Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 03/31/06
Time: 12-4pm
Lower James River
Clear, sunny and warm. Windy
Chopped, reasonably clear
Off the old Annabelle Lee dock.
American shad, Hickory shad, herring
Sabiki rig and gold spoons
Not a bad day. It was awesome weather except for the wind. 2 of my neighbors and I went down there to fish off the dock. We all probably caught about a dozen a piece. Just now starting to see the much bigger American shad showing up. We mostly caught Herring with a couple of Hickories and Americans thrown in. The cruise boat was heading out on a charter when one guy (not one of us) made a bad cast into the wind. He managed to wrap his line around the boats flag pole and his sabiki landed in a girls hair standing on the back deck. Sorry, but it was funny.
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 03/31/06
Time: 9:30-3:30
Briery Creek
Partly Cloudy, 75 degrees, WINDY
Clear-5'+ visibility, 56-64 degrees
Uplake
34 bass, 3 pickerel
spinnerbait and wacky rigged finesse worm
less than 5'
Fished within and close to creek channels letting the finesse worm drop into the channels. Used the spinnerbait on nearby flats retrieving fast to keep the algae off of it and catch the bedding bass by stumps.
Saw some beds in depths less than 3' and caught some of the buck bass. No big ones but several in the 2# class.
Name: Jeff K.
Email:
Date: 03/29/06
Time: 9:30 - 4:00
Briery Creek
Cloudy all day, 62
50-53
5 LMB
LC Pointer, Fat CB, Spinner, Senkos, Finesse, Flukes, Baby brush hog and Shiners
0-25ft
Mainly worked the trees methodically. Did work one large flat in the main lake and a few creek channels. One fish (largest) came in open water off the LC Fat Cb, everything else off if the trees.
Yesterday was supposed to be beautiful and sunny. Never took my long sleeve shirt off all day, the sun only came out a couple times which really could have helped the water temps a little. Caught a 4lbr on the Fat CB, but it wasn't until I scaled down my presentation and went to spinning gear, smaller line, smaller lures did I catch the other 4, all off trees. Maybe the rain the day before had something to do with that, who knows. The last 4 were all keepers between 1-2 lbs. Motored around a little and looked for beds but didn't see any fish, maybe still a week or two away. I will be back there Friday for round two and warmer temps. Went there with a dozen shiners and left with 10. The other two were mercy releases for staying on my hook and line for 6 hours and not seeing any action. I can't believe the shiners didn't work .... oh well.
Name: Jeff K.
Email:
Date: 03/29/06
Time: 9:30 - 4:00
Briery Creek
Cloudy all day, 62
50-53
5 LMB
LC Pointer, Fat CB, Spinner, Senkos, Finesse, Flukes, Baby brush hog and Shiners
0-25ft
Mainly worked the trees methodically. Did work one large flat in the main lake and a few creek channels. One fish (largest) came in open water off the LC Fat Cb, everything else off if the trees.
Yesterday was supposed to be beautiful and sunny. Never took my long sleeve shirt off all day, the sun only came out a couple times which really could have helped the water temps a little. Caught a 4lbr on the Fat CB, but it wasn't until I scaled down my presentation and went to spinning gear, smaller line, smaller lures did I catch the other 4, all off trees. Maybe the rain the day before had something to do with that, who knows. The last 4 were all keepers between 1-2 lbs. Motored around a little and looked for beds but didn't see any fish, maybe still a week or two away. I will be back there Friday for round two and warmer temps.
Name: Toby Newcomb
Email:
Date: 03/28/06
Time: 5 - 7 pm
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
WINDY!!!
very clear
rocky points
LMB (1)
Smallest Glass Shad Rap - White Color
8-0'
Slowly cranking the shad rap on the bottom. Only fish of the day (4+ lbs.) hit it on the pause on the windy side of a rocky point.
Name: RBB
Email: ryanbuck37@yahoo.com
Date: 3/24-26
Time: 7:30-6:00
Briery Creek
cold,rain,snow on Sat.
