Name: Ray
Email: v23842@a;\l.com
Date: 05/30/06
Time: 6:30--12:30
Lower James River
Hot!
clear for the James
Barge Pit & main river
6 LMB
Rat-L-Trap, crank baits, fluke, worm
1-9 ft.
Caught fish on the first turn into the Barge yard and in the pit itself. Also on main river jetty
Barge Yard water getting pretty warm, the fish will probably be moving out of ther till Fall
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 05/28/06
Time: 1030am-3pm
Ponds on a farm in Prince George
Perfect day
stained.lots of pads and grass
Lily pad edges and pockets and the open middle of the pond
several LMB to 4lbs.
Red worm wacky style and a rapala jerk bait
Friend of a friend has a 300 acre farm with 5 fishing ponds on it. We hooked up the Jon boat trailer to the ATV and checked them all out. Settled on the most promising looking pond with lots of cover. All LMB were in the 2.5 to 4lb range. No skinny fish here! Have a feeling there are some real hogs in there. The fish were active mid day and even feeding on the top. For consistant size of fish, this is the best day I can remember. I took some pictures.
Name: Jeff K
Email:
Date: 05/26/06
Time: 6-12
Briery Creek
Overcast, Very windy, 80's
73 degrees
South End
23 LMB and 1 big pike Largest was my personal best 8lb 4oz
Booyah Spinner(white), trickworm, senko, finesse, super fluke and rat'l'trap
0-16
Burned the spinner most of the day with the conditions, varied the retreive. When the wind was calm, wacky rigged the finesse, trickworms, and senkos. T-rigged the flukes and threw out the rat-l-trap or worm when they missed the spinner. Most fish caught on the spinner, flukes and finesse.
Caught my personal best today. 8lb 4 oz. Thought I had caught the spinner on a tree it stopped so fast. When it started moving away I quickly set the hook. GAME ON! Two big jumps, lots of runs and I finally lipped her. I will send Jeff pics to put up soon. I also managed 7 fish in the TWO lb range, 4 fish in the 3lb range, 1 fish that was 4lb, and 1 fish that was 5'12oz. I took a few pics of some of the 3's, the 4 and the 5. I also did something very stupid .... sigh .... I set the hook on a VERY nice fish .... fought her .... then when I got her to the side of the boat, I tried to swing her aboard VanDam style. Just as I had her above my front deck the hook popped free, she flopped twice on my deck and then *splash* she was gone. All I know is she was bigger than my 5lbr but a tad smaller than my 8lbr. I would have to say somewhere between 6-7. Oh well ... that what I get. Needless to say, I didn't try that again. I would have stayed longer but I had to get home early today .... of course ... when the bite was on. I think the new moon "may" have helped ... who knows. Oh yeah ... also caught on big Pike ..... it looked to be over 20 inches ..... I cut the line. ;o) Tightlines everyone.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 05/25/06
Time: 1130am-3pm
Private pond in Goochland
overcast, light rain
clouded
from a canoe
12 LMB to about 2.5lbs and one big sunfish
Black and blue jig and pig, texas rigged senko, rat-l-trap
shallow near stick ups, trees and logs.
Great fishing despite a little rain. Caught all the bass on the jig or senko. Big sunfish tried to eat my rat-l-trap.
Name: Ray
Email: v23842@aol.com
Date: 05/24/06
Time: 7:00-11:30
Lake Chesdin
Beautiful day
Clear for Chesdin
down lake
one LMB
Crank baits, worms and pop=r
2to 20 ft.
only caught one and caught it on a Pop-R in Leonards cove. It was really cold the night before and I think this had some affect on the fishing
Chesdin is always tough@!
Name: Mike
Email:
Date: 5/21
Time: 8am to 10am
3 Lakes Park - Henrico
75 degrees, calm, sunny
Muddy
The two lakes you're allowed to fish
3 LMB, 1 Crappie
black/chartruese beetlespin
less than 5 feet
steady retrieve
Lost the paddle to my kayak on route 10. Need new spark plugs in the boat and besides that I didn't feel like paying for gas.....so I just ran up the road to 3 Lakes Park in Henrico and fished from the bank to get my weekly fishing fix. Caught 3 LMB, 2 were very small, one was maybe 1/2 a pound. My big fish of the day was a huge crappie which really surprised me. As soon as the lure hit the water I felt a fish on and when I set the hook I knew it was a bigger fish than anything I expected to catch in those little overfished lakes. I just wanted to see what it was much less actually land it because I didn't think any big fish existed in there. About half way through the fight I actually thought I had a small hybrid striper on. I got it to shore and it was a SLAB of a crappie. I didn't have a tape measure with me or a digital camera so I measured him against my rod. When I got home I measured the distance on my rod and it was a 13" crappie. BIG mofo, definitely the biggest one I'd ever caught. Wish I'd had my camera with me. Anyways I let him go and returned home for the day with my fishing fix for the week :)
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 05/17/06
Time: 9:00-1:30
Chris Green Lake Park
Partly Cloudy, windy, 70 degrees
Clear 6'+visibility for 1/2 the lake and dingy at upper end 67 degrees
Shoreline spawning areas in the clear water
17 bass with the largest being 10 lbs. 6 oz. 25 1/2 inches
Finesse worm
2'-8'
Wacky rig on beds.
