, fast
The highest of highs to the lowest of lows. From finsihing 9th last weekend in BASS and 9th overall in the division to ZERO yesterday in the BFL Super. I must say that is the hardest I've ever fished. Not even a strike all day. My boater caught 2 for 4.8 and he did not make the cut for today. They were taken the top 23 from yesterday to fish today for all the money. I guess that is why they say fishing and not catching. Still planning on going to the BASS Regional in MS in 3 weeks. It can't get any worse right? will fish Sandy of Briery next weekend to recoup. Tightlines
Name: Ray
Email: v23842@aol.com
Date: 09/16/05
Time: 3:00-8:00 pm
Lake Chesdin
Clear
Clear
down lake points.
LMB
Crankbaits & worms
10-20 ft.
Three fish were dinks, two weighed about a pound a piece. four came on crankbaits, and one on a worm
Name: Ray
Email: V23842@aol.com
Date: 9/13/05
Time: 7 am --2 pm
Lake Chesdin
cloudy and foggy
clear
main lake points
LMB & citation Pikeral
Rat-L-Trap, Plastic worm and Little N
Mostly 10 to 15 ft.
The Pike weighed 5 1/2 lbs. and was 27 inches long. Largest bass 2 1/2 lbs. Rest of bass small
Name: Joey
Email: jjmoore@roperlumber.com
Date: 091105
Time: All Day
Nottaway River
East wind, Mid 80's
Muddy
13 bass, 1 was 4lbs, 2nd biggest I've ever caught out the Nottaway, 2 bowfin, 1 was 8-1/2 lbs, 1 redeye, 12" long. Pictures to prove all! 16 fish total, great day!
Plastics
less than 10 ft.
Slow
You guys need to have a category set up for the Nottaway! I had a blast yesterday, my brother in law caught several himself, grand total 23 fish in the boat!
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 09/11/05
Time: 6 AM-1PM
Lake Chesdin
Clear and windy
Stained 79 - 82 deg
All over the lake
None
Everything in the boat
0' - 25'
Everything I could think of.
Bad day for me. I was seeing baitfish all over, but couldnt seem to put anything together.
Name: Basskat
Email:
Date: 09/11/05
Time: 0630-1500
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
sunny but windy
clear
Wind Blown Points
Bass
Pop'r and C-rigs mostly
6" to 15 feet
pop'r fast and furious c-rigs slow
Fished last of the Bassmaster Series events yesterday and finished 9th with 3 fish for 7.2 pounds. A lot of zeros yesterday. Wind was howling all day. If you could hold the boat in the wind on points you could catch fish. Lake is low, Hope the hurricane will dump some rain this week before the BFL Super this weekend. Tightlines
Name: Bert
Email:
Date: 09/10/05
Time: 6am - 4pm
Briery Creek
sunny with a steady breeze
clear
701 ramp down toward dam
Bass
Sencos, Lizards, Rapalas and Yamamoto Grubs
A few topwater early and then working points
My Dad and I caught a total of 18. Anywhere from 12" to 16"
Name: country boy
Email:
Date: 9/11/05
Time: 8:00 to 3:00
Briery Creek
windy
clear five foot visibility
lower dam area
lmb
crank baits sink-o's
fish 4 to 5 ft deep in 30 to 40 ft of water
crank baits blazed through schools of shad and a few bass came off the edge of dollar pads on sink-o
early the bass started busting on fast moving bait fish and we threw LARGE crank baits to them and were hooked up instantly as the morning moved on the wind kicked up and the bait moved down and we caught several more slightly deeper but still in real deep open water. The name of the game was keep moving and the fish were 1 to four pound with alot of 2's
Name: Vyper -P&J Fishing Enterprises
Email:
Date: 9112005
Time: 630am-1130am
Briery Creek
Clear, sunny, 15-20mph wind
Super clear.
701 ramp area to back of lake
Largemouth fishes!
Cranks,jigs and senkos
12-17 ft.
Dependent on lure.
Caught 5 fish today. Smallest was 2lbs, largest was 7lbs. A good day for me on Briery!
Name: Jeff K.
Email: jsk2d@yahoo.com
Date: 09/09/05
Time: 6-5
Briery Creek
chilly in the morning/sunny and upper 80's later
water temp 77-79
midlake to lower and upper and back to mid
12 lmb
Flukes/senkos/10in worms/Blackie Lee specialty worm/zoom horny toad/spinners and minnows
3-25ft
T-rigged/wacky/etc
Slow day compared to the last few times out to Briery. 7 bass for Blackie, 5 for me. I missed an additional 4 fish that I don't want to talk about and a I made a spectacular save on a rod jerked in the water by a fish only to lose the fish on the other end. Largest fish was around 3lb (Blackie). Saw an incredible amount of baitfish on the top of the water around day break. Never seen so many. Sloooooooow day for us though.
Name: country boy
Email:
Date:
Time:
Briery Creek
Hey fellas I haven't had a real in my hand but I have been working close to briery and we have been riding down to the lower ramp for lunch and wednesday it looked like somone was bombing the place it was so many shad flying through the air. Thursday showed the same and I hope to give it a try soon. It looks as if the fall chasing schooling shad pattern has started!
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 09/07/05
Time: 11am - 4pm
Lower James River
sunny, 83*. Great weather
Normal, 80* water temp., some wind caused us to use the 2 anchor system to keep the boat still
Dutch gap down to Jones Neck loop. Main river channels and flats. Around the sunken barge leading up to the cut to the barge pits. I hate that spot because I always get snagged there, but it does produce big cats.
Catfish and bass
Live eels for cats and Senkos for bass
I caught 3 catfish today. Biggest only went 7lbs. My buddy got bored and started throwing a Senko near shoreline. He caught a nice looking bass. Fishing could have been better, but we DID catch fish, and thats what its all about. Only saw a couple of other boats in 5 hours of fishing the main river. I suspect high gas prices are hurting the big motor boys. Im glad I only need a 25HP these days. Bad enough my Jeep only gets 14MPG, without the boat.
Name: Joey
Email: jjmoore@roperlumber.com
Date: 090405
Time: AM
Nottaway River
Clear
slightly muddy
All weekend 5 hours per day, Sat, Sun, Mon I caught 50 bass, 2 redeye that were 12-1/8" long, unlimited bowfin, few pickerel!
plastics
shallow
slow, and deep in cover!
I should have fished the tourney on Saturday, I did better than most in tourney!
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 9/4/05
Time: 6:30am-2:30
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
Mostly Sunny but breezy
Light stain 82-84 degrees
Main lake points and a few primary points in Butchers Creek
4 lmb, 2 pike
C-rigged centipedes, lizards, and ringworms, Crankbaits, Pop-R, and Buzzbait
0 - 30 feet
Fished the topwaters first thing in the morning on some primary points, once sun came up strong swithced to crankbaits and c-rigs.
Fished a bass boat central mini tourney. Team format we had ten boats. Tough day. Top weight was 5-14. My partner Rich K. and I caught two keepers that went 2-5 or something like that. Our fish were caught ripping crankbaits threw laydowns on points.
Name: Jeff K.
