Nitrofreak

I spend a good bit of money on cheaper jigs because I go through a lot of them on the river system I primarily fish but they work!!! I don't mind spending money for a custom jig when I know it will work, if I really want a specific build, I'll pay da man!! LOL!!

Well, we hope you have a blast, good luck and be safe !!! Let us know how you do !!!!!

Thanks all!! Riverbasser, my home lake is about a quarter that size, other lakes we have covers 2 states, regardless, the best way to break down a body of water IMO always starts with local fishing reports, a lot of times there are areas in those reports that will lead you to at the very least productive areas or in close proximity to those areas, from there, I like to use satellite imagery and topo maps, places where I start to look are areas that may have good spawning areas, preferably ones with a fresh water supply and work my way out from there, creek arms with multiple secondary points with interesting features, maybe a long underwater point that rises to a hump or has some other interesting feature like a small shelf, or the creek arm has several bends in the channel, from there it's just a matter of exploration, covering as much water as possible with your sonar and then finally fishing those areas thuroghly, that has helped me a bunch when I travel, with a lake that big I'm sure it's like fishing a new body of water almost every day!!

The way I went about it may be different for you, as each of us are different in the way we learn and go about doing things but, I started here, on this site, I learned from many here and will continue to learn. Looking for structure with deep water access is great for this time of year and throughout the summer months, finding areas with deep water access is an application you would use primarily for finding the more mature bass, this goes back to the importance of understanding bass growth and behavior and their relation to the use of the right structure, deep water access means access to the deepest part of the water being fished, this could mean that access is less than a foot for where the fish are located, so be open minded when you think about it, in order for an area to be productive, I think Buck says it best and I would like to incert a quote from him if I may. It must be remembered that deep water is where bass spend the greater part of their time because it is a sanctuary from changing weather and water conditions. Thus, in order for a structure, break or break line to be consistently productive for mature bass, it must be very close to deep water, or at least, the deepest water in the area being fished. You cannot have schools of large bass if the structure, breaks and break lines are not connected in some manner to deep water." That is from Elwood "Buck" Perry. How easy is it for me to find bait? Well, driving around in a boat really isn't all that difficult LOL! Once you put yourself out there on the water on a daily basis you begin to find the answers, the ease and or difficulty of finding bait depends on the abundancy of life sustaining properties within each body of water and in each area of that body of water. Remain open minded when we speak about bait, remember we are looking for the predominate bait, just because we see schools of bait on a daily basis may not mean they are the predominate bait, look thuroghly into each area you fish. How deep is too deep? Depth is determined by the fish, not by us, from the moment you launch your boat your eyes need to be on the sonar as much as possible, what depth are the fish suspending in, what depth are the fish relating to bottom in, this can help eliminate a lot of water in areas you choose to fish. Thermocline, The thermocline is basically in a nut shell, a change in density, there are a lot of discussions about the thermocline on here and how it changes the fish's behavior so I won't get into too much because you really should read up from the experts on the subject and if those reading this would be willing to supply a link to that or those threads I would greatly appreciate the help, I can't get to them for some reason on my phone, It is that change in density that can be reflected on your sonar if you have the settings properly adjusted, read up and get familiar with what your sonar is capable of doing for you. I hope that helps and I hope I said everything right, if not please chime in!!

Sorry for the delay riverbasser, I am working on a response, I want to make sure that I try to phrase everything as best I can, I'm not really good at doing so, I had family night last night and this morning work is getting in the way LOL ! I will get back to you ASAP.

What makes any spot prime is how frequently bait travel through or past an area, from the time a bass becomes adult enough to move out to deeper water it already knows some of the best spots and how to find them, a location in the lake can have all the best cover and best looking structure in the entire lake but, if the bass know there is no food for them there then they have no use for it, follow the bait or baits, prime areas will offer many different species an ample food source, from plankton to bass, each have their role to play, the better or best areas will also offer deep water access or access to the deepest water in the areas that hold fish. I agree that it seems overwhelming and at first it is, but, it is simply, very simply, a matter of finding the predominate prey and how that species relates to the structure in your body of water on a daily basis, it's time on the water and lots of it, it's understanding what that sonar is sending back to you and then putting that new sonar equipment to work for you, what you will find and what you will learn from your body of water will a lot of times translate to new bodies of water, not all the time but it certainly aids in the search for possible areas that will hold fish, after that it's water conditions and technique adjustments. I am still learning, this is what I have learned so far to be true, it's a lot of work that is just now starting to pay back from a long period of scouting, scanning, reading and asking questions, two books will help you tremendously along with this website, "in pursuit of giant bass" by Bill Murphy and "Spoonplugging" by Elwood "Buck" Perry.

