Fishing 12/8/07? 2024
rondef reply :
Any Northern Virginia folks up for fishing this Saturday 12/8/07? I am thinking possibly Beaverdam Creek Reservoir or Lake Brittle but I am open to other locations.
flippin4it. reply :
If your talking about Beaver Dam Res in Loudon County, it is way-way low on water. You will be walking in 50 yards of mud to get to the water. It will be spring before it's up to snuff!
rondef reply :
How about Lake Brittle? It looks to have a lot of shore access and the 2007 fishing report from VDGIF looks pretty good. Anyone up for the trip? I will drive from Woodbridge, VA and I have room for three others.
The information below is from the 2007 Lake Brittle Biologist Report.
The population structure of largemouth bass remained similar to findings from
2003, with Proportional Stock Density (PSD) values slightly decreasing (PSD 57) over
the previous sample in 2001 (PSD 58). Relative Stock Density of Preferred fish (RSDP)
greater than 15 increased to 26 in 2006, which is similar to the RSD-P value from the
previous sample year (25). Catch per unit effort (CPUE) of largemouth bass was 111
fish/hour. Angler success should be very good at Lake Brittle with good numbers of bass
larger than 15 available for the catching.
flippin4it. reply :
Ron, have you fished there before? I have fished it alot years ago and once no to long ago and have yet to see numbers or size come from that lake. It seems to be pressured as much if not more then Burke. Maybe it's just me.........
71Rig reply :
Brittle is pretty busy. but this time of the year i'm sure it will be a ghost town. I put my jon boat in there a few times this summer and it has one deep channel running down the middle toward the earthen dam. Most of the "near land" water is shallow. There is a pier there but I don't know how close it gets you to the deeper water.
As for fish I've caught a few in the 2 lb size but nothing to write home about. Remember those VDGIF reports are based on electro-fishing so numbers seem high. Sometime the grass seems greener....
Sunken Bobbers
rondef reply :
Wow, I am disappointed to hear about the fishing in this lake. I may still try it just to see if I can get lucky like I have with Lake Mercer.
Hung up Paul reply :
Have fun! Wish I could make it but my father in law will be in town this weekend.
A.Do? reply :
How do you guys think the fishing will be at Bull run? I'm thinkin of giving 28 a shot on saturday
rondef reply :
The smallie bite should still be ok, I don't know about the LMBs though. I went out today and tried fishing Lake Brittle and Lake Mercer and could not get a single bite at all. Maybe it is due to the front that came through or maybe the water temps are to low for the LMBs to be active. I guess I will find out when I try fishing these two lakes again this weekend. I am leaning toward the water temps being to cold, the season may be finally over, I hope not.
A.Do? reply :
yeah, thats why i'm thinking of trying for smallies. I found a lake by my office, Lake Cook, that has trout. I might get myself a trout stamp and try that out. maybe accotink creek too. I need my FIX!
flippin4it. reply :
Andrew, I think your dead on about the smallmouth choice. Everyone needs to remember that the "season" is never over!! As long as the lake or river is not frozen, fish are to be caught.
71Rig reply :
ado124 - Depending on the presence of deer at the end of my rifle tomorrow afternoon you may see me on the water if you go to Bull Rum on 28. That or I'm going to try and hit the Rapp in Rednecksburg.
If you do go to the 28 bridge concentrate on the deeper holes in this colder water. I was out last week and found most fish in at least 3 foot water. Don't know what they are on now but then they were close to wood and undercut banks.
A word of warning: Prince William side of the river is "private" so you might want to don the blaze orange to stay safe (at least a hat)
Keep those snoopy rods bent.
rondef reply :
Rob,
Let me clarify my earlier post, the LMBs are going to go dormant soon if they have not already. I have noticed a siginificant drop off in LMB reation strikes and catch rates after having a great fall fishing season (my best ever). The water temps are dropping fast in the lakes around here and that should be no surprise based on our recent weather. The only bites that you will see from the LMBs now are going to be reaction bites. It is going to take a bit of luck to trigger a reaction bite now due to colder water temps and those will be few and far between. The best fishing now is going to be SMBs and trout, not LMBs.
rondef reply :
Change in plans due to the weather, I have decided that I am going to try smallie and trout fishing at Thompson Lake this weekend. Anyone interested in going?