A bit slow fishing today but catching my personal best bass was worth the boredom. Had a short day with storms approaching and high winds. The big one was bedding about 50 yards from the 9# I caught yesterday. Did the CPR so she could finish spawning. I'll sent Jeff a picture.
Name: Randy Beasley
Email: moose4all2001@yahoo.com
Date: 5-16-06
Time: afternoon
3 ponds in orange, va
clear skys
mostley clear
around edge
15 bass, biggest was 5 lbs and 6 lbs
pop-r, wacky riged finesse worm
top,bottom
popper was kinda fast wacky rig was slow
the two biggest fish came from the popper, and the wacky rig caught alot of 3 lbers.
Name: Ray
Email: v23842@aol.com
Date: 5/16/06
Time: 7:00-11;30
Lower James River
CLEAR SKIES, LIGHT WIND
SLIGHTLY STAINED, EXTREMELY HIGH TIDE
Barge pit
Nine LMB
Rat-L-trap and red shad worms
1 to 6 feet
Caught all fish in funnels created by outgoing tide between islands
Caught eight on a Rat-l-trap and one on a worm. Biggest fish was two pounds a couple in the one pound range and the rest dinks. Got into a school at the end of the trip and had to leave them biting. I was suprprised how good the fishing was after last nights thunderstorms and an extremely high tide
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 05/16/06
Time: 10:00-4:30
Chris Green Lake Park
Partly cloudy, breezy, 65 degrees
Clear from mid lake to dam and dingy elsewhere 66-68 degrees
Shoreline in the clear water with 6'+ visibility
55 bass with the largest being 9 lbs 0 oz. 25 inches long
Finesse worm, 4'lizzard, Yellow Magic popper
2'-8'
Wacky rigged the worm, Tx rigged the lizzard. Presented the lures to beds I could spot while positioned a very long cast from shore and in spite of the rippled water surface.
I decided to see if I could catch any of the large bass I saw Friday that wouldn't hit or I stuck and they pulled off. I only saw two of them and caught one of them. It was rolling over like they do when getting ready to drop their eggs in about 5' of water. I threw the ole wacky rigged finesse worm at the spot and my line slowly moved out toward deeper water. Quite a battle with my spinning gear, several long runs and three jumps. A couple fishing from the shore saw it from about 100 yards away when it jumped and was asking me how big it was. I guessed about 10# and took it over for them to see and get a picture taken, weighted it, and measured. CPR-catch, photograph, release----I'll send Jeff a picture
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 5/13/06
Time: 8:00 - 1:30
Lower James River
Bluebird Skies, light wind mid 70's
Out going tide, 67-71 deg
Appomatox, both sides
7 keeper LMB, 2 Striper, 2 Ring pearch
t-rigged plastics, spinner bait
1-15'
Moderate retrieve on the blades. Slow dragging with the plastics.
Caught a total of 9 LMB, 2 were dinks, best one around 4 - 41/2. All others were in the 2 lb range. all on wood. As I was heading in I pretty much let the current and the wind blow me back down river as I cast a spinner to the bank looking for new holding areas, and letting the spinner fall off the edges. Thats how I caught the 2 rings. And the stripers were near cover in the fastest water I could find.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict@aol.com
Date: 05/15/06
Time: 11-2pm
Upper James River
rain and t-storms
Upper James Downtown Richmond
Bluegill, shell crackers, channel cats, white perch, LMB and an eel.
night crawlers on a bottom rig.
6'
The fish were really biting today. As soon as the bait hit bottom it would get bit. Fished until the lightning got bad.
Name: Mike
Email:
Date: 5/13
Time: 7:30 to 2pm
Appomatox River
Very nice!
A little low, clear
Riverside park dam to Matoaca bridge
bluegill, largemouth, small mouth, pickerel
Mostly a black/char beetlespin
less than 6 feet
steady retrieve
Really pretty day....I started out by catching 2 nice pickerel and a dink bass in the pond at the parking lot while waiting on my buddy to show up. He and a friend arrived so we paddled up the canal and jumped over to the river at the dam. Started catching fish immediately. The bluegill action up there is just non-stop. About 1/4 way through the trip the buddy who was in a canoe fell out while trying to navigate some rapids. We died laughing.....About 1/2 way through the trip, my other buddy caught caught sideways in a rapid and had his kayak fill up with water....he had to step out and empty it. Again, I died laughing. At that point I mocked both of them and said that it would never happen to me.......yea, you can see where this is headed. About 3/4 through the trip we reached a tree that was across the water. On the left side you'd have to duck under the tree. On the right side there was about a 4 foot width between the tree and the bank where you could scoot through however there were rapids. Trying to show off, I shot for the small space to squeeze between. Rapids were moving a little faster than I'd thought and I got pinned sideways against the tree....and water started filling the kayak. Then before I knew it, boom, I flipped it LOL......I resurfaced and my kayak was floating down the river upside down. I managed to salvage one of my rods and my backpack. My buddy caught up with the kayak down stream. Figures I'd do this in the ONLY part of the river on our route that was over my head. I clung to the canoe that one of the guys I was fishing with was in until we got near some rocks where I could flip my canoe over and empty it out. AMAZINGLY the pole that I had in the rod holder on the back was still seated in the rod holder. All in all, no one was hurt except our egos. Fun trip.