Anna is a fickle ol' girl, a little advise if I may. The number one pattern there is skipping docks, the older the better, she is the second largest man made lake in Va. and she has a lot of area to cover, especially in the lower regions, you really need to know your structure past Sturgeons Creek to the dam. The best opportunities for those who rarely fish Anna are mid lake and up, I say this because of a couple of different reasons, below Sturgeons Creek the lake is anywhere from 1/2 of a mile wide to about 1 mile wide and when the lake statisfies it can be very difficult because of the return flow of the nuclear plant, the lower part of that lake really doesn't mix until just about the dead of winter, I have seen that lower part carry close to 30 feet deep of oxygenated water, multiply that by a mile wide and you will be hard pressed to find fish in a short amount of time as with a tournament. Its much easier to find fish or concentrations of fish in the river arms since they are only a few hundred yards wide in some places, you need to know your structure regardless but it's so much easier in the narrower regions for those like yourself. Anna, the last visit I made a couple of weeks ago, was still mixed up a bit from all the fronts we have experienced, my day went from pouring down rain to bright sunshine to strong winds and storming in just a matter of hours. Hang in there, the next time you visit try looking in the arms of Anna River, Pumunkey and Terry's Run, there's lots of great vegetation and areas where structure and cover provide some really great opportunities up there !!! Good luck and be safe !!!

I just realized that each only has one eye!! COINCIDENCE? I think not LOL !!

Great job ETS, I caught a couple of those at dike 2 last summer and you are correct, they truly are a beautiful species and actually put up a good fight all the way back to the boat !! Awesome report man !!!

Kinda looks like the Patriots insignia on the helmets don't it ! I bet that thing would look badass in a pats color scheme !!!

Genetics may play a part, I'm really not one to say for sure, my father was the only one in my family who fished, even then it wasn't much, he was the one who introduced me to the outdoors, hunting and fishing, camping, all that great stuff that a father and son share, we only went together maybe a handful of times, that was enough for me, I used to go as a kid as much as I could, everyday I wanted to fish more and more, I used a stick and some fishing line as a youngster then graduated to a cane pole my great grandfather gave to me, in school everyone wanted cars and motorcycles, I wanted a boat, I worked for my first one and got it at 16, I fished every opportunity I could and even joined a club, at 26 I met my wife and as life goes we started a family so the boat got sold and it was replaced with a family vehicle, since then I had to put fishing aside for the most part until just a few years ago when I began to seriously put back in the effort, as far as I know there was no one in my family that has or had the same passion for the outdoors as I do, I was simply introduced to it and it seemed to grab ahold and not really let go, the one thing I think my dad instilled in me has a lot to do with my passion for fishing, he taught me that if I had found something in life worth pursuing that I give it all and leave nothing on the table, I'm like that with my family too but now that the girls are all grown up its reverted back to my passion for fishing, in particular bass fishing.

Keep it simple, bass haven't changed much in the last 45 years but the way we go about catching em', well, that's changed a bunch!!! A great starting point starts with the above posts, welcome to BR!!!

I have paid attention to this year in particular, we have had a lot more fronts than in recent years, this year it's really strange, I have only seen 4 bass that were where you would normally see them, all the bass I have caught so far have not even a hint of redness or damage on their tails, I'm not sure if fronts really have them all messed up or what but the water is clearer than normal, compared to the last couple of years, the temps are really close to the past two years in each area on my home lake, it's almost like the spawn hasn't happened yet, some areas are in their 70's others high 60's, I have noted a lot of fish still relating to main lake channels close to primary points as of this past Tuesday, since I don't get to fish as much as I would like I can't tell if it's about to happen or has already happened.

I do read a lot of what you write, I, for some reason do not remember reading about such, hence, the question my friend, this is why I love this site, so much can be learned and applied in our own regions, I take none of that for granted and try hard to put everything to good use. Great stuff Catt, as always, thank you !!

It may be an area that has some toothy predators lurking about, a fish struggling is a key triggering mechanism, question may be, can bass actually learn or maybe a better way to phrase it would be to adapt and not to put up a fight so as not to draw any unwanted attention?

All the reading I have done and never once did I come across anything that stated that, very interesting, is it known how many nests they will lay eggs in ?

Welcome to BR. Another Skins fan here, buck up its all coming together and just like you returning to fishing, things will get better soon. Senkos are a plastic worm basically so you have in a sense already found success, come visit us in the southeast section below, there are a ton of guys and gals that can help you out with areas you fish and want to fish.

I got a laser speed spool from Walmart and started with that, at 75 bucks I was impressed with what it could do, I used it for a year trying everything I use one for, great casting distance with braided line, smooth pitching performance with braided line as well, it really showed off with fluorocarbon, I use Seaguar red label 15lb test for a lot of techniques and that reel really made an impact with what I needed from a reel, I purchaced 2 tournament lite reels since then and really have no desire to look elsewhere, not that other products aren't as good or better but I'm just sold on the performance, durability and flexibility, so much so that I now want to switch everything over to all Lews, all I have to do now is come up with some cash LOL !