Low 50's
Main lake flats, points, and grassbeds
Large Mouth Bass
Zoom Finesse Worms, Crankbaits, Senko's
0-20'
Fished shallow and deep with biggest fish caught deep on a bandit 300 crankbait and Zoom finesse and trick worms. After about a day and a half my partner and I found large concentrations of fish related to main lake flats in 14'-18' feet of water.
Day one-14 bass with a 6.0 and 4.1 being the biggest. Day two- 13 bass with 3.3 the biggest. Day three- (after the cold front) 6 bass with an 8.7 pounder and nothing under 2 1/2. All in all a great weekend considering the less than optimum conditions.
Name: WLD Nitro
Email:
Date: 3-26-06
Time: Mid Day
Lake Gaston
Windy Cool
Clear 50 to 51 Degree
Pea Hill Creek
2-4lb Largemouth Bass
Crank Bait
5 to 12
Running Deep Running Crank Bait Slow Cranking Off Flat to Drop Off, Keep Boat In 10' to 20' Of Water & Flat Around 3' to 5'
Name: JP
Email: JPSSTONEWORX@YAHOO.COM
Date: 3/25/06
Time: 7am-3pm
LAKE BRITTLE
OVERCAST W/SLIGHT BREEZE
CALM/COLD
DAM, COVES ON LEFT/RIGHT PAST PEAKS
5 LMB AND TONS OF CHANNEL CAT
PLASTIC WORMS AND SPINNERS FOR BASS-LIVERS FOR CATS
4'-16'
SLOW SLOW SLOW!!! ANYTHING FASTER THAN A SNAILS PACE AND YOU WERENT HAVING A GOOD DAY!
GOOD LUCK...BRITTLE IS A TOUGH BASS HOLE...BETTER BASS FISHIN AT NIGHT...CATS ARE GREAT THERE..LAST MONTH I PULLED A 38# FLATHEAD OUT AT NIGHT AND MY BUDDY CAUGHT A 34# BLUE LAST YEAR
Name: Rich k
Email:
Date: 3/26/06
Time: 9-1:00
Lower James River
Windy/cool 54 deg
tems ranged from 50-62 deg
Barge Pits/Meads pit
2 LMB
Jig/trailer,C/B
2-15'
Tried everything
Very frustrating day. Bait was busting all around me at the back of the barge pits, was only able to land 2 at about 2 lbs each. Went into meads, and couldn't find anything but the wind.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 03/26/06
Time: 10am-3pm
Lower James River
Partly cloudy, windy 54*
Surface temp 52.7, some chop early
Outflow below Ancarrows landing
Lots of herring
Sabiki rig
Cast and sweep
Shad still dont seem to be in the river yet. Could only catch fish at the outflow again. Maybe this upcoming warm week will get the fish moving up the main river. The Bulgarian had a blast and caught many fish.
Name: BassKat
Email:
Date: 03/18/06
Time: 0700-1545
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
blue bird skies, cold windy
clear
Nutbush
Boater 5 @ 15-13 me zero
everything but what the boater had
1 to 7 feet
slow, medium, fast, faster and fastest
Sorry for the late report, waiting on the welps to go away. I got spanked bad for the 1st event of the year. They wanted 1 bait and 1 only, so with everything in that bag I don't have that one. Got 5 now but they want want that again. I tried jerks, blades, cranks, t-worms and C rig and nothing. Boater throwing and ripping shadrap and killing me.promised boater I would name color. Nothing like the back of the boat. Well there is Gaston in 2 weeks.
Name: mb
Email:
Date: 03/19/06
Time: 1230-430pm
Briery Creek
windy but some calm
mostly clear
from the boat ramp around the dam and up lake bout 20o yds then back across the lake
4 LMB--The biggest was 4 lbs 1 ozs, 1 was 2 lbs 10 ozs then 1 lbs 4oz then a dink
live bait caught the 2 biggest and plastic worm and lizard caught the others Fished the minnows on a carolina rig just like the plastics.
4 ft to 20 ft
just jigged along slow, then anchored up about midway between the dam and the boat ramp on the right side..