Name: Wayne P.
Email: purdum43@aol.com
Date: 05/12/06
Time: 10:30-5:30
Chris Green Lake Park, Charlottesville
Partly Cloudy, Breezy, 70 degrees
Clear with 6'+ visibility, 67 degrees
shoreline of whole lake
76 bass, three largest 4-12, 5-2, 5-4
finesse worm, 5" lizzard
2'-10'
wacky rigged finesse worm, Tx. rig lizzard
For a change of pace, I picked this lake since I haven't been there for several years and it's close to home. Most were caught on spawning beds. I guess the full moon period got them going again. Hooked a couple in the 8# class but they pulled off and saw a couple more that size that wouldn't hit.
Name: bass nut
Email:
Date: 5/10/06
Time: 730a-230p
philpott lake
cloudy and overcast, some sun
clear
fairystone cove, main lake channel, bowens creek
LMBass, SMBass
spinnerbait, spooks, t-rigged worms, buzzbait
0-20ft
fast for the spbait and buzzer, walked the dog for some schoolers early, slow with the t-rig
caught two smallmouth about 4 pounds early, one small bass on buzzbait, couple on spbait, several lmb on t-rig largest about 3 pounds
Name: BassKat
Email:
Date: 05/07/06
Time: 0600-1445
Buggs Island (Kerr Lake)
cloudy and rain late
clear
Nutbush
LMB 9 best 3 was 7.1 for 40th
spinnerbait, rig, wacky senko and shaky head
shallow to 10feet
slow on everything
Drew a great boater and he talked me into throwing the shaky head. I wanted to stay with the rig on points. It took some geting use to,but it is something to add to any arsonal. It caught dinks to keepers. Not sure what caught the winning weight at 15 pounds but it was a friend in Appomattox. Will post from Lake Jordan
Name: Rich k
Email:
Date: 5/6/06
Time: 7:30-12:30
Lower James River
Clear, warm, windy as the day progressed
Muddy 70-74
Presquile, Comstock, Main Appomatox
3 LMB
C/B, C-Rig, Spinner
1-25'
Varied w/baits
Pretty good day, First fish came on a c-rig, and was at least 6 lbs, but wouldn't be surprised if it was closer to 7. Absolute monster for the river. Ended up breaking my newest rod. I grabbed the rod too close to the tip while landing it, and snap - there goes a brand new rod. The wind got up too bad, and I had to abandon that area for some shelter where I was able to land two more, both around 2 lbs.
Name: Bill
Email: BigFishAddict
Date: 05/06
Time: 5p-7p
Private pond
sunny warm
stained from rain and pollen
12 LMB to 3lbs
senko whacky rigged
Name: Mike
Email:
Date: 5/6/06
Time: 10am to 3pm
Appomatox river in Matoaca
80 degrees, perfect
A little low, very clear
No clue what the park name is, we paddled our kayaks up a canal then jumped over into the river and floated back down about 2 miles
Tons of bluegill, several largemouth and smallmouths
Small spinners (I personally used a beetle spin)
less than 5 feet
reel it fast and steady!
What a great day. We paddled down the river in 2 kayaks and a canoe. Every deep/calm hole we came across we absolutely demolished the bluegill. We could have filled a cooler if we were keeping them. All together we probably ended up with about 10 bass...a mix of large and small mouth. Let me tell you, there isn't much in this world that's cooler than sitting in a kayak and having a smallmouth bass leap about 3 feet over your eye level trying to get the hook out. I swear I had one that jumped atleast 5 feet out of the water. Saw some nicer size bass that were always in couples. I guess they were still spawning. One of my buddies (the one in the canoe) caught a really nice smallie that probably went about 2.5lbs. Pretty fish. There were a few spots where we had to get out and walk the kayaks over the shallow water but for the most part it was smooth sailing with a few fun rapids to navigate. Had a blast and didn't have to burn gas in the big bass boat. Can't wait to go back!
Name: Rich K
Email:
Date: 5/1/06
Time: 11 - 230
Lower James River
Sunny warm WINDY
64-67 deg
Old Appomatox River
12 LMB 2 Striper
T-rigged plastics
1-15'
Worked plastics through wood
It was a tough day for finesse fishing. I was able to land a few, but I know a lot more were missed due to the wind bowing my line so much. All LMB were small - 12-14", and the two Striper were about 4 lbs.