Email: jsk2d@yahoo.com
Date: 09/02/05
Time: 6-1:30
Briery Creek
Sunny/upper 80's-low 90's
water temp 75-83
701 ramp towards dam and work back to 701 ramp
21 lmb
Flukes/senkos/minnows
8-25
throw it in the water ..... lol
2 bass went 6'11 and 6'5. Also had four 3lbrs. Lots of nice 1-2lb fish. Heartbreaker-got a HUGE bass to the side of the boat, only to have it thrash violently when I bent down to lip and broke the line. It was much bigger than both of my six's .... might have been 8-9lbs .... who knows .... I cried. ;o( As a friend of mine told me "nothing but 20-25lb test Jeff!!" I should have listened. Got 2 pics of the six's I'll send ya Jeff. Water level looked up. Guy pulled a 9lb out earlier today .... didn't catch his name. Long Day = short report. Tightlines
Name: Joey
Email: jjmoore@roperlumber.com
Date: 08/27/05
Time: Morning
Nottaway River
Cloudy
little muddy!
7 bass, 2 bowfin, a couple redeye.
plastics!
Shallow
Fished drop-offs and wood cover
Name: Dan
Email:
Date: 8/29
Time: 6am - 11am
Motts Reservoir
foggy, low to mid 70s
clear, slightly low
fished several areas but concentrated on the creeks
4 Largemouth Bass, 1 Northern Pike
topwater poppers, crankbaits, senkos
6 inches to 8 feet
Got topwater bites early but missed them- small bass or big bluegill hitting/slapping the lure I guess. Decided to fish the topwater in the very back of a creek I had never fished very far back before- saw a fish move on the bait but back up then I saw about twenty fish schooling around in less than a foot of water. Picked up the five inch senko (custom color) and started tossin' to visible fish. Picked up a four pounder and 2 pounder along with two dinks doin' that. Northern Pike (20 inch +) bit the senko (haha) underneath a laydown in a foot of water!
Saw two carp pushin' thirty pounds rollin around and kickin' up dirt in the flats...might have to break out some corn balls...last year a woman caught a 52 pound carp from Motts but released it without registering it for the state record which it would have easily been.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 8/28/05
Time: 6 - 2pm
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
Sunny but breezy
fairly clear
Butchers Creek all the way to the rivers.
None
Everything in my boat
0 - 25 feet
Everything humanly possible
Went to pre-fish Buggs with Rich K. Tough day we tried it all C-Rigging points, topwater, deep cranking, Pitching shallow cover. Nothing fish just seem to be scattered everywhere in transition to the fall patterns. With them scattered it is just near impossible to pin point any way to fish them.
Name: Jeff K./Blackie Lee
Email: jsk2d@yahoo.com
Date: 08/26/05
Time: 6-5
Briery Creek
Cloudy early/sunny later/ 80's
Water Temp in the 80's/stained
701 ramp to midlade - to south end and back to mid lake
32 lmb largest being Blackies 5lbr. I had decent 3 lbr and we both had lots of 14-18 inch fish.
Blackie - Flukes and 10 inch worm - Jeff K. - Trick worms/senkos/flukes and good ol live minnows.
0-25ft
T-Rigged flukes/worms, wacky rigged worms, ol stand by bobber/minnow. Fished humps and stumps. ;o)
I put 17 bass on the boat and left by 2:00pm. I 'd say 11 of mine came via bobber/minnow. I missed 3 more by way of minnow because I was just trolling em and fishing at the same time and didn't get to the rod in time to set the hook. GGRRRRRR! Blackie had 15 bass and I'd say he left closer to 5. I spoiled the bass with my juicy minnow buffet which led to Blackie's lower numbers this time out. lol .... just kidding Blackie, you bailed me out more than once on my "double catches." I may need to invest in a glove or something ..... my thumb looked like shredded wheat and was bleeding by the time I left. haha .... poor me right? Good day, good weather, good fishing. I plan on going back this weekend hopefully. Tightlines!
Name: tim davis
Email: tdavis596@pmtnet.net
Date: 08/28/05
Time: 7:30-12noon
Smith Mountain
started foggy , got hot
stained
hales ford area
largemouth 4 , largest 3.5 to 4 rest were 13 and 14 inch fish
c rig , topwater
top to 15 ft
carolina rigged lizard
thought that i would slay them on top but only one on top . shad are beginning to migrate to back of creeks . bass are about half way back
Name: Vyper- P&J Fishing Enterprises
Email:
Date: 8/27/200
Time: 630am-230pm
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
Overcast, windy in am, sunny, hot after 1100 am
Clear-82-84 temp
Clarksville to Rudds
Not enough!!!!! Had a few dinks and one two pounder.
Everything I had in the boat!
6in-20ft
Tried everything we could think of and some stuff I just made up!
Bite was way off today. Could only catch a few dinks on some spots that usually produce good fish. Its tough right now!
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 8/25/05
Time: 6 am to 12 p
Lake Chesdin
Sunny but windy
Vsibility varied from 1 to 3 foot
Appomattox River, Winterpock Swamp, Then main lake
12 LMB
Buzzbait, Senkos, Trick Worm
0 - 25 feet
Fished Senkos on grass edges, Trick worms around dock pilings and timber, buzzbait early on all cover
Not a bad day this morning. Fish are definitely in transition from summer to fall pattern. Lots of baitfish already back in the creeks so it is only a matter of time until the LMB follow them. Right now the bass are pretty scattered. Was able to pick up a dozen though. First 2 wer biggest around 1.5 to 2 pounds caught fishing the senko on grass edges up in Winterpock Swamp. That bite died then went to the main lake. Tried some points with C-Rigs and Crankbaits with no luck, seems like fish have moved off of them. Then went to the shore tried main lake grass edges with the senkos no takers. By this time the sun was pretty high up so decide to check some docks. Caught ten on them none of size. Wind got reall bad then and had to stop to go pick my wife and kids up at the launch to take them out on the lake to picnic. My 3 year old daughter then caught her first bass on a worm near a dock.
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 08/24/05
Time: 3-5 PM
Lower James River (Appomattox)
Clear
Muddy, incoming tide 84 deg
Appomattox River, Old river and New channels above Hopewell
2 LMB about 2 2 1/2 lbs each.
Spinner bait, c-rig and flukes
0-6'
Worked baits through wood laydowns
Both fish came on the fluke off the same tree within minutes of each other.
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 08/23/05
Time: 3-5:30 PM
Lake Chesdin
Clearing as the day progressed cold front the night before
slight stain mid 80's
Main lake points
None
DD Cranks, C-Rig, Super Fluke
surface to 20'
Slow retreive for the most part
First time ever on this lake, which is horrible since it's only about 15 minutes from my house. I basically went to this one totally blind, no lake map until I got there and bought one at seven springs. I was able to locate lots of fish on stucture, and most were suspended at about 14-18', just wasn't able to give them what they wanted.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 8/23/05
Time: 5:30 am to 3
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
Cloudy with intermittent rain. Pretty windy
Fairly clear
From Bluestone all the way to Butchers.
2 LMB
C-Rig, Jig N Pig, Crankbait, Buzzbait, Devils Horse
1- 25 feet
Fished the buzzbait and devils horse on cover that was on main lake points. Fished everything else on deeper structure for the most part
Real strong front came in today and killed things for my pre-fish. Basically my game plan was to jump main lake points all day trying to find points that had fish on them. Found several but could not get bit. Two fish I did catch were caught on jig n trailer. One was actually on a shallow laydown that was right on the tip of a point and the other was caught on deep structure.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: last wk
Time: am and night
Avon,N.C.. I know, its not Va.
Sunny every day
6-8 ft waves sunday from Irene
Avon pier and the surf at Cape Hatteras
Spot, Croaker, Flounder, Stingrays
Bottom rigged shrimp
surf
Had a great vacation in Avon. Caught lots of fish from the pier and the surf. Nothing big but Stingrays. Saw some small sharks (2-2.5 ft) caught from the end of Avon Pier.