It was the first time I had been to the lake.My wife and I had a great time we have to make this trip to Farmville about twice a month so we will try the famed Briery creek again.. Also I need to find me a 9.9hp motor,the trolling motors are great for the correct use. Did the guy with his small daughter make a post,,? His times were the same as a guy the I talked to that had been there from about 6:00 am.He was from Chesterfield.I was the guy with his wife in the Alumacraft boat taking out after you.
Name: mb
Email:
Date: 03/18/06
Time: 2;30/530pm
Sandy River Reservoir
windy and cold
clear for the most part
from the boat ramp to the left up about 3oo yds and then back to the ramp on the right side
3 LMB biggest 1.5 lbs
live bait,jigs,rat-trap and plastic worms
0 to 20 ft
slow
It was too windy to fish like I wanted and it was the first time I had been to the lake so I didn't have enough time to search and find....Also I need to find me a 9.9hp motor,the trolling motors are great for the correct use.
Name: Toby
Email: tjn293@yahoo.com
Date: 03/19/06
Time: 6 am - 2 pm
Briery Creek
clear and chilly
clear
All over Briery
0000000000000000
everything imaginable
1' - 24'
tough day out there. thought it was going to be a productive day, but no such luck. Tried everything in the arsenal, but the LMB were not having it!!
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 3/19/06
Time: 6:30-5:30
Lower James River
Cool 57* Windy
Choppy 54-58*
Comstock, App river, James river up to Presquile
4 LMB 1 cat
Shad dart, 2" crappie jig, gold spoon
2-20'
Cast/reel
Tough day, wind was killing us for the shad. caught all bass in the Appomatox near Pye Alley, all dinks, but they were all caught on the crappie jig.
Name: Randy
Email:
Date: 03/19/06
Time: 9am-4pm
Lower James River
Clear/Windy/Chilly
Cloudy/Chop
Appomattox-Pye Ally/James-Presquile Island Cutoff and everywhere in between.
1 Dink LMB, 1 American Shad
Gold Spoon (1/4 oz kastmaster) Damashi (Sabiki) #4 SW/HH
5-20 feet
Standard
Took my new Boat out on her maiden Fishing trip. Rich K went along for the ride with me. Forced him to fish also.:) Windy and cold. Made for a tough time but we managed.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 03/19/06
Time: 9am-4pm
Lower James River
Sunny, light wind 57*
Crystal clear, surface temp 54*
Under I-95 bridge, near the river lock gates and at the treatment plant outflow below Ancarrows.
1 8lb Flathead and too many Alewife Herring to count
Worms for the cat, Sabikis for the herring
Went with Mike and Chris today on my boat. We started around the 95 bridge with no luck shad fishing. Only guy we saw catching shad was fly fishing a gold fly. We moved around, saw some carp swimming on the bottom. We messed around with nightcrawlers and chris caught the flathead. We decided to try for the shad down at the outflow and that was the ticket. The herring were stacked in there THICK. We went thru 12 sabiki rigs there and just slayed them. My arm is tired
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 03/16/06
Time: 10:00-5:00
Briery Creek
Partly cloudy 60 degrees
Temp 54-59 degrees, 3'+ clarity, about 1' low
mid lake to upper end
31 bass-largest 3#4oz. with several in that class and 1 pickerel
Husky Jerk, 1/8 oz spinnerbait, wacky rigged finesse and trick worms with the wacky rig being the most productive
2'-6'
Concentrated on areas next to creek channels and sharp dropoffs. Most were caught by stumps and just about every shallow (less than 3') horizonal log had at least one bass on it.
The hydrilla is about 2' under the surface in depths between 3' and 10' and the only open water in that range is the creek channels. Saw a nice air show put on by three jets doing loops, rolls and a low pass over the lake.
Name: steve
Email:
Date: 03/11/06
Time: 11am -2 pm
mattaponi
sunny warm
very clear very low
zoar state park
1 lmb 17" 1 yellow perch 10"
tube jig worms
4-5 ft
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 03/16/06
Time: 5pm-545pm
Lower James River
sunny and warm
calm
old Annabelle Lee dock
5 shad
gold shad spoon
Sabiki wasnt working so tried a gold spoon. Thats what they wanted.
