With the fall hunting seasons upon us, there is much less fishing pressure on the lake. The leaves are changing into beautiful fall colors and the fish are hungry!!!!! This is my second favorite time of year to be on the lake, you can start out in sweat pants and a FISH TALES HOODIE and end up in shorts and a t-shirt.
The annual Anna Point Marina/Fish Tales Big Fish Contest is underway. For the entire month of November, they will pay $100 for the largest bass, striper & crappie that is caught and weighed in. The rules are very simple……….
1-MUST LAUNCH FROM ANNA POINT MARINA
2- IF FISHING WITH A GUIDE OR AN EMPLOYEE, THE $8 RAMP FEE MUST BE PAID BEFORE YOUR OUTING
3- ARTIFICIAL & LIVE BAIT IS ALLOWED
4- TOURNAMENT CAUGHT FISH ARE ELIGIBLE
(THEY MUST BE WEIGHED ON THE PORCH SCALES)
BASS- You can find fish all over the lake at this time willing to take a variety of baits. Look for them to be shallow for most of the month, as long as OLD MAN WINTER doesn’t show up early!!!!! Search baits will be a great starting point for you as the fish are feeding up for the winter months that will be upon us shortly. Rat L Traps, Tigershad Spinnerbaits, shallow crankbaits will be good choices to start with. I will be using a North Anna Bait Company CC Minnow on a Scrounger Head alot this fall and winter. Top water is not out of the question either, I have caught several 5lb plus fish with the water in the low 50’s on walk the dog style baits. My favorite is the Paycheck Baits Repo Man & Repo Man Late Payment!!!! You just have to slow them down and not be so aggressive with them.
Multi Arm Rigs or A-Rigs as they are known, will start to come into play as soon as the water temps drop a little more. I prefer the Dave’s Tournament Tackle Cast A Brella rigged with 1/4oz XL Gamakatsu Jig Heads made by DTT with North Anna Bait Company Swim N Minnow’s on them. (YOU WILL NOT FIND BETTER ACTION ON ANY OTHER 4″ SWIM BAIT) These can be found at Fish Tales or online at www.northannabaitco.com
For those days when the fish are not being very aggressive, shaky head rigged plastics and wacky rigged plastics will work well. Boat docks will hold fish on very bright and sunny days, you must be able to skip the bait as far under the dock as possible. Don’t get in a big hurry with the bait. PATIENCE IS THE KEY!!!
STRIPER- The rock fish will be making their fall run the the upper arms of the lake this month. They will be following the shad and gorging themselves on them. Look for the from the S-Turns to little Florida on the Pamunkey side and behing the bridge in Terry’s Run. On the North Anna side of the lake, look for them around the mouths of Duck N Hole Creek, Goldmine Creek and around Waddy’s Point. Try casting NABC Swim N Minnow’s, Bass Assassin Sea Shads, Sassy Shads and Broken Back Redfins to them. Once the feed is over, start searching with your electronics for the school. After you locate them, you can continue to catch them with a vertical jigging presentation. Tooth Ache Spoons, Riverside Rippers and the DAMIKI VAULT blade bait are all great choices. When the water cools back down to the mid to lower 40’s they will start making a move back to the mid lake region.
CRAPPIE- The specks are shallow and will be there for a while, until the water reaches the lower 40’s. Look for them on boat docks, brush piles, lay down tree, rock piles and bridge pilings. They will be hungry and aggressive. 2″ curly tail grubs and tubes will work well. Just recently I started fishing a 1/16-1/8oz Scrounger head rigged with a Zoom Tiny Fluke and trust me………IT WORKS WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Small & Med minnows rigged on a slip bobber’s will always work. Good luck and see you at the Lake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lake Level-Full Pool
Water Temps
DIKE 3- 68-70
Mid Lake- 58-63
Up Lake- 54-58
Chris Craft
CCBASSN Lake Anna Guide Service
www.ccbassnlakeanna.blogspot.com
ccbassn@aol.com
540-894-6195
540-895-5770
540-895-5900 ext5