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 19,20-05
Time: 6-3
Lake Gaston
Friday-cloudy, Sat. clear-HOT
slight stain 76-86 degrees
Underwater islands above Holly Grove and Six Pound Creek channel edges when it dropped from 4'-8'
Fri-29 bass and about 20 white perch Sat-17 bass and 1 white perch
Yellow Magic, Rat-L-Trap, Bandit 200 and Excalibur Fat Free Fingerling, Tx. rigged Zoom 4" curlytail worm
Surface to 10 feet
Found some surface schooling bass and perch Friday when it was cloudy and used the Trap and Yellow Magic to get a sore thumb taking them off the hooks. Located some in Six Pound on a creek channel edges when the sun was shining and caught the most keeper size ones on the cranks alternating between the two brands. Got third place in club tournament even while loosing one about 5# and one about 4# on the crankbaits. Largest landed was just over 3#.
The water temp was about 10 degrees cooler within sight of the I-85 bridge than downlake near Eaton's Ferry bridge. Several local anglers stated they were doing better uplake too. The boat traffic and clear sky on Sat. turned off the surface schooling action and the creek channel edge was the most consistant pattern for me. Other club guys had success with crankbaits on grass edges. Jigs on steep banks was the next best pattern.
Name: Blackie Lee/Jeff K.
Email: jsk2d@yahoo.com
Date: 08/19/05
Time: 6am-8pm
Briery Creek
Rained early/overcast mostly/sunny late
Water temp in the 80's I believe
701 to South end and back slightly past 701
34 Largemouth Bass
Super flukes/senkos/trick worms/live minnows(just Jeff K.)
2-30ft
T'rigged, wacky, weedless wacky, bobber rigged some wacky style and finally some good ol bobber/minnow action (could only find smaller minnows, apparantly the Briery Big Bass did like my h'ourdervs)
Blakie Lee 18 bass ...... Jeff K 16. Fun day. My thumb looks like I scraped it up against a cheese grater and my bass seemed to really like Blackie's boat since they kept jumping out of my hands and flopping around on the floor. I got soaked early .... Blackie had the foresight to bring a poncho. Blackie had the biggest of the day 3'11. Didn't get the big ones we wanted but hey ... that's fishing. Blackie waited till 2 days later to meet up with his lunker. I'll remember that Blackie! Tightlines.
Name: Blackie Lee
Email: blackielee2003@yahoo.com
Date: 8/21/05
Time: 6:30 to 9:30
Briery Creek
Sunny with lite breeze
Clear and 83 temp
Lower midlake
6 Largemouth bass
Super Fluke
12 to 30 feet
Texes riged.
Bass of the day 8 pounds 12 oz. To see picture check out my fishing report page at trophybasshunter.bravehost.com
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 08/16/05
Time: 6 am - 12 p
Lake Chesdin
Early heavy fog and overcast around 9:30 got sunny and overcast
stained
main lake points, and winterpock swamp
None at all
tried everything
0 - 20 feet
First time on Chesdin in a while. Tried going up lake into the river and into the swamp early, treid buzzbaits, senkos, spinner baits no takers. Moved down into the main lake and tried cranking and C-rigging some main lake points, had a few light pick ups but still no hook ups. Front came in last night and borught some storms and I think the combo of all the rain plus the post frontal conditions justs had them tight lipped.
Name: Vyper of P & J Fishing Enterprises
Email:
Date: 8/14/05
Time: 6am-1pm
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
Clear and HOT
Clear and 88.9
Rudds to Clarksville
None at all!
Spooks, blades, cranks, C-rig, T-rig, finesse worms.
6in.-20ft.
Every kind I could think of!
Its slow on Buggs now, everyone must be fishing at night!
Name: rattlesnake
Email:
Date: 08/13/05
Time: 6:30a-2:30p
Smith Mountain
sunny & HOT
81-84deg, 3'visibility
state park up to hales ford bridge
largemouth bass
spinnerbait and crankbait
15'-20'
tried fishing plastics on deep docks, laydowns and brush. could not buy a bite on any plastics. tried cuts and pockets with no success. only 3 fish caught. 2 caught on a 1/2oz. spinnerbait slow rolled and the other on a deep crankbait. the 3 went right around 6lbs.
fished in a tourney with 4 boats. 2nd, 3rd and 4th place were all within 4oz, we finished 3rd. first place had 5 fish that went 12lbs. 9oz. good luck to all
Name: basskat
Email:
Date: 08/13/05
Time: 0345 to 1100
Briery Creek
muggy then hot
clear
701 then south end
total bass 16
pig&jigs, senkos, trickworms, and buzzbaits
topwater early then 7 to 10 feet
buzzbaits before the sun came up then slow presentation on other baits
We were on the water early, 0345 and made our way to the southend midway. Topwater water bite was slow I only had three blow up on the buzzbait and partner had one. All fish missed the baits even with trailer hooks. Some of the blowup sounded like big fish. Once the sun was up that was it. Partners fish were the biggest of the day, one 4.5, 5 and 5.5. fishing pig and jigs. He had one the biggest on a horney tad fishing the dollar pads. Of my 12 biggest about 3.5 to 4 but only one was about a pound. Would love to have a day like that on tourney days. We were off the water by 11 to hot. Another friend was there and had one that was 5.9 and 221/4 for length citation. Well vacation is over and its back to long hours. Tightlines. Jeff lets hook up soon.
Name: Jeff K.
Email: jsk2d@yahoo.com
Date: 08/12/05
Time: 6-11
Lake Monticello
Very Nice
Great!
Main lake points and open water
18 LMB. 10 for me ..... 8 for my friend. Largest was my 6lb 9oz (per my new digital scales) then I also had a 5'4 and two that went 3'8,3'3 .... my friend also had a nice fat 5lb11oz .... nothing we caught was under a pound. We probably missed 6-12 fish (over excitement - fish not hitting it right)
Flukes in shad/bait fish/rappala cranks
10-50 ft but all fish were caught on top.
Look for the Bass bustin shad ..... throw lure ...... bam! .... fish ..... that simple. I'm serious.
My buddy told me he had an awesome day Monday morning fishing Monticello. Told me that the bass were chasing shad/bait fish all morning .... he would just wait for them to break the surface (normally several bass at a time ganging up on em) ... throw his bait and the fish would hit. He caught 12 by himself this way, his biggest was a 7lb. He wasn't kidding. We were on the water by 6 .... first fish was in the boat by 6:15 .... a nice fat 3lbr. The theme all day was wait for the break ..... toss your lure into the fray and hang on! Blackie Lee taught me to skip my fluke across the top a little when I saw such action .... DEAD ON Blackie ..... DEAD ON. Worked for me all day ... all I fished with .... my friend used the crank. My 6lbr was only 19 inches but as Bill Dance would say ..... looks like he had a belly full of biscuts and gravy!(and lots of shad) Lots of fun and very exciting. All fish were released. Hope you enjoyed the report.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 08/10/05
Time: 6 - 2
Briery Creek
OVERCAST
Very light stian
from 701 ramp followed channel to the south end
8 lmb
big worm, flukes, senkos
0 - 15 feet
Fished with Jeff K today. Day started out pretty good caught 4 fish in our first spot, it then died for the rest of the day but we still scraped out 4 more. No big fish though I did lose two that felt good. End of the day caount I caught 5 on jigs. Jeff K caught 3 on flukes and also a pickerel. Oh well we had fun even though it was rough going.