It should be pretty good when you get there, the carp should be out and about, things should be calming down, fronts should be more stable and the bass should be a lot more predictable, everything is still discombobulated a bit, it only took just over 8lbs to win Sunday's tournament at Fish Tales, things are looking great for your area and time of your stay, looking forward to your report !!! Good luck and be safe !!!

Anna report 5/3, 15 fish total for the shortened day. CARP ARE EVERYWHERE !!!! UGH !!! Got to my first spot at 6:30am, water temps mid lake 67.8-68.4 fished mid lake most of the morning because it was simply working well, most if not all fish are done with the spawn, didn't see any shallow cruisers at all, the first 2 areas I fished I started shallow and worked my way out, noting fish depth and location, weather was heavy overcast with periods of rain until roughly around 10:45. Most productive pattern for larger bass was pitching to docks, ( I know, go figure right ) docks seem to have to have deep water fronts, the boat was in at least 19 feet of water, fish came from about 15-17 feet on a Larry Nixon designed Havoc bottom hopper worm, yeilded a 7.2, 4.9 and a 3.11. Headed to the splits to fish one of the stump fields hoping for a BIG'UN, rigged a 10.5 Zoom ribbon tail worm on a T-Rig as well as a C-Rig, got loads of bites but no hook-ups, downsized and went back to the bottom hopper and picked up all but one of the rest of my fish for the day, 11 fish between 1.2-2.6 and then the sun came out and just like that, it was hard to get a bite, like a light switch, headed up the Anna river arm, seen some more nice ones but just couldn't get even a sniff, water condition up in the arm are partly stained, temp was 69.7 looked pretty much like it does in the summer but a little clearer, skipped a few docks with a Zoom super fluke and missed a nice one pitched a few deeper ones and not even a bite, fished a lot of the grass, especially areas with rock, those were the areas I could see the fish. Headed up to Pumunkey/Terry Run areas, water condition up there was the same as Anna River Arm, temps were warmer with 71.1, good, abundant schools of bait, didn't get to stay up there too long because storms were in the area, did manage my last fish of the day up there however, found the most active area was where both areas split, just up the inside of the Pumunkey side as well as just up inside of Terry's Run, it seemed the rocky areas were the most productive, several areas held bass but bites were coming off of rock piles, most likely crappie bites is what I assume. Also caught one turtle, I didn't get a photo of how big it was but I did manage a snap of what he did to my Gama 4/0 heavy wire weighted hook ! Sorry about the photos, I'm just not a selfie taker, I didn't get pics of all my fish today, as you can see by my hair, I just didn't want to risk getting my phone wet.

What an awesome report man !! Congrats you guys on an excellent outing, best of luck on KY lake !!!!!

Great job and congrats, I've been fishing for, well, since I was old enough to hold a rod a long, long time ago, I have yet to land a SMB, I told somebody on here that if I ever did get one that it would be the smallest fish I ever caught or it would be the "one that got away" story, I'd be EXTREMLY happy to catch one like yours !!

Hunters landing if I am not mistaken is the area that has the no wake zone restaurant correct? Im heading over tomorrow 5/3 for a day of fishing and will most likely spend some time in both the Anna arm and Terry's run/Pumunkey areas, if I do make it I will provide a report.

Fishing from the bank is no different than fishing from a boat, your always looking for the most productive areas, while a boat can cover a lot more water in short amounts of time, the Equpment on board is there to help break down depth so that you can eliminate the most water possible, same thing goes for areas on the bank, maps can be a big help in picking the best spots, most of my bank fishing is on moving water, our river systems, I look for the same in areas that may provide a little current on lakes, if not, I look for vegetation, or at least something that will add a little o2 to the area, after that I look for added bonuses, a lay down a big rock etc..., it all breaks down the same the only difference is your more mobile with a craft, you always doing your best to put yourself in the best position possible, as far as how many depends on how active the fish are and how well the areas we choose contain enough life sustaining properties, the best thing that helps IMO when bank fishing is picking areas that you can cover thuroghly, if your fishing a lake, choose a couple of coves that will allow you to be able to reach at least 3/4 of its width on a long cast, same for rivers, you want to be able to cover all depths especially when bottom contact baits are the key, I believe that if you fish an area that's huge it doesn't do much for your focus, you have to work pretty hard to get the attention of some fish that "might" be in the area.

It really doesn't matter but, I do enjoy my time alone, none of my girls like to get up early so when we camp at the lake I am always on my first spot by dawn, I get to fish until about 10 when I have to head in and fix brunch ( breakfast for lunch ) those few hours are blissful, I can't deny that, when one can hear the air being split by the whip of the rod and the reel whining as the line is being spoiled off before anyone else is on the water, it's one gripping moment that makes you want it even more, its also one of reflection.