DJ 6_6 Posted July 19, 2013 Author Posted July 19, 2013 LOL didnt know there was trash talking in Fishing !!  Either one of you who fish the Res regularly suggest I go out of Fountainhead or Lake Ridge Saturday morning?  Im having the GF pick me up the topo map of the Res today, but it'll be my first time fishing there in a boat. I''ll have a portable fishfinder with me, hopefully to find some underwater structure/dropoffs Quote
quanjig Posted July 19, 2013 Posted July 19, 2013 Depends on which park you launch from. Lake ridge, the two main lake points as you leave the creek. FH, the grass point across from the marina is always a good spot as well as the old Ryan's dam. Those a a few community holes that usually produce good numbers as well as quality fish! 1 Quote
hwiv24 Posted July 19, 2013 Posted July 19, 2013 quan - you ever had any luck launching out of Bull Run? Any suggestions on places to check out tomorrow morning? I think I may turn right out of the marina and check out some coves and points upstream. DJ I also plan on heading out early tomorrow morning but I'll be launching out of Bull Run. Interested to hear how you do (good luck!). I also just got a topo map but this is only my second time out there so definitely still trying to learn as much as possible... 1 Quote
quanjig Posted July 19, 2013 Posted July 19, 2013 If you plan on launching from Bull Run and heading up, I would pay attention to the top and bottom of the islands, wood and grassy areas where the creek channel gets up close to the banks. Be careful, stay in the creek channels, lots of big stumps and submerged trees that will ruin your day! Quote
bluezed Posted July 19, 2013 Posted July 19, 2013 Water level appeared to be "normal" when I was at Lake Ridge on Wednesday. Â Quote
DJ 6_6 Posted July 19, 2013 Author Posted July 19, 2013 quan - you ever had any luck launching out of Bull Run? Any suggestions on places to check out tomorrow morning? I think I may turn right out of the marina and check out some coves and points upstream. DJ I also plan on heading out early tomorrow morning but I'll be launching out of Bull Run. Interested to hear how you do (good luck!). I also just got a topo map but this is only my second time out there so definitely still trying to learn as much as possible...  Good Luck. hoping the Storms hold off till the afternoon tomorrow, though we need some rain! I'll post my results and hopefully pics ! Quote
nitro557 Posted July 19, 2013 Posted July 19, 2013 if you go out of lake ridge ,I have always caught fish up in sandy run Quote
The Bream Reaper Posted July 20, 2013 Posted July 20, 2013 had a solid morning today. we each caught around 5-8 bass each. I had 2 that were in the 3-4# range (one might have been 4+) - caught on the PW side just below the old dam. nothing else over 2#. i'd post pics if I had any idea how, but more importantly, water temp was getting up there, water level looked like it was pretty low, and bass were not in the mood to chase anything. none caught on spinnerbaits or cranks. all on fliiping craws, shakey heads, drop shots with natural colors (water was slightly stained...best clarity though ive ever seen out there). green pumpkin soft plastics with red or purple flake. got pretty breezy at times blowing east down river...biggest fish were caught on points at the mouths of creek channels in about 10-12ft of water I would guess (no depthfider). seemed to us like the key was finding those subtle points (pointing east down river) that jutted out enough into the main lake to catch some of that wind blowing into them...thinking baitfish (although bluegill seemed to be the flavor du jour) were being pushed down around those points. could be a completely different story obviously with yalls tourney tomorrow, quan, but it was a promising result today after a sweltering week. fished from about 6:30-noon. Quote
quanjig Posted July 20, 2013 Posted July 20, 2013 Nice job guys! I always appreciate the info! I've got a plan that I hope gets them good all day long. Will share the results Monday morning!! Quote
hwiv24 Posted July 21, 2013 Posted July 21, 2013 Same exact experience as Reaper. No action with cranks or spinners but worm was another story. Good luck tmrw Quan. Look forward to hearing the results! Quote
bluezed Posted July 21, 2013 Posted July 21, 2013 I'm probably going to be working the shore at bull run tomorrow. I was at lake ridge marina this evening without much luck at all. Senkos, caught a little dink. Had one pretty solid bite but didn't get a good hook set. Quote
bluezed Posted July 21, 2013 Posted July 21, 2013 Hiked all up and down the trail a Bull Run from around 7:30 to noon. I think I showed up too late. Nothing. Starting next weekend I'll be going out in the canoe. Quote
DJ 6_6 Posted July 22, 2013 Author Posted July 22, 2013 Went out Sat Mornign with my brother and launched from Lake Ridge. headed North (left) and fished the bank for bout 1/4 mile, where we noticed it drops off substancially from bout 5 ft into 20+ close to the shore line. Started fishing around 7:45 and got a good bite on a chatterbug style bait, but didnt hook it.  And that my friends was the ONLY bite we had. we fished Senko's wacky style, T-rigged, swim jigs KVD sassy shad color and deep diving Cranks with the same color.  Moved up and over to Jacobs Rock where I proceeded to lose 2 baits... I think I hooked the bottom/trees/something about 10 times all day.  the portable fish finder showed fish either on the bottom in about 25 ft or suspending at about 20-16 feet...guessing this was the thermocline.   It was hot and frustrating not to get any fish, but it was also our first time fishing the Res.  We spent about 4 hours fishing and decided to call it a day. we did see some big Bass/carp busting the surface...i'm guessing carp because they looked to be in the 5-10lb range based on the thickness and size of the tails.  Interesting enough we saw a pretty big baitball of shad near jacobs Rock...balled up tight but nothing chasing them.  Not too sure what we should have done different.  Prob try again in 2-3 weeks. Quote
