Fishing Report

JULY LAKE ANNA FISHING REPORT

   STRIPERS:

 July's weather may be hot but not as hot as Striper fishing will be this month. We are seeing acres upon acres of Stripers busting on the surface throughout the lake. There are literally hundreds of schools of Stripers foraging on schools of 4 inch Herring now and later this month they will also start attacking the new bait fry on the surface with vengeance. July is the month when any angler can catch Stripers on the lake, just pick your preferred method. In low light conditions, the Stripers will be near the surface feeding on Herring. When you see the action, ease up to the school, cut your big motor off 100 yards from the action and use your trolling motor to sneak up to the school throwing Pencil Poppers, chuggars, Spooks and plastic Jerkbaits on top working them as fast as you can.   You can also throw swim baits under the breaking fish to catch some larger Stripers. When the sun gets bright and or the boat traffic spooks the fish they will retreat to the depths and that is when you can locate the schools on your depthfinder. Many anglers simply troll Deep Diving Redfins or DD-22 with a Bucktail tied to the crankbait on a 3 foot leader. Others troll umbrella rigs and drop rigs with twin bucktails.  Another successful method is to vertical jig a ¾ oz. Strata Spoon in their face. Simply drop the spoon to the depth you see them on your depthfinder and jerk your pole up 2 to 3 feet and follow the spoon back down. Concentrate your efforts at the mouths of creeks on the main lake early and late in the day.  All striper guides are experiencing daily limits as are many anglers.

 BASS:

 By now the Bass have taken up residency in their summer haunts and are predictable in their feeding patterns. Low light conditions, fish top water baits [ chuggars, prop baits, twitch baits, etc] on main lake points, flats and humps. Many fish school in the mouths of creeks and on main lake structures where baitfish are present. After the sun gets bright the fish pull back to the depths and security of stumps, rock and brush piles,and bridge pilings. To catch fish that don't see lures often try fishing ledges that drop off sharply from 10 to 25 feet deep using crankbaits, carolina rigs, drop shot rigs, etc. Parallel the bluff banks and Rip Rap along the dikes and the roadbeds early with topwater and change to crankbaits in brighter conditions. Try fishing deeper than you ever have to catch larger fish. Uplake concentrate on structures nearby the channels of creeks.

  CRAPPIE: Most Crappie have moved to deeper water now using bridge pilings, brushpiles and ledges  in 15 to 30 feet of water as holding areas. Deep docks with lights on them also hold nice fish. Use heaver jigs or slip bobbers tipped with small minnows to catch slabs this month.

   CATFISH: The Cats are in 20 to 40 feet of water now feeding on Herring. You can use live bait as well as cut bait to catch the fish. They are either behind or underneath the schools of Stripers and can be located on your depthfinder  as arches just above or near the bottom. Many huge schools of Catfish are presently ¾ of the back in the creeks like Sturgeon, Pidgeon and Mitchells in about 22 feet of water.

This report furnished by Jim Hemby of LAKE ANNA STRIPER GUIDE SERVICEwww.JimHemby.comHYPERLINK "http://www.jimhemby.com/"   540-967-3313

July Fishing Report

Lake Anna - Va. - With water temperatures in the upper 80's throughout
the main portion of Lake Anna anglers have had to switch tactics to
keep up with changing behaviors. The main difference now is that there
are large areas that hold few fish and small areas that hold many.
Finding these sweet spots is a daily endeavor but there are some
predictable places to look.

Largemouth bass -
Head to the extreme upper end where water temperatures are
in the 70's and target shallow fish with Zoom Flukes,  
swimbaits, the Lake Anna Special Tiger Shad spinnerbait from Dave's
Tournament Tackle, or a shaky worm rig. In
the midlake region,  target schooled fish around main lake
structure like points, roadbeds and humps. There are schools of
smaller bass and white perch available in the lower end of the lake
around Dike III. The Berkley Realistic 3" Minnow is great for these
schoolies. There is a good crankbait bite developing in the
upper North Anna and Pamunkey. Use a Bandit 200, XPS 52 crank, or Bomber 4 and 5A
around hard structure like rocks and brush above the second bridges.  Larry Wollersheim (Louisa) and Preston Cox (Fredericksburg) weighed in a 15 lb stringer.  Dennis Semone and Farron Campbell of Spotsylvaniahad a 12 1/4 lb stringer.

Striper - Fish are schooled and moving around the midlake region (from
the Power Plant up to The Splits). Live bait on downlines, trolling
with deep diving plugs, (Redfins, DD-22, and XPS-LEC15), umbrella rigs and 3/4 oz. vertical jigging spoon A good depth finder is
key. Locating schools of baitfish is another clue where stripers will be. Main lake flats from 25-35' next to the main channel are the best.  Anticipate some
surface activity in the early mornings along the
State Park points just above the 208 region. .  Many anglersare recording limits fairly consistantly.

Crappie - Expect fair fishing for Lake Anna freckles this month, someshallow in the extreme headwaters on swimbaits fishing for bass, some vertically jigging for stripers midlake in open water and some on the more traditional spots like bridge pilings and brushpiles. July is not a great month for crappie fishing here, but there are
plenty holding on deep brush from 20-30' deep. It's difficult to keep
minnows alive, however, these large schools of crappie will hit
freshly dead minnows on slip bobbers.

C. C. McCotter
Editor-In Chief
Woods & Waters Magazine
www.woodsandwatersmagazine.com
540.894.5960