Ron
A.Do? reply :
i'm kinda interested. Where's this Lake Thompson located?
rondef reply :
It is in Faquier County in the Thompson Wildlife Management Area. If you want to go we could go together and leave from my house, I'll drive.
Ron
AnglerNFuego reply :
It's North about 45 minutes from 66 and 50. Good luck!
A.Do? reply :
Hrmm.. an hour 10 minutes from me. I was hoping to stay more local but very tempting. Depending on the weather, I should be in. I might drive seperately though, just in case i have to leave early.
rondef reply :
Thats cool if you want to meet there. I plan on fishing the whole day weather permitting. Unless it rains hard I will go and I have my whole day free to fish, I don't have any other plans for the weekened other than to fish.
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/waterbodies/maps/Lake_Thompson.pdf
basspro48 reply :
QuoteRob,Let me clarify my earlier post, the LMBs are going to go dormant soon if they have not already. I have noticed a siginificant drop off in LMB reation strikes and catch rates after having a great fall fishing season (my best ever). The water temps are dropping fast in the lakes around here and that should be no surprise based on our recent weather. The only bites that you will see from the LMBs now are going to be reaction bites. It is going to take a bit of luck to trigger a reaction bite now due to colder water temps and those will be few and far between. The best fishing now is going to be SMBs and trout, not LMBs.
The day a Largemouth Bass goes dormant is the day I quit fishing...They still have to eat, not as much because the cold water slows their metabolism, but they still have to eat and will be actively feeding at some point throughout the day.
Bass will suspend at different depths in the water column, but never will a Bass go "dormant"
rondef reply :
Let me try this again the LMBs are no where near as active as they have been around here. catching LMBs is getting tough around here since the water temps began dropping with the all of the cold fronts and the snow that has been coming through the area. The water temps have dropped considerably over the last two weeks.
Dormant does not mean they will not feed it means they will feed less while in that state and react slower.
71Rig reply :
You might want to check out moving waters tomorrow. Unless it gets real warm real quick the water will be a little hard. Almost all the ponds I passed today had a roof on them. The Rapp was flowing nicely but smaller creeks were iced in. Albeit not thick ice but ice none the less. Just thought I would mention it.
rondef reply :
I am going to drive out and look anyways since it is not that far away. It it is iced over I am going to try a bigger body of water. I do appreciate the heads up though.
flippin4it. reply :
News flash, the are all frozen. Talk to a few buddies and all the lakes and ponds locally are frozen......
flippin4it. reply :
QuoteQuoteRob,Let me clarify my earlier post, the LMBs are going to go dormant soon if they have not already. I have noticed a siginificant drop off in LMB reation strikes and catch rates after having a great fall fishing season (my best ever). The water temps are dropping fast in the lakes around here and that should be no surprise based on our recent weather. The only bites that you will see from the LMBs now are going to be reaction bites. It is going to take a bit of luck to trigger a reaction bite now due to colder water temps and those will be few and far between. The best fishing now is going to be SMBs and trout, not LMBs.
The day a Largemouth Bass goes dormant is the day I quit fishing...They still have to eat, not as much because the cold water slows their metabolism, but they still have to eat and will be actively feeding at some point throughout the day.
Bass will suspend at different depths in the water column, but never will a Bass go "dormant"
Basspro48, you hit on the head. Suspending jerk baits, small jigs and the ole shaky head will be producers this time of year. You may catch only a few, but it is very rewarding.
rondef reply :
I am going to try to explain this one more time. LMBs do in fact go dormant during the colder winter months, that does not mean that they do not feed. It means that they will not feed as much or as often and they will not use as much energy as they would at other times of the year to feed. This explains the drop off in catches at this time of year, that is all I was trying to say. I know there are people out there with more knowledge from their years of fishing but the facts are the facts. Pick up some books and read and you will find similar statements in them about the colder winter months. SMBs still feed actively in the colder months and that is all I was trying to state.
flippin4it. reply :
I think my posts are being read as if I'm being an arrogant pr1ck! I'm not trying to out do or down play anyone. Just shedding a little light, I'm saying "don't quit because the bite slowed!".
