Well - did my first "real" fishing outing on Lake Anna this past Saturday. It was a marathon! Hit the ramp at 5:00am after a 90 minute drive to get there. First boat launched. My partner and I headed up to Rose Valley and started fishing a rocky point. BAM!! My partner (and neighbor) got two hits on an Excalibur popper almost immediately. One nice keeper from lower down fishing off some riprap. I picked up about half a dozen nice-sized sunnies and a nice LM (would have preferred ALL bass - but the sunnies kept getting in the way!). Motored down to the Splits and tried some more. I got a nice hit on a deep diving Bandit crankbait, but never saw it. After a couple of minutes of fight, the fish shook the hook. My partner says he saw a flash of green on a big bass, but I never caught a glimpse.
After about 11am, the bite pretty much disappeared - even after switching to fishing live minnows on bobber set ups. After sitting under a bridge from a brief shower, we headed down to the islands below Sturgeon Creek. The wake on the main lake from the summer boaters got so bad by noon, we could hardly fish, so we hung out near the islands for a bit of protection. While there, we had a nice visit from the Game Warden on their speedy boat. They checked our one keeper (which one of them noted was a nice size and definitely out of the slot limit based on his eyeballing the bass) and licenses, then gave us a boat check. No problem (natch!).
After 5, when the traffic on the main lake died down, we headed down lake. Dikes 2 and 3 didn't produce much more than a few pokes from smaller fish on senkos so we went back up to the area just below Sturgeon Creek. Ended the day with another nice keeper bass caught off the Excalibur popper that was so successful in the morning. Off the water by 9:00pm, home by 11:00pm. Long day, but fun - after fishing all day, I'm convinced that Lake Anna does NOT deserve its nickname as "the dead sea." Lots of fish in there - just a matter of fishing the right spot and time with the right lure. Thanks to Bill and Scott for their tips on locations - it helped a lot!
After about 11am, the bite pretty much disappeared - even after switching to fishing live minnows on bobber set ups. After sitting under a bridge from a brief shower, we headed down to the islands below Sturgeon Creek. The wake on the main lake from the summer boaters got so bad by noon, we could hardly fish, so we hung out near the islands for a bit of protection. While there, we had a nice visit from the Game Warden on their speedy boat. They checked our one keeper (which one of them noted was a nice size and definitely out of the slot limit based on his eyeballing the bass) and licenses, then gave us a boat check. No problem (natch!).
After 5, when the traffic on the main lake died down, we headed down lake. Dikes 2 and 3 didn't produce much more than a few pokes from smaller fish on senkos so we went back up to the area just below Sturgeon Creek. Ended the day with another nice keeper bass caught off the Excalibur popper that was so successful in the morning. Off the water by 9:00pm, home by 11:00pm. Long day, but fun - after fishing all day, I'm convinced that Lake Anna does NOT deserve its nickname as "the dead sea." Lots of fish in there - just a matter of fishing the right spot and time with the right lure. Thanks to Bill and Scott for their tips on locations - it helped a lot!