Still slow for shad fishing but its getting there. Dock was crowded with "after workers" like me wetting a line.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 03/14/20
Time: 130p-3p
Lower James River
sunny, winds blowing to 30mph
white capped
Ancarrows Landing shoreline
American Shad, 2
Sabiki rig
Caught a couple today. Wind was unbearable. Saw a couple of small Jon boats try to motor up to the 95 bridge against the wind only to have to turn back due to the waves. There was a group of teenagers that had come all the way from New Hampshire on busses to do community work. They mulched all the trails, picked up all the trash and gave everything a fresh coat of paint. If any public boat ramp needed it, it was Ancarrows.
Name: Jeff
Email: jjordan@ntelos.net
Date: 03/13/06
Time: 7:30-9:00 am
Briery Creek
sunny-windy
clear 3ft
mid lake
1 LMB-17inches
crankbait
6-10
ripped crankbait through grass- caught only fish on third or fourth cast. Left after an hour and a half and went to Sandy. I couldn't handle getting blown into any more trees. Water temp was around 56 degrees. Went uplake at Sandy and found some 60 degree water. Only caught three. All caught on crankbait. Thought the day would be better, but had a good time. I like a little wind, but loading the boat by myself at Sandy was a little difficult with the wind blowing straight in towards ramp.
Name: Ray
Email: V23842@aol.com
Date: 03/13/06
Time: 12:30-4:30
Lower James River
Windy and warm
choppy with white caps
Barge yard and Meades pit
0
Crankbaits, spinnerbaits and worms
0 to 10 ft.
fished slow
After a five day warming trend and with a front moving in I just knew the fish would be turned on. No such luck. I have heard that the James and Chick rivers have had a couple of good spawns and are back. You couldn't tell it by me. I can remember when it was no problem to catch 20-25 Bass a trip at either the James or Chick. Then the Chick died and next came the James. Or is it me?
Name: Andy L.
Email:
Date: 3/12/06
Time: 10AM-4PM
Lower James River
WINDY
CHOPPY
Down river from deep bottom
Blue Catfish (30lbs.)
fresh shad
20-60 feet
bottom/ fish finder rig
Wind and alot of boat traffic made getting set up on some spots a little difficult. Caught on 30lb Blue, but didn't get many other bites.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 3/12/06
Time: 930am -5pm
Lower James River and a pond
Windy but otherwise beautiful
Windy and chopped on the James, protested and calm on the pond
For shad we fished off the old Annabelle Lee pier on the James. Then drove to a pond in Goochland for bass
American and Hickory shad. LMB, sunfish.
For shad, sabiki rigs. For bass, a jointed crank bait and the sunfish came off of Mike recommendation, the Beetlespin.
I spent the morning with neighborhood friends fishing for shad off the pier across from Ancarrows. We caught a few nice size ones, but the run is really just getting started. They really are not in there very much yet. Drove to Hanover and met up with a friend. He showed me the way to an 80 acre piece of land he has in Goochland with a nice 5 acre pond on it. No pressure and its full of bass. Landed a few up to 2 lbs in an hour. Cant wait to try that place in a few weeks.I may keep my canoe after all. I got bit on my first cast. Thats always a good sign. We took some time to do some target shooting before the sun went down. What a great day!
Name: Mb
Email:
Date: 3/10/06
Time: 8:30am-12:00
Leeville Lake
WWinndyyyy
Water temp 48 to 49.8 in some small coves,most clear in the mail lake and stain in the coves.
From the Dam up to Jasper creek
none
fished for crappie using jigs and largemouth using jigs and spinner bait.
0-20 ft
any way I could keep the wind from blowing the boat up on the bank.
A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work,even if you work 3rd shift.
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 3/12/06
Time: 9:30-2:30
Lake Chesdin
Warm, mid 80's, windy afternoon
stained 58 - 62 deg
All over the lake
1 lmb - dink
jigs, c/b, spinners
2 - 20
Slow
tough day for me, tons of crappie folks out today. Nice sunburn though.
