Water temps: mid-lake up into north anna arm- 44-45 in the morning, saw temps at 47-48 in the afternoon
Clarity: Mid-lake 5-7 ft North anna arm 2-3ft
Put in at Anna point with Dad(BigD) again. We targeted steep banks again. We hit alot of new water and some areas that have been good to us before. For those that read my last report you might remember that my father outfished me from the back of the boat. Well, he didnt hold ant punches yesterday either. Throughout the day I threw was he called, “a shmorgishborge of baits”. Meanwhile he stuck with his soft plastic fished very, very slow on a spinning rod with light line. At the end of the day he had two fish to show for it. One was 1.5 and the other a very healthy 3.5 pounder. That was two more bass than I caught all day.
Side note: On our way from one spot to another, we saw some birds diving on bait around the splits. We decided to pull up and try to put some meat in the boat. We both caught a keeper striper within a few casts. We tried a little longer but the fish moved on. It was my biggest Anna striper yet at just over 7 pounds. I caught it on the Andy-rig. I am posting a seperate thread on that.
Catching a new personal best bass is something that everybody hopes for every time they hit the water. You can go out and catch 30 fish in a single outing, but the one you remember (and the one you take pics of and brag about) is the biggest fish of the day. Let’s face it, anybody can catch little fish, but catching the much wiser and more elusive big fish is a completely different story. That being said, this is where patience played its roll in helping Katie land her new personal best, a beautiful 6 pound 15 ounce largemouth bass. First off, when you’re fishing with the 4.5 Texas-Rig Jig you’re not out there trying to catch numbers of fish…you’re out there to catch hogs period.
Combine this bait with the right place and a little patience and you have a recipe for a giant. Katie was working the 4.5 TRJ topped with a ½ tungsten through the branches of a large laydown tree in 12ft of water and was crawling the bait super slowly with painstakingly long pauses. After pausing the bait for just over 2 minutes in one spot, she gives the big TRJ one tiny hop…the hop that happened to be the decision maker for the hog lurking below to engulf the bulky bait crawling around its lair. After a bone jarring hook set, the massive bass immediately wraps itself up in the branches and the true battle begins. Minutes pass as the big fish surges around the same branch completely wrapping itself up….and before we know it, there’s no movement at all. More time passes as Katie keeps pressure on the line with the hopes to feel some sort of movement on the other end. But after a couple more minutes of absolutely nothing, the adrenaline rush quickly begins to subside as the fear of the worst starts to sets in. At this point, I grab the rod from her, put the tip of the rod down into the water to try to unwrap the line to salvage the bait and tungsten with no luck at all. I then reel down with the rod in the water as far as I could get it and pull back to break the line. With one final hard yank the line breaks the branch free from the tree and to our amazement the giant bass was still on the other end!!! The hog launches 2 feet into the air as I quickly handed the rod back to Katie so she could finish fighting the bass that she had so patiently waited for. Within seconds, the beautiful bass was safely in the boat and an outburst of laughter erupted between the two of us. We all know how good it feels and the excitement that’s involved in catching a personal best fish. But after the grueling ups and downs of this super long drawn out battle, and after thinking all hope was lost, Katie’s says her new personal best felt like a triumph! And rightfully so!
For all of you that have heard the old saying “Patience is a virtue”…trust me when I say there’s a lot of truth in those words.
Fishing report for Kerr/Buggs Island Lake
February 2012
Crappie: Fish are on two different patterns depending oin what part of the lake you are fishing, from Clarksville downstream the fish can still be caught vertical jigging with bucktails around brush and other structures on ledges and points. On the upper end of the lake in creeks such as Bluestone and Buffalo, fishermen are beginning to haul in some nice catches of fish by tightlining jigs and minnows in 5 to 12 feet of water around dropoffs and shallow flats.
Catfish: Blues have been hitting pretty good on the upper end of the lake anywhere above Clarksville, the best method for catching these fish is by anchoring on shallow flats outside of the river channel on the main lake. Fishing on the bottom using cut shad and cut crappie. You never no what to expect fishing like this the next bite you get might be a 5 pounder or it might be a big girl that goes well over 50 pounds.
Striper: Fish are in most of the major creeks feeding on shad, these fish can be caught livebaiting with shad and Jumbo minnows or by casting lures to them. Fishermen are getting good numbers it has just been hard to come by keepers.
Bass: With water tempatures in the mid 40’s to 50 fishing has been good, most fishermen are using shallow running crankbaits, rat-l-traps, jerkbaits and jigs, fish have been holding on red clay banks and rocky pointsin 1 to 8 feet of water. Reports of good numbers of fish and 5 fish bags from 14 to 19 pounds have been coming in.
Happy Fishing! Stop by and see us while you are in town!
**Fishermen**
Don’t forget…. Your wife called… and you can buy anything you want!
BOBCAT’S LAKE COUNTRY
(434) 374-8381
for current fishing reports.
GOOD LUCK FISHING!!!