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 08/08.05
Time: 14:30-16:30
Lower James River
Overcast with spotty showers
muddy
Old Appomatox River Channel
1 lmb - dink
C-rig, Fluke, Spinnerbait. 1 Fish came on the spinner
1 - 12'
Everything I could think of
Pretty poor day fishing, but I wasn't at work so, you know how it goes.
Name: Don Arbaugh
Email: arbaughbunch@direcway.com
Date: 8/8/05
Time: 10:00-3:30pm
Briery Creek
A little warm, but nice!
Clear
Middle of lake
LMB
10' Culprit Red Shad worm
Dropoffs/Humps
Normal bumping bottom structure.
1st LMB was smaller in length than the Culprit worm I was using!! Went on point with probably a 1/2 dozen solid hits with only fragmented worms to show! The biggest of the day, boiled the water and then went Southbound? Not a bad day!!!!
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 8/7/05
Time: 10-2pm
Lower James River
partly cloudy
choppy due to recreations
dutch gap
catfish
eel
all
Carolina Rig
Two big bites, couldnt land either. Got a sunburn.
Name: Vyper of P&J Fishing Enterprises
Email:
Date: 8/7/2005
Time: 6am-2pm
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
Overcast in am, sunny after 11 am
Clear and 89 degrees
Rudds Creek, Grassy Creek and main lake points
Two dinks!
Topwater in morning, C-rig, Crank and T-rig.
1ft-18ft
Slow brother!
I caught one dink on main lake rock on a spook first thing and then one more in Rudds on a C-rig on the way back to the ramp. Water is hot and the fish didnt seem to be chasing anything much. Never saw a lot of shad in the areas I was fishing.
Name: Dan
Email:
Date: 8/3/05
Time: 6am-10am
Ni Reservoir
hot and sunny
low, average clarity
dam rip-rap and laydowns
5 Largemouth 2 Chain Pickerel
bleeding pearl Chug Bug, crayfish (matte finish) Bandit 200
surface to 8 feet
Fished topwater early in the shallows to the right of the boat ramp- partner and I each landed 3 fish with a three pound bass being the largest. Moved on to fish some of the laydowns before the fish went deep- we switched over to crankbaits and landed a few more bass and some white perch before I set the hook on a huge pickerel. Turned out to be a CITATION by length, measuring 25 3/4 inches. A lot of folks don't like pickerel but I love catchin' em! It got hot and I'm no good at fishin' deep and slow (I fish power style like my boy KVD) so we left.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 8/2/05
Time: 5 am - 3 pm
Briery Creek
Light clouds but strong sun, very hot
clear
From 701 ramp to south end of the lake
15 lmb
buzzbait, frog, Jigs and trailer, 11" worm,
0 - 20 feet
Started the day off throwing the buzzbaut. No takers on that so switched to throwing jig along the channel. Caught five this way biggest going around 4#s, others all around 2#s. Then worked my way over to another channel area I like. Threw the 11" worm on a c-rig. Caught 5 on that also all good size around 3 - 3.5#s also lost several that felt bigger. Finally went to the end of the lake and threw a senko over the grass. caught a few small ones and then one more that went 3.5#s. Ended the day working my way back to the launch throwing a frog on assorted pad along the way. Lost a real nice one, probably a 6 - 7 pounder doing that.
Not a bad day considering I tended to stay with the tactics I use for bigger fish. Probably 90% of the time I was throwing the jig or the big worm. Lost several fish that felt real big on the C-rigged worm. I think I am wasting my knots setting the hook too hard when I use that rig. I get soused to the cross their eyes hookset needed for the jigs that i forget to dial it down a little bit for the other methods. Oh well live and learn.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 7/31/05
Time: 5 - 11 am
Briery Creek
Raining all morning
Light stain
Mid lake
10 LMB
Senko, C-Rig 10" worm
1 - 20 feet
Fished the senko along the edges of weed beds and on flats. Fished the C-Rig on points and channel drops.
Tried the early morning bite today. Started with a buzzbait with no luck. Saw a lot of fish moving on flats and near weed edges so started throwing the Senko. Caught ten this way but nothing of size. Decided to try and locate a bigger fish so backed out to deeper water and fished point dropoffs and channel drops with a c-rig. Did not catch any but did have two good hooks up that broke me off. Dam Flouro leaders.
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 7/24/05
Time: 8:30 - 12 PM
Lower James River
Sunny and HOT
Outgoing tide, muddy
Meads Pit
Bream
Nightcrawlers
2'
Throw and wait
Took my step-son fishing in the morning, caught about 50 total bream. He is only with us for a couple weeks this Summer, so I figured I had to put him on some fish. Heavy boat traffic on the River yesterday - even for a Sunday.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 7/24/05
Time: 3 - 10 pm
Briery Creek
Clear, very light breeze
Very light stain
From 701 ramp to the south end of the lake
15 lmb
Jig, 11" worm, Senko, and buzzbait
1 - 15 feet
Fished the jig on channel and caught one nice fish around 3 pounds. Fished senko over grass beds at the end of the lake and cuaght several 1 to 2 pounders. Fished C-Rigged big worm on a secondary channel and caught a nice 21" 5.25 pounder and another that was probabyl around 3. Fished buzzbait once it got dark and caught one around 4#.
First time to Briery in awhile. Not too bad a day.
Name: country boy
Email:
Date: 7/24/05
Time: 9:30 to 7:00
Sandy River Reservoir
upper 80's calm,clear
about 4 to 5 ft visibility and warm
mid lake points and shelves and up creek arms.
16 larm mouths in the one to two pound range
sink-o worms and deap diving crank baits.
deep
put the worms on the wood structure off the shelves. And managed to pick a few off of the deeper end of it. If we didn't find them at the normal places we would cast straight out twards the center of the lake from those places with deep divers and would find them there.
the gizzard shad are schooling in the center of the upper lake arm and there are alot of bass chasing them if you can keep up with them.
Name: James Fento
Email:
Date:
Time:
Lower James River
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 7/23/05
Time: 5 - 11 a.m.
Nottoway and Blackwater Rivers
Clear and hot
Stained
Launched from Dockside Restaurant. Fished that area of the Nottoway, then ran to the Blackwater, ran up that a few miles and fished there
7 lmb, 3 Bowfin
Buzzbait, Jigs, Fluke, Senko
0 - 15 feet
Buzzbait, jigs, and Fluke around wood. Senko on outside edge of pads.
Fished the Nottoway and Blackwater today for the first time. Met a bunch of my BBC friends down there. Rivers look awesome but the bite was tough. Of the lmb i caught most were dinks with maybe 4 or 5 of them making 12" + Still loved that rivers and will go boack again.
Name: Dwayne
Email:
Date: 7/20/05
Time: 5:30-9:00 A
Swift Creek Reservoir
75-83
light stain
coves, drop offs
3 bass one monster pickeral
buzzbait early, nothing senko, two from one cove brokenback shad rap, monster pickeral 10' diving crank bait in perch pattern, one more bass
1-15'
too hot to be out in that sun by 9:00, but a good couple of hours. Healthy, fat LMB 2-3#
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 7/19/05
Time: 3:30 to 9 pm
Lower James River
Cloudy, windy
Stained
Herring Creek and Appomattox River
6 LMB
Carolina Rig Worm and Buzzbait
0 - 10 feet
Fished with Rich K. today. Thought we would kill them had the outgoing tide the entire time we were out and it was a full moon tide. Caught all of our fish in Appomattox. I was fishing a Chartreues Buzzbaits along flats where i saw baitfish activity and caught 4, 3 small ones and one around 2#. Rich caught 2 throwing the c-rigged worm around cover.
