Northern Virginia (Nova) Fishing Discussion/reports

[RichF]

HereHere's a question I should've asked a long time ago...

 

For all you NOVA anglers, what's a good day on the water, numbers/size wise??  I got very spoiled with the fishing back home in northern NY so I think I need to temper my expectations in this area.  

[novafx4]

Quote

Is the trail off Wagon Trail Ln easy to wheel a kayak down to Mercer on?  With all the parks closed, I'm looking for a place to drop the new yak for it's maiden voyage.

I haven't fished Mercer in a couple of years but I have walked in from that cul-de-sac. It's a couple hundred yards down a path and should be doable. The biggest obstacle would be the gate that blocks vehicular traffic down the path. I was thinking of doing that exact same thing this weekend if the wind and weather will cooperate a bit. My back up plan is Lake Brittle where I never seem to have any luck.

[CountryboyinDC]

Hi @RichF.  Everyone will have a different thought on that, but for me a good day is when I am not elbow to elbow with other anglers and other folks trying to enjoy themselves on the water in NoVA.  It's hard to do that.  I get a day off every 2 weeks, and so I try to go to the Shenandoah or upper Potomac then.  I can either paddle upstream or get someone to shuttle my boat.  If you live somewhere like Woodbridge to Feederickburg, you're already close to somewhere fishing is good on the tidal Potomac and some smaller reservoirs.  The fish are educated.  A good 8 hour day (and I rarely fish 8 hours straight, some of that's going to be unproductive due to the tides), 5 keepers would be good.  Out on the Shenandoah, if you fish small baits, there are days where I stop counting at 30, but a lot will be 9-11" fish.  The past year was bad for both the upper Potomac and Shenandoah.  I was never skunked, but I never caught 10 smallmouth in a day.

[RichF]

32 minutes ago, novafx4 said:

I haven't fished Mercer in a couple of years but I have walked in from that cul-de-sac. It's a couple hundred yards down a path and should be doable. The biggest obstacle would be the gate that blocks vehicular traffic down the path. I was thinking of doing that exact same thing this weekend if the wind and weather will cooperate a bit. My back up plan is Lake Brittle where I never seem to have any luck.

Thanks for the info! I'm still debating on Mercer or just dumping in at roaches run since that's 10 mins from me. 

[RichF]

1 hour ago, CountryboyinDC said:

Hi @RichF.  Everyone will have a different thought on that, but for me a good day is when I am not elbow to elbow with other anglers and other folks trying to enjoy themselves on the water in NoVA.  It's hard to do that.  I get a day off every 2 weeks, and so I try to go to the Shenandoah or upper Potomac then.  I can either paddle upstream or get someone to shuttle my boat.  If you live somewhere like Woodbridge to Feederickburg, you're already close to somewhere fishing is good on the tidal Potomac and some smaller reservoirs.  The fish are educated.  A good 8 hour day (and I rarely fish 8 hours straight, some of that's going to be unproductive due to the tides), 5 keepers would be good.  Out on the Shenandoah, if you fish small baits, there are days where I stop counting at 30, but a lot will be 9-11" fish.  The past year was bad for both the upper Potomac and Shenