Fishing Report

CHESAPEAKE BAY

Capt. Jerry Thrash of Queens Creek Outfitters reports that it is all specks, stripers, tautog and bluefish now.

Water temperatures remain in the low 60s but should start dropping this week. Small stripers are schooling above Windmill Bar in Fleets Bay at first light and in late afternoon. Trollers had school fish to 24 inches Saturday. A few blues are mixed in.

Up the Rappahannock River near Urbanna and around the Whitestone Bridge, stripers also are being caught by light tackle fishermen jigging sting silvers or bucktails tipped with their favorite plastic around bridge supports, channel edges and dock pilings.

Chumming to structure produces schoolie stripers on cut menhaden.

One speckled trout citation was registered this week. It was caught on a Storm shad by an angler fishing for stripers.

Speckled trout citation: Frederick W. Rowe of Cobbs Creek, 24-inch, 5.2 on a storm shad in the Piankatank.

LAKE ANNA

Jim Hemby of the Lake Anna Striper Guide Service reports that the lake still is low, but the water temperature is cooler than normal. With a lot of sportsmen in the field this month, the fishing pressure should be less than previous months.

November brings some of the best fishing of the year with all species of fish gorging themselves to fatten up for the winter. Fishermen can pattern fish easily this month with just a little understanding of fish movements.

November weather fluctuates from cold nights to warm afternoons, warm spells to cold fronts, and the fish move and feed with the weather. When the temperatures are warming, fish move up onto the flats, points, heat absorbing clay banks and rocky structures feeding aggressively. Conversely, when the cold fronts hit, the fish follow the bait right back to the first breaks in deeper water nearby their feeding areas and still feed, but their strike zone is much smaller.

Use larger baits in warming trends covering large areas of water quickly and when the fish pull back to the break lines slow down and downsize your offerings. Fishing this month usually is more productive in the afternoons once the water has warmed.

Fish are feeding from one end of the lake to the other with numerous patterns being productive. Choose a pattern that fits your style of fishing and cash in on some great action . Stripers are schooling and are breaking in low light conditions from the splits down to the dam, feeding in the main lake and concentrating near the mouths of creeks and in the current at Dike 3.

In the current, it is hard to beat the Pencil Popper worked on the surface. When the fish sound, convert to swim baits and spoons to catch the stripers. There are nice schools working the mouths of Sturgeons and Boggs and around the power plant. Mid-lake fish are turning on strong with the gulls exposing the numerous schools of stripers. The stripers are schooled well around the splits, chasing bait to the surface in low light conditions and schooling deeper in the 20to 30-foot flats during the day. Run live bait on downlines or jig spoons and flukes at the depth you see the arches on your depth finder to catch these stripers. Try redfins on the points in low light conditions to catch large stripers. Traditionally, the stripers are found later this month in the Christopher Run and Terrys Run regions of the lake. Hot spots this month will be the mouths of the creeks with fish feeding on the points, flats and humps nearby. Follow the bait migrations and you will stay on the stripers this month. The pattern that produces the best this month is running Big Gizzard shad behind planner boards in the upper water column over water depths ranging from 25 feet right up to the bank. The fish want to fatten up and will attack the larger baits driving the shad up to the surface with explosive strikes. It is not uncommon to catch 15 to 20 stripers a day using this technique. If the stripers don't receive too much pressure, uplake flats also will produce this month.

To locate bass this month, start in the backs of the creeks next to the creek channels on structures such as stumps or humps where bait is present. Later in the month when the water cools down, follow the schools of bait out of the creeks.

Swim baits worked under schools of threadfin shad, regardless of structure, also will catch feeding bass back in the creeks. If fish do not cooperate in the backs of the creeks, move right to the primary main lake points and flats. Fish quick moving baits covering lots of water this month using spinnerbaits in the grasses uplake in the North Anna, crankbaits on structures, and throw suspending jerkbaits on points and breaking fish for larger bass. Bass also will visit docks this month being caught well on weightless worms. Always fish where you see baitfish nearby.

Crappie also are moving with the weather conditions. For the past month, crappie citations have been caught throwing for bait all the way up the rivers and creeks in 2 feet or less of water. On warming trends, they are moving up on the points with brush on them in 5 to 10 feet of water. On colder days, the larger slabs can be caught on the deeper drops on primary points with structure (bolders or brush) on them. They also will move to the bridge pilings in the colder spells and congregate in large numbers.

Later this month, once the water temps drop below 50 degrees, crappie will remain on the bridges and primary points. The points around Christopher Run and Hunters Landing will produce well this month. The nicer crappie are feeding on 3and 4-inch threadfin shad so try larger baits. It is not uncommon to catch crappie on 4-inch storm wildeye shads or sassy shads. If the fish do not cooperate, downsize to traditional sizes of jigs and minnows.

JAMES RIVER

Fin-Skin Bait Shop in Varina re-

Castaway Sporting Goods reports good crappie hauls and that spot still are hanging in there, especially when bloodworms are used for bait. There might be another week or two of good spot action.

Striper action is beginning to pick up in the Chesapeake Bay and James River.

Danny Coates (Chester) caught a 38-pound blue cat in Dutch Gap.

CHICKAHOMINY LAKE

Jill O'Brien-Jones from Eagles Landing reports the water level is normal and the water temperature is in the low 50s.

Also, the first winter bass tournament was held on Halloween.

First place went to Anthony Gray (Providence Forge) and Stephen Lauterbach (Sandston) with five fish weighing in at 11.72 pounds. Second place went to Bill Petzold (Glen Allen) and Will Chiao (Richmond) with three fish at 7.90 pounds.

Mike Yeatts (Richmond) had the big fish at 3.63 pounds.

The First Pentecostal Church of Richmond also held a tournament at Chickahominy on Saturday.

Dave Hicks (Richmond) won with five bass, weighing in at 11.25 pound and a big fish of 5.05 pounds. It was 21½ inches long, and the competitors used live bait.

Jarrod Smith (Ruther Glen) had a citation ring perch that was 12¼ inches long.

LAKE GASTON

The winners of the Lake Gaston tournament Nov. 1: First - Rick Smith (Bracey) and Dave Helmick (West Virginia), 10.85 pounds. Smith also had the big fish of the tournament at 3.53 pounds. Second - Jim Lewis (Raleigh, N.C.) and Mike Poskey (Maidens), 8.16 pounds. Third - Ben Godbolt (Richmond) and Bob Richmon (Richmond), 5.44 pounds.