Name: Tim Davis
Email: tdavis596@pmtnet.net
Date: 07/17/05
Time: 6am till 2pm
Smith Mountain
hot , almost no wind
clear 83degrees
hales ford area
caught 6 largemouth bass ranging from a little over 4 down toa little better than two . had between 17 and 18 lbs
topwater early , switched to carolina rig after sun came up hot
top early deep rock later 10 ft or more
not too bad a day for all the traffic that was on the lake , had one more heavy fish that came unbuttoned on carolina rig in about 15 ft of water at end of dock . rod bowed double when he ran at boat but just popped loose
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 07/16/05
Time: 5:30-3:00
Sandy River Reservoir
90 and partly cloudy
dingy 89 degrees
Mid to uplake
57 bass 1 catfish
1/4 oz Rattlin Rap, Bandit 200, Zoom 4" curly tail worm, 3/8 oz custom buzzbait
Surface to 10'
Buzzbait on spawning drops at dawn Rap when bass were schooling on top Other lures on creek channel drops
A lot of surface activity all day with suspended bass over creek channel edges Largest bass was 3# 7 oz. The catfish (5# 4 oz) hit the Bandit crankbait Jeff, I haven't lost a bass on that buzzbait yet.
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 07/10/05
Time: 5:30 A.M.-2
Sandy River Reservoir
Partly Cloudy HOT
stained 87 degrees
Mid to upper areas
25 Bass
custom buzzbait, Bandit 200 crankbait, buzztail shad
Surface to 10'
Used buzzbait over spawning drops before sunrise Used crankbait around channel drops Used buzztail shad in dollar pads
Caught largest ones on buzzbait early with largest one 5-10 and several in the 3 pound class. Smaller ones on crankbait and shad after sun-up,except one 3-4 on the crankbait.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 7/10/05
Time: 6 am - 2 pm
Pamunkey River
Beautiful hot very little clouds though
stained
Up river from Williams Landing
20+ LMB
Ring Worm and Finesse Worm, and Jig and Trailer
0 - 10 feet
Fished Ring Worm on a C-rig for dredging some deeper humps Also fished the ring worm texas rigged, the finesse worm on a jig head, and the jig and trailer thrown around laydown and cuts.
Fished club T today. Did not place. Caught 20+ fish but only three over 12" and their weight was only 2 pounds 14 oz. Just could not find a big fish all day. Oh well still a fun day since I was on fish all day.
Name: Jerry Ferguson
Email: jcf62@comcast.net
Date: 07/03/05
Time: 6am to 3pm
New River
overcast
clear
New River Gorge National Park 14 mile stretch from Sandstone to Prince WV
Smallies
Buzzbait / Crankbait
top - 3ft
burn em
Fished Buzz baits all day with an occasional crank bait here and there. Fish blew up on buzz all day. caught as many as we missed from short strikes. Trip was a blast. Guided by Twin Rivers Outfitters Daniels WV. We fished Saturday also but Buzz bite ended at 8am. crank baits the rest of the day. My son and I caught about 25 smallies from 10 - 16 inches both days.
Name: Tim Davis and Ray Craft
Email: tdavis596@pmtnet.net
Date: 07/07/05
Time: 6am - 3:00pm
Smith Mountain
cloudy
clear to stained
roanoke river side
largemouth
topwater
top
rock points on tributary creeks
fishing was fantastic today .Had one fish that made a citation, had one over 5 and we quit counting at around 11 am with ten . all but two were 14 plus and most were 2.5 lbs. or better.
Name: Tim Davis and Ray Craft
Email: tdavis596@pmtnet.net
Date: 07/07/05
Time:
Smith Mountain
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 07/05/05
Time: All Day
Lower James River
Hot&Clear to T Storms All Day
82 - 88 Dirty
Appomatox & Meads Pit
12 LMB 30'ish Bream
C-rig Finesse worms and nightcrawlers
Various
slow
Me and the wife took the day off work to "have a date" (first date in 5 yrs). She sunbathed and I fished. I finally got her to try fishing, and after only a few small backlashes, she landed her first ever fish. A nice 3 - 4 lb LMB on the c-rig. Afterwards, we took the kids out for some fishing, and they did well too with about 30 bream.
Name: Steve Smelcer
Email:
Date: 07/09/05
Time: 10:30am
Sandy River Reservoir
Sunny
stained
Mid lake
Large Mouth Bass
Deep Diving Crankbaits (Rapala DT-16)
16-20 ft.
trolling deep diving crankbaits
Fish today were all caught in deep water, caught 6 bass with the largest being a 5 1/2 lb. 21 inch beauty.
Name: Basskat
Email:
Date: 07/02/05
Time: 0530-0100
Cape Hatteras Surf
Partly cloudy, 85 degrees
crystal clear
South of Oregan Inlet Bridge, Known as Pea Island
Mostly skates blues (taylor) 1-3 lbs
bottom or fish finder rigs, cut bunker or squid strips, blues were on metal or jigs
depending on tide this hole is 4 to 10 feet
metal or jigs were ripped through the water hoping for spanish, bottom or fish finder rigs just there
Hope not to stir up to much with this type of posting, do know if everyone fishes the surf.Made a quick trip to Hatteras to catch some blues (hoping to for specks) for the smoker and had a decent day.Blues were caught early as the sun came up with a few caught later in the day. Was surprisd that the skates had taken over one of my favorite holes. I knew the water was to clear for basic bottom feeders but thought there should have been other species there. Hope this report is O.K. since it's not about bass and cats. Will head to Sandy tomorrow. Tightlines
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 6/26/05
Time: 6-11 am
Pamunkey River
85 degrees with overcast skies
stained pretty heavily 80 degrees
Main River near Jacks Creek and in Big Creek
3 LMB
jigs
0 - 10 feet
worked jigs, and plastics, around latdowns and duck blinds.
Pre-fished for a club tourney on the 8th of July. Toguh bite. only had three small ones take the jig on duck blinds. Tried fishing laydowns around cuts and creeks with no luck.
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 06/25/05
Time: 8:00-6:00
Sandy River Reservoir
Partly cloudy 90 degrees
Stained 81 degrees
mid to upper lake
68 bass total
wacky rigged finesse worm
1'-8'
Fished mostly steep drops and around surface weeds
I got out fished by my partner, he caught 43 and I caught 25. Sure was nice fishing without a lot of wind and the partly cloudy conditions made the temp. bearable.
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 06/21/05
Time: 530P - 800
Lower James River
Light wind with brief storm at about 7:00
Outgoing tide, 80 deg
Appomatox River (old Channel) mostly
4 LMB biggest was about 4 lbs
Spinnerbait, Buzz bait, and C-Rig
0' - 5'
various, mostly pulling baits across the outside of laydowns
Good day for me, 3rd cast a HUGE bass ate my favorite spinner, she liked it so much, she kept it. I managed 2 smaller ones on the c-rig in the same area. As the storm started approaching, I worked my way back to Hopewell hitting some points that I have never touched, and wham, an easy 4 lb LMB took the buzz bait. I hit one more spot after that, but the wind was getting pretty strong, got 2 backlashes in a row and called it quits.
Name: Jeffrey Banko
Email:
Date: 6/18/05
Time: 6-3
Lower James River
clear
stained 84 degrees
Turkey Neck, Herring, and Appomattox
2 LMB 1.5 and 2.6 pounds
Wacky rigged worm, slider head rigged worm, jig, and popper
1 - 10
Fished around wood and grass.
Caught one fish on the early morning outgoing tide fishing and old set of dock pilings in turkey Neck, then had nothing all day until the second outgoing tide came on around 1:00 at Herring Creek, Caught the 2.6# on the grass at the mouth of that creek.