Name: Mike
Email:
Date: 3/12
Time: 8-1pm
Mattaponi River @ Aylett
75 degrees, breezy
Extremely low, clear
Deep holes (bends in the river) - 15-20 feet deep
Yellow perch, white perch, bluegill, blue catfish
bottom fishing nightcrawlers
15-20
Caught approx 30-40 fish today, mostly white & yellow perch. About 5 bluegills and 2 blue catfish. Awesome day, I caught all of the fish except 3 or 4 out of the same hole (15 feet of water) on the tail end of the outgoing tide, the slack, and the very start of the incoming tide. Saw several others catching fish but no one at the pace I was catching them from that one hole. Found me a new honey hole :)
Name: Ken
Email:
Date: 03/11/06
Time: 1pm-5pm
Lake Chesdin
sunny,and windy
WHIPPERNOCK , and across lake from Dinwiddie Landing
LM-4 ,(2) 3 to 4 lbs and 2 dinks
caught 3 Zoom Lizard, 1 on worm
0-8'
Slow , only areas I had strikes in were points with weeds,
Lot of boats out today, was a nice day out little windy the 1st to middle part of the afternoon.
Name: Mike
Email:
Date: 3/11
Time: 8am - 2pm
Lower James River
Sunny, Warm...beautiful
perfect!
Main river south & north of 295 bridge. Barge pits
NONE
Catfished with cut shad, bass fished with plastics and spinnerbaits
20-30 feet catfish
sloowwww
What a gorgeous day out on the water. It was great. My father & I went out with the intent on catfishing 1/2 the day and bass fishing the other 1/2. Dad had a few "taps" on his cut bait but no takers. Got stopped by the Henrico Marine Patrol - checked for fishing license, registration, PFD's, livewells, and something I wasn't expecting: Checked the fire extinguisher for proper pressure. Luckily it was pressurized. Didn't see anybody catching anything but we came back around 2pm to see several weigh ins. Caught a bass tournament for a group called "BAM". Biggest fish was 4.98lbs with several in the 4lbs range. Winning weight was around 10-12lbs. There were some great looking fish landed. I was impressed that this group paid out $425 to the winning team. Next tournament I didn't really see the pay outs or exact weights but I saw several 3-4lbs bass. Finally, we caught the JRCC catfish tournament weigh-in. Biggest fish was a 54 pounder. Others were in the 30 and 40lbs range. Awesome fish. It was a great day all in all even though we didn't catch a single thing.
Name: Bill (As reported from Conway's River Rat Guide Service)
Email: bill@chicklaketackle.com
Date: 03/05-06
Time:
Chickahominy - Lake
Sunny, Warm and Breezy
Warming Trend. Mid 40s- low 50s
Upper Lake and Main Lake pockets
Perch, Bowfins, Crappie
Minnows, Jigs and Blade Baits
Various depths of 8' or greater
Slow jig, 3 way rigs
Capt. Art Conway of Conway's River Rat Guide Service (804-746-2475) reported that Chickahominy Lake water temperatures last week were in the high 40's to low 50's, with the higher temperatures in the northside flats and larger creeks. Crappies with a few white perch and an occasional bass and pickerel were still around bait schools in some of the deep holes in the upper lake and a few of the holes in the lower lake. Crappies were near the bottom in some holes and suspended at 8 to 10 feet over deeper water in other holes. Live minnows fished on three-way rigs near the bottom or at the depth of suspended fish caught crappies, white perch, and pickerel. Blade baits like Riverside Rippers and jigging spoons fished with short lifts near the bottom took a few crappies and perch along with some nice pickerel. The larger crappies were less abundant in the deep holes and may be starting to migrate toward spawning areas up the creeks. Some nice pickerel and bowfins were in the larger creeks and were hitting live minnows and small swim baits.
Name: Toby Newcomb
Email: tjn293@yahoo.com
Date: 03/04/06
Time: sunup - 3 pm
Briery Creek
sunny, breezy, and 56 deg.
clear, about 46 degrees
all over Briery, but mostly around grassline and elevation changes
2 LM BASS - a 3.5 and a 4.25.
Fish were caught on a XRAP jerkbait and a small Yamamoto grub
6-26'
Just fished real slow. I caught the small fish and my buddy caught the 4 lber. He also hung and fought a nice LMB right to the boat and he spit the grub into the boat. Probably a nice 6+lber. Fun fishing though. Love that place.