According to a park official, the local public lakes have been stocked with northern strain largemouth. Which in turn make them alot more active than the southern strain during the winter months. It's not even the first day of winter. The water is not as cold as it needs to be for the bite to shut down. We still have warming trends happening, It's when it is real cold for along time that the bass will get lockjaw. Then I will break out the slip bobber set up and that produces alot in the winter. Just got to find a hole in the ice.
rondef reply :
I am not quitting, I am just disappointed in how much the bite has slowed in the last week. I am not seeing nearly as many strikes as I was a couple of weks ago. I have slowed down my bait, tried jerkbaits, crankbaits and even jigs and I am not getting the bites any more. Maybe I am just in a slump because November was my best month of the year (landed two LMBs over 5lbs)all the way up to December 1st. Since then I have been skunked multiple times back to back at different locations which is not normal for me, I usually catch at least one LMB no matter how bad the fishing goes.
I stayed local today due to the wife not feeling well and I fished Mercer and could not even get a strike and this is where I have had my best luck. I have now been skunked at Lake Royal, Huntsman and Mercer all in the last week. I may go out to Lake Thompson tomorrow but that depends on how the wife feels.
On another note I do not think badly of you at all Rob so please don't think that. I was just trying to make a point and I guess I did not do a good job at it originally. Hopefully people understand the point I was trying to make about the slowdown.
AnglerNFuego reply :
I would suggest trying power worms with a shaky head or tex rigged with bass and glass.
basspro48 reply :
QuoteI would suggest trying power worms with a shaky head or tex rigged with bass and glass.
Good suggestions, however, nobody seems to have mentioned one of the deadliest tactics for this time of year...The drop-shot.
I have caught more and bigger fish on the drop-shot than I have on anything else this time of year, I just tie it up with a 2/0 Owner offset worm hook, about a 7-inch leader, a 1/4-3/8oz weight depending on the current, and either a ZOOM finesse worm or a Reaction Innovations Flirt worm.
I mainly fish tidal rivers so I target steep banks with heavy wood cover on high tide, and then on low tide I back off and target the first drop-off into slightly deeper water. Once I find the right cover I throw it out there and lightly shake it in place for about 30 seconds, then I hop it and shake it for another 30 seconds, then I reel it up and throw it right back to the same spot 3 or 4 more times. They key here is not only to fish slow, but to make multiple casts to the same area...My biggest smallmouth out of the Pamunkey river was a 3-3 (which is huge for the pamunkey) and it came on my sixth cast to a ledge with my drop-shot rig...
Winter fishing can pay off big time, you just have t be willing to fish very slow but cover water at the same time.
SimonSays reply :
is it just me or is the drop shot technique more of a boater thing? In my head the drop shot doesn't really seem to work well from a bank angler stand point. I haven't actually tried it because my previous notions but please ocrrect me if i'm wrong.
VolFan reply :
Short-time lurker, first time poster-
Nah , It works from the bank too, but it does help to have deep water close to the bank. It takes some time to learn how to do it effectively (I'm still working on it).
flippin4it. reply :
Went down to the Bull Run this morning, only one out there. Fishing was cut short due to a triple lutz into a creek . Got wet from the knees down.
Was able to catch 2 lil ones and had something large get off right after the hook set. I was fishing a trick worm and Fat Ika on a split shot rig.
rondef reply :
Any NOVA folks catch any LMBs this weekend? I got skunked.
AnglerNFuego reply :
QuoteWent down to the Bull Run this morning, only one out there. Fishing was cut short due to a triple lutz into a creek . Got wet from the knees down.Was able to catch 2 lil ones and had something large get off right after the hook set. I was fishing a trick worm and Fat Ika on a split shot rig.
Hahahhah... I almost did the same a couple of weeks ago if it wasn't for a branch that I grabbed onto. Which side of the bridge did you fish?
Dan: reply :
I fell there one time too in some mud. Didn't get wet but I had mud all down my back and legs...
Is it just me or does that area never seem to dry out? Seems to me like there's always mud.
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