Name: Jeffrey
Email:
Date:
Time:
Lower James River
Name: Dave Dwyer
Email:
Date: 06/18/05
Time: Early mornin
Briery Creek
Cool, few clouds, mist on the water in early morning
Clear
By the dam
1 crappie and 9 bass
Top waters and crank baits
shallow on the west side and deep on the east side of the dam and along the dam
Pause and retrieve on the skitter prop accounted for the crappie; Rapala Shad Rap with black top and white belly [two sizes] accounted for 5 of the bass; and Mann's 20 chrome with blue back accounted for 4 bass.
The bass were working the baitfish in the deeper water. Would occasionally see them busted the shad on the surface. Not having a depth finder, that is the only clue we had to knowing where the fish were. Just another great day and good finish to the annual pilgrimage to Briery Creek.
Name: Dave Dwyer
Email:
Date: 06/17/05
Time: morning and
Briery Creek
Mild with scattered clouds and light winds
clear
Fished southern end of lake in the morning and to the north of the 701 ramp in the evening
15 bass, nothing of size; my youngr son had two bigger fish break his line.
Rapala skitter prop and other top waters in the morning, Zoom albino shad super fluke, Zoom trick/finesse worms in pumpkin seed, pumpkin seed with red flake, and june bug
Mostly shallow, close to shore, but did venture out into mid lake
Pause & retrieve presentation of skitter prop caught several fish, weedless wacky worm caught most, super fluke caught a couple using a jerking retrieve.
Another great day on the lake. Fished early morning, napped in mid-day and early afternoon, and then fished again from abotu 5 till dark. Another great day to be on the lake. It was actually cool in the morning.
Name: Dave Dwyer
Email:
Date: 06/16/05
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Briery Creek
partly cloudy, wind sorta from the west, in the 70s
clear
across the lake from the 701 ramp, and then on the ramp side just to the northof the ramp
2 crappie and 8 bass
most fish caught on Zoom trick/finesse worms in pumpkin seed and june bug colors
within 50 yards of shore
weedless wacky
Fished until dark. Was out with my two boys, they caught all of the fish. Great father-son time on a beatiful lake with pleasant weather.
Name: Basskat
Email:
Date: 06/19/05
Time: 0530-1300
Sandy River Reservoir
overcast
clear to slighty stain
mid lake
bass
buzzbaits, pop'r, trickworms and senko
1-15 feet
Fished pretty fast and steady
Best topwater bite of the year. On the water at 530 made the 45 minute trolling motor run to mid lake and the bite was on. Had 7 keepers in 30 minutes and topwater was good up to 8. Wind turned from the North and topwater stopped. Total number was 21 bass. Old man caught big fish of the day at 5.5 and trickworm. I lost one 6 to 7 pound range right at the boat. Heartbeaker. Fish came around trolling motor and nice jump and spit that bubblegum right at me. I differently need one of these days on the tourney. Tightlines Kevin
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 6/18/05
Time: 5:30-2:30
Smith Mountain
NICE, 75 degrees partly clouly
slight stain in Roanoke arm
west of the Hales Ford bridge in small coves
Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass
Wacky rigged finesse worm-open hook and weedless, finesse worm on a jighead, Yellow Magic popper, wacky rigged Senko, and a Wet Harley Rig proto-type buzzbait
2'-15'
Fished docks, rip-rap and wood off of main channel in small coves containing shad schools
Practicing on Friday, I caught 7 bass while searching and Sat. club tournament I caught 17 bass and non-boater caught about 10 bass. We both had a 4 bass tournament limit and I got 1st place and he got 3rd place. We also caught more than 50 warmouths as they were everywhere along rip rap and hungry.
Name: nitroman
Email:
Date: 6-17-05
Time: 7pm to 12am
Claytor Lake
party cloudy, warm
murky, low 70's
caught lots of lmb,only 2 keepers
texas rigged worm
2 to 12 feet
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 06/15/05
Time: 07pm-08pm
Lower James River
sunny to sunset
clear
Around Ancarrows landing and downstream
None
Strike Kings new catfish dynamite sausage links.
shallow and in the channel
Carolina rigged
Well I had been painting the house all day and couldnt resist getting out the boat for an hour or so. Wanted to try out the new catfish bait my son got me for my birthday. Only fished for about 30 minutes. Only had two strikes, couldnt set the hook on anything though. The sausage links dont stay on the hook so good though. Went thru a half a bag in 30 minutes. If Im gonna use a stink bait, I will probably use the catfish dynamite dip bait on a huckleberry treble. Have had better luck with that. Still nice to get out on the river in the early evening. Bill
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 6/12/05
Time: all day
Briery Creek
partially cloudy
very light stain
from 701 ramp to south end of lake
25 - 30 LMB
Trick worms, jigs, X-Rap, Moss Mouse, Texas rigged 10.5" worm
1 - 12 feet
Trick worms fished weedless wacky style around trees and stumps. Jigs and big worm fished on deeper channel cuts, X-Rap fished all around. Moss Mouse in Lily pads
First time to Briery in about a month. Fished with Jeff K. today he is a really cool guy. We had a good time and a pretty good day, not great but good. Briery has weeded up real bad. Almost unfishable from the Little Briery Creek Cove to the end of the lake. Caught most of the wacky rig fish around stumps in 5 - 10 feet of water. Jig, Worm and X-Rap fish were caught fishing the various creek channels. Did lose a couple of decent feeling fish, other than that largest fish may have gone four. Had a few in the 2- 3 pound range and then the rest were all around a pound to pound and 1 1/2.
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 06/11/05
Time: 8:30-5:30
Sandy River Reservoir
Partly Cloudy 85
stained, 1'-2'visibility
mid to upper lake areas
Bass
Finesse worms
1'-8'
Rigged finesse worms weedless wacky and open hook wacky
A friend and I caught 54 total bass with all less than 2#. Most productive pattern was fishing around shallow pads and grass where bass were jumping to catch dragon flies.
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 06/08/05
Time: 5PM - 8:30
Lower James River
Clear Hot and sunny with the exception of a breif rain storm
vis 1-2' 82deg
Turkey Neck Island
4 LMB
T-Rigged crawfish, spinner baits
1'-10'
Slow roll killing the spinner after bumping limbs, all took it on the fall.
Trying to expand my horizons by exploring new (to me) areas and presentations.
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 6/4
Time: 6:15 - 2:15
Lower James River
Sunny and clear
slight dingy
Herring Creek, Kittowan Creek, Chipokes, and then Meades Pit
None, zippo, zilch
Finesse worm and Jigs
0 - 6 feet
fished around laydowns that i usually do well on
Tought day for me again. Pitched a zero in a Club T. Was on fish in the morning for about an hour and a half as the outgoing tide was finishing up. Broke something like 4 or 5 off on the wacky rigged finesse worm. Also missed several on that rig and on the jig. Then my bite died. Had no more hits until I made my desperation into Meades Pit just before going to weigh in at Osbourne. Had two pick up jigs there that i pitched into the hearts of bushes but could not bury the hook. I hate zeroing..............
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 06/05/05
Time: 7:00 AM-12
Lower James River
Clear Hot, Sunny
Last half out going tide temp 70-72
Main river Laydowns and rock eddies up river from Dutch Gap
4 LMB - one about 2 1/2 lbs three bareley made 12"
All came on T-Rigged Plastics
Various
Relativley slow dragging through wood and bouncing off the rocks.