Name: UnstoppableHybrid
Email:
Date: 03/04-06
Time: 11-3pm
Smith Mountain
Windy, gusts up to 25mph
Water down around 2ft. Temp on main lake 42-43 degrees
Fished main lake points. Concentrated on rocky areas with wind and sunshine. Checked temp. in many creeks highest I found around 46 degrees.
1 Smallie
Fished Jig and pork, spider grub, slow rolled 1/2 ounce spinnerbait, 1 fish came off jerkbait.
5 ft. to 30ft.
Had to slow way down, which was tough due to the wind. Stuck with the jerkbait most of the day. Instead of the usual twitch pause retreive I went with a sweep and pause. I would pause for 5-10 seconds. My one fish came up out of around 20ft. to hit the bait.
Even though I only caught one fish I was pleased and feel blessed to have caught one yesterday in those conditions. Hopefully, the weather will stabilize and a more solid pattern will develope. Tight lines.
Name: Mike
Email:
Date: 3/4
Time: noon to 3pm
Lower James River
55 degrees - windy
low tide - choppy
Barge pits, curles neck
Nothin..
creature bait, plastic worm, spinner bait
4-8'
Slow....
It was an okay day to be out...as has been the case for the last 3 weeks, it was too windy. I didn't catch anything but I saw one other boat in the barge pits catch a few small bass along the same shoreline that I was fishing. Looked like they were using white flukes or senkos. Also saw a guy getting his picture taken on a center console just down river from the 295 bridge - he was holding a pretty good sized catfish...looked like 30-40lbs. Tough conditions again....white caps on parts of the main river. Water temprature was varying greatly too, I found both 54 degree water and 45 degree water on the main river.
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 3/2/06
Time: 2:30 - 6:00
Lower James River
70 deg WINNNDDDDDYYYY
Last half outgoing, beginning of incomming tide 48 river temp, 50 in Comstock
Comstock
2 LMB
T-Rigged Creaturs, Spinner bait
2-8'
Slow Rolled the spinner bait, dragged the t-rig over rocky bottom areas
Both fish were keepers, but no real size to them. Was a beautiful day to be outside. Wind made it extremely tough to fish, I was able to take cover from the wind by tucking into the bank, but when a strong gust came up, it would just about spin the boat around.
Name: Andy L.
Email:
Date: 03/02/06
Time: 2pm-4pm
Pamunkey River
70deg, 15-20mph wind
47-49deg,choppy,heavy stain
down river from williams, White House area
6 LMB, largest 1.5lbs
spinnerbait, crankbait
3-9 ft
slow
Had a few hours to fish today. I caught the last 1hr or so of incoming tide, found a little warmer water in a protected area (48.5-49deg). Caught 6 bass biggest going 1.5lbs, lost one at the boat and probably missed 2 or 3, turned out awesome for just a few hours on a windy day! Fished both baits slowly, and all fish were in about 5ft of water.
Name: Mike
Email:
Date: 3/2
Time: 12 noon to 2
Lower James River
WINDY, WARM
49 degrees, CHOPPY
creek beside deep bottom ramp
nothin
silver buddy (gold) jigged
7-9 feet
Well, I had an opportunity to fish all afternoon and return to work at 7pm today. Fishing didn't really dawn on me until about 11am so I rushed back home and hooked up the boat. Was planning on launching at Deep Bottom and heading toward the Barge Pits. Made the trip from Deep Bottom and just passed the 295 bridge when my Low Oil alarm went off...scared the bejeebus out of me.... I knew my oil reservoir needed replinishing but I thought I had plenty for this trip...needless to say I wasn't taking any chances and hauled freight back to the dock. Figuring I might as well try to get SOME fishing in, I just hung around the creek beside the Deep Bottom ramp using my trolling motor....fished for about an hour and came back in, the wind was just too much to deal with (coming directly down the creek channel) Gotta go buy some oil.