The Bream Reaper Posted July 22, 2013 Posted July 22, 2013 Yea, i think any presentation that required you to hurl it out and crank it back to the boat wasn't going to work too well on Saturday. We were fishing soft plastics SLOW. Also, one thing i wanted to mention from my earlier post, after going back to look at my topo map to mark where we were catching fish, i noticed that the creek mouths and subtle points where we caught the biggest fish aren't even really pronounced on the map...so i guess my point would be that you really need to look at your surroundings once you're out there. we tried the Plan A spots that looked really good on paper (after studying the topo map the night before) early in the day, but made note of some of the terrain on land as it sloped into the reservoir as we worked the banks and some great looking laydowns on the PW side, and decided to fish those spots that we had never even known were there by simply looking at the map.  INterested to hear how the tourny went yesterday though. Quote
DJ 6_6 Posted July 22, 2013 Author Posted July 22, 2013 I noticed there was quite a bit of bank area that were very steep/bluff/cliff likewhere the water was 1-2 feet by the shore and dropped of quickly to 20+ casting distance from shore.  wish I had a better fishfinder that was more detailed and because its portable, it shakes and wobbles some going faster than 4-5 mph.  so its hard to really spend time and go over an area to get an idea of whats down there. I chalk it up to a learning experince, I think next time I'll try more of a slow, verticle presentation and try and get out there at first light as well. Quote
quanjig Posted July 22, 2013 Posted July 22, 2013 First and second place had almost 25lbs, third place almost 24lbs. Partner and I had a paper clip over 17. Couldn't find any bigger fish. Caught fish shallow, caught fish deep, mostly on plastics. Hot as blazes in the middle of the day, I think there were 6 teams with bags over 20lbs! Quote
s freud Posted July 22, 2013 Posted July 22, 2013 Wow that's crazy. What were you catching them mid-day on? I'm assuming it was deep... I'd love to have six fish totalling 17#, great job, even if not at the top of the leader board! Quote
quanjig Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 Fish that we caught in the middle of the day were not very deep, only in a couple feet of water. Not sure if you guys realized there was a good deal of current flowing thru the res this weekend. When that happens its starts to put the fish a little shallower in the water column. The smaller subtle breaks will at track feeding bass, it's also a good idea to get around the visible schools of shad a and fish around and thru them!! Quote
DJ 6_6 Posted July 23, 2013 Author Posted July 23, 2013 Fish that we caught in the middle of the day were not very deep, only in a couple feet of water. Not sure if you guys realized there was a good deal of current flowing thru the res this weekend. When that happens its starts to put the fish a little shallower in the water column. The smaller subtle breaks will at track feeding bass, it's also a good idea to get around the visible schools of shad a and fish around and thru them!!  I just thought it was the light breeze pushing us, didnt realize there was the current. And we spotted a school of bait fish, balled up tight, but nothing chasing them. we worked it for about 10 minutes with no bites...till the fish dispersed.  Anyone see any big fish busting the surface...not sure what they were chasing, but we saw it maybe 7-8 times on Saturday. Wondering if these were Carp or infact Bass? Quote
quanjig Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 It's not the easiest place to fish, but it will make you a better angler! I've been fishing the res for 20+ years and its always a challenge. You can take what you learn and apply it to any body of water and be successful! The number of people that have cut their teeth on fishing the res have gone on to fish other circuits and have had great results. I have no problem giving helpful hints, tips and tricks about how I have been catching fish, but I have to keep some stuff to my self!! It's a fine line between blanking and whacking them out there that its always a bit more fun to figure out the little subtleties that make your day! The res changes every day, every hour, every year, the challenge is where you grow as an angler!! Quote
quanjig Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 DJ, believe me, when you see or hear fish busting up schools of bait, you will know it. 9 times out of 10, you will see shad trying to flee but jumping clear out of the water. The bigger the shad, the bigger the fish! The shad balls you need to pay closest attention to are the ones that are nervous. Not to say that you can't catch fish thru the balls just cruseing, just a little easier to fool the ones actively feeding. Think swim jig or swimbaits. If you get an opportunity to see the size and coloration of the shad, match them as closely as possible. I've also had luck spotting bait suspended with fish below them and counting a bait down below the bait and catching the active fish feeding on the bait. Quote
bluezed Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 I saw some big fish jumping at Bull Run on Sunday. Â Unfortunately I was on the wrong side. Â Quote
DJ 6_6 Posted July 23, 2013 Author Posted July 23, 2013 the school of bait fish we saw were just chilling, Ive seen what feeding looks like (rockfish chassing bait fish in the bay). At least I know what one of the main types of forage looks like  Speaking of which are there Crayfish/Crawdads in the Reservoir and would these be a source of food for the bass?  I never did understand how bass eats them anyways with out being pinched lol Quote
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