Not a bad day by my standards. They are just barely starting to move back out to the main river. Was helping a buddy pre-fish for an upcoming tourney. While we didn't do great, we were able to eliminate a lot of water for him.
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 06/04/05
Time: 8-5
Sandy River Reservoir
Partly Cloudy 80 degrees
Dingy 1'-2' visibility
Mid to upper areas
Bass
finesse worm
1'-5'
Rigged worms wacky style-open hook and weedless
Partner and I caught 36 total bass for relatively slow day. We only had seven at noon. Weather and water seemed perfect for a good catch but the fish must still be recovering from the spawn and not activity feeding yet. At various places around the lake, we saw some bass fry being escorted by a parent. Largest bass was 3lbs.5oz.
Name: Don Arbaugh
Email: arbaughbunch@direcway.com
Date: 05/31/05
Time: 7-12am
Slate River Watershed
Clouds to Sunny
Very Clear
Various
Bass
Yum Dinger, Topwater Frog
Various
Fished topwater frogs through vegetation, and weightless Yum Dinger in vegetation and off bottom structure.
This lake is a treasure with both visual scenic beauty and good concentrations of bass, pike, and crappie! Though it is historically know for it's Pike populations, citation bass are present in good numbers. This impoundment is secluded and quiet which is a plus! You owe it to yourself, to visit this scenic beauty! Only electric, with smaller crafts more practical! Due to it's vegetation growth, and Briery Creek type structure.
Name: rattlesnake
Email:
Date: 05/30/05
Time: am
Smith Mountain
sunny
clear, water temp. 65deg.
dam area
bass
spinnerbait, plastic worm
10-12'
started out fishing points with spinnerbaits and crankbaits. fella i stayed with said they had dropped the water approx. 2' since last thursday. once the sun came up, tried fishing docks with jig-n-pig and plastics.
fished from around 6:30 till 10:00. caught one dink smallmouth off a point on a spinnerbait near the mouth of witchers creek. move over to louse creek in a cut and fished some more docks. caught 2 largemouth on a blueshad zoom worm. biggest was a little over 2lbs. caught one off a dock and another off a stump and lay down off a secondeary point. got off the water when the boat traffic started picking up. tight lines.
Name: Budda
Email: matt@hunting-fishing-virignia.com
Date: 05/30/05
Time: 12:00pm/300p
Appomattox River
clear and hot
cloudy to muddy
Launched from the small boat harbor in Colonial Heights and did not run either way for long.
Bass and perch
Sinking worms and crankbaits
Fished banks and small drop offs
I fished the appomattox river on Monday May 30th. Fished from 12:00 to 3:00. It was a little hot out there so we did not stay long. I managed a nice river bass around 2.5 pounds on a sinking worm and one small perch. This was the first time I have fished in the Appomattox and I do believe I will be back. We launched out of the small boat harbor in Colonial Heights. Any suggestions on some good holes would be much appreciated.
Name: Ego
Email: mnovak@comcast.net
Date: 5/29/05
Time: 11am-3pm
Diascund Reservoir
Sunny, 83
clear
All of the coves straight out from the ramp
Bass, pickerel, crappie
Mepps/Rooster tail, 4" sluggo/threadfin plastic bait
3-5 feet
pretty fast presentation on retrieves, kept the rooster tail about a foot underwater, jerked the plastic bait like a crippled minnow
What a beautiful day....I went out there in the kayak today. If anyone saw the red kayak with the rods sitting up on the back in rod holders that was me. I didn't get on the lake until about 11am...when I was launching the kayak a guy told me he was very disappointed and didn't catch anything. Then on my way out another guy was coming in and said the same thing. Instead of taking a left and going under the bridge like I usually do, I went straight out from the ramp......fished the first cove where those powerlines cross in front of the ramp.....and.. On my fifth cast I landed a SLAB crappie on a mepps/roster tail.....next cast produced a skinny yet looong pickerel. Then I saw some bushes shaking and paddled slowly a little closer to see what it was...and it was a huuuge snake. It was either mating or trying to swallow something bigger than itself because it was randomly shaking the bush lol.. Fished that rooster tail for the next few hours and didn't get any hits. Paddled next to some family or something who was landing their canoes at a sand-ramp in a cove and one of the girls was talking something about her "boobs" and how her bikini barely covered her nipple....man if only I'd brought my **** binoculars Paddled toward the back and got within view of the I-64 bridge and there's a big tree laid down in the water on the right shoreline heading toward the bridge....something told me to switch to this 4 inch rubber bait that looks like a mix between a slugg-o and a threadfin shad....and on the first cast to that log I nailed a 2 pounder....he fought really well too.... Paddled up under the I-64 bridge just to see what was over there, nothin but swamp. Turned back around and headed in around 2:30pm. All in all it was a 3 fish day which IS an IMPROVEMENT based on what I do at Harrison Lake lol
Name: Dan
Email:
Date: 5/27/05
Time: 6:30 - 10:30
Rapidan River
beautiful, high 50s to low 60s
cool and clear
from somewhere about 4 miles up from the SNP boundary to a little ways into RWMA
14 Brook Trout
gold spoons, flicker spinners, inline spinners- all small and single hook
all
Couple of fish over 12"- which is always nice for a wild brookie. Saw a weasel (first I've ever encountered in the wild), took me by suprise at first till I figured what it was. Run into a couple of bear on this part of the Rapidan before but never a weasel.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 05/26/05
Time: 10am-3pm
Chickahominy Lake
Nice day for fishing, a little windy
clear, 70* water at Ed Allens
way up lake in the creek channels and coves
2 chain pickeral and a 7.5lb bowfin
all fish caught on a suspending X-Rap
shallow, slack water
No luck with bass so concentrated on pickeral and bowfin. That big bowfin put up a good fight.
Name: Gaston Mike
Email:
Date: 05/22/05
Time: 4p-8p
Lake Gaston
Warm and sunny light ne wind
clear
lower lake creeks and coves
3 lg. mouth
c-rig, buzzbait, plastic
shallow to 7
Tried a few this fishing slow 1 on c-rig 1 on buzzer 1 on worm
no pattern I could find in the short time I had to fish
Name: Don Arbaugh
Email:
Date: 5/22/05
Time: 9:00 to 4:00
Briery Creek
Sunny/Windy
Normal
Big Cove across 701 ramp
Huge Shellcrackers/Bigger Bream, (2) LMB over 5lbs.
Floated live Crickets / LMB on Yum Dingers fished weightless.
2 1/2 to 3 foot down
Pulled crickets slowly through new topwater vegetation growth. Fished Yum Dingers weightless on edge of dropoff!
Started culling around 11:00! The shellcrackers were smaller then years passed but, the bream were tremendous! They were located just on the outside edge of the vegetation growth!
Name: Jeff Banko
Email:
Date: 5/21/05
Time: 6:25 - 2:30
Lake Gaston
Windy but clear
light stain
Lizards Creek
11 LMB
Wacky Rigged Trick Worm, husky Jerk
3- 10 feet
Fished the trick worms around docks. Fished the husky jerks on flats around points.
Fished Club T today. Won it with 5 for 12-4. Was culling by 9:00 a.m. All told caught ten fish that were keepers and one dink. Tried a lot of things but the trick worm and the husky jerk were the ticket.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 05/19/20
Time: 930a-130p
Private pond
overcast, finally no wind
clear, lots of pollen on lower end
LMB
Tried a variety of hard baits, traps, x-raps, no luck. Switched to the old weightless, wacky rigged Senko and thats exactly what they wanted.
Most fish caught were tight to the bank.
The weightless, wacky rigged worm was the only thing that produced fish. Slow fall then twitch it back. Most strikes on the twitch.
Fished the pond with my buddy. Caught a bunch of bass 1-2lbs. Small fish but it was fun catching. Lots of fish are still on beds. Saw one very large fish on a bed but she wasnt as interested in us as we were with her, so thats where we left her.
Name: test
Email: terset
Date: rfdef
Time: nmhbj
Briery Creekerserer
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Name: rattlesnake
Email:
Date: 05/14/04
Time: 7:00-3:00
Smith Mountain
sunny
clear
Indian Creek down to R22
Largemouth
Senko
6-12'
wacky rigged senkos skipped under docks
Suppose to fish a little tournament out of Indian Creek, but only 2 boats showed up. Reckon we are out of the loop. Had a little match between the 4 or us though. Fishing right tough, at least for me and partner. Sun came early and stayed out. Tried fishing points and small main lake cuts. Saw a few fish and had some follow ups on spinnerbaits and flukes. Tried a little topwater with no success. Tried to carolina rig some points but with the wind and boat traffic it was dern near impossible. Ended up catching 5 fish on wacky rigged senkos. 3 off docks, one off stump and one beneath overhanging bushes. THe 5 fish weighed 8.6lbs. Fellas we fished against had 4 fish at 6.4lbs. They had a 4lbsfish on a jig but came off as they were swinging it in the boat. Tough break! Other than the boat traffic and the trip back to Indian Creek it was a great day to be out. Tight Lines!
Name: Rich K.
Email:
Date: 5/14/05
Time: 3:30 PM- 9PM
Appomatox River
Clear skies, wind gusts to 20MPH
Dingy, 74deg
Conjours Neck
Bream, small bass, and 1 catfish
Live nightcrawlers
5-7'
Sink and wait
Took my two 5 yr olds out for a while, I never even took my poles out. We caught about 50 small bream, and a few small bass as well as 1 catfish that broke off at the side of the boat (my fault, bad knot). The kids were extatic, if you were in the area you probably heard us hoopin' and hollerin'. The action was so fast near sunset that I had to cut them down to one shared pole instead of both having one. My daughter did everything herself except bait the hook, and my son wouldn't hold his fish because they were "icky", but we still had a great time. I got lots of good pics for the album.
Name: K Dog
Email:
Date: 05/12/05
Time: 5:30am to 2p
Diascund Reservoir
partly cloudy/breezy
stained
Diascund creek channel.Waharani Swamp
LMB/jakes
Suspending cranks,spinner bait,senkos with Gamagatsu bleeding bait hooks
3 to 10 feet
. My first pattern was to try to find the mama chubby’s on creek channel bends, but no takers. Began fishing the small coves where the creek channel was the closest. Every cove that structure and wind produced bass.
Largest bass was 19"length by 13"girth. Took awhile to find the color they preferred. All fish came off BPS senkos "mistake” color(looks like rainbow trout color to me).A semi fast, short jerking presentation is what they wanted. I’d make casts behind any irregular feature, then would bring it to the side or front and let it fall. BLAM everytime. I believe wind was the key. Saw some very large carp.30 pounders. One was so large it scared the crap out of me. I guess 60pounds.NO had to have been 75plus,sucker looked five feet long. This was at the spillway at the back of Diascund feeder creek. Carp where all stacked up creating a ruckus trying to get to the other side. Gar in the citation range also. Carp and Gar are the only fish I don’t have a recognized citation. Need those to complete my Master Angler patch
Name: Jeff K.
Email:
Date: 05/09/05
Time: 8 - 1
Briery Creek
Blue skies-upper 70's - WINDY!
Stained, lots of pollen, water temp in the 60's
Off 701 ramp midlake to south end
11 Bass, largest little over 4lbs. Rest were 1-3lbs Lost 3 in the trees.
Mostly wacky rigged finesse/trick worms. Caught the big one on a jig-n-pig though.
3-15ft
Beautiful day for fishing but the wind was mean! I didn't even need my trolling motor to make it to the south end, I just started out on the sunny side and let the wind blow me down there, lol. A few times I tied off on a tree in the middle and fished a while.
Name: country boy
Email:
Date: 5/8/05
Time: 10:00-6:00
Sandy River Reservoir
Sunny 70 to 80 degrees
Stained 1 1/2 ft visiblilty
middle to upper end
a few bass and a boat load of crappie
finness worms & crank baits for bass & brown and white crappie jigs
1 to 12 ft
slow
The bass were catchable but you had to work for them. finness worms seemed to be the most productive but with the exstream winds it was hard to fish them. Checked my favorite crappie hole and only had a few takers but decided to try a fallen tree off the main lake while I was still riged and filled a coller. Found that all similar trees in 10 to 13 ft of water was also holding crappie.
Name: Vyper-P&J Fishing Enterprises
Email:
Date: 5/8/2005
Time: 7am-1pm
Sandy River Reservoir
Bluebird Skies, 10-15 mph wind
Clear-61-63
Around main lake in ramp area
Green ones
Jerkbait, jig, C-rig
6in to 18 ft
Slow man, real slow
Caught a couple first thing in the morning on a jerkbait, missed one on a jig and then went to the rig. Had 16 by 1 pm, largest was 4.5. All were suspending in 12-14ft off main lake structure.
Name: Jeffrey Banko
Email:
Date: 5/4/05
Time: 6 - 3
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
Sloght Breeze no clouds 7o degrees
slight stain 57 - 60 degrees
Rudds, Rocky Branch, and Buthcer Creek
3 LMB, biggest 4.88 pounds
Weeedless Wacky Rigged Trick Worm, C-Rigged Lizard, Spinnerbait
2-20 feet
Threw weedless wacky rig around gum bushes and trees
Fished Federation REgion 6 tourney out of Occoneechee today. Caught one nice on 4.88 on the weedless wacky rigged trick worm. Lost a ton of other fish on break offs. Was trying to use a new flourocarbon/braid combo today and had problems with the braid cutting threw the flouro. Won't make the mistake of trying new things again on tourney day. If I did not break fish off I would have been culling fish by around 10:00 and I am sure would have been in the money based on the winning weights. Partner also caught two on C- Rigged worms. Did try to fish secondary points quite a bit with no luck seemed most fish we found were in the backs of coves still.
Name: Dan
Email:
Date: 5/7/05
Time: 6am-9am
Motts Reservoir
mid to upper 40s, Wind
56 at dam
Lower end of the reservoir
2 Largemouth
5" Yum Dinger
1 to 10 feet
fished wherever the wind wasn't blowing
I hate wind- especially when worm fishing. Both bass were around 1 to 1.5 pounds and were caught in the last cove on the right by the dam. The grass I was expecting to fish is just starting to turn green.
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 05/05/05
Time: 9:30-5:30
Sandy River Reservoir
Cloudy, high 65, windy
stained 61-63 degrees
mid and uplake
Buddy caught 31 bass and I caught 21 bass. Both of us caught several bluegills,shellcrackers and crappie
Wacky rigged finesse worm and 1/16 oz.Roadrunner
1'-6'
Fished spawning area drops and visible spawning beds. Also open spaces in the dollar pads seem to hold the largest bass.
Largest bass was 5 lbs. 4 oz. Had a #4 and three #3 Eight trailers in the parking lot when we arrived and three when we left. Didn't catch any bass on beds until the afternoon. Saw the same bass, about #5, on a bed that was there Tuesday-still wouldn't bite.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 05/03/05
Time: 1230-430pm
Lower James River
Sunny,and of course, windy
outgoing tide
All my usual favorites around Dutch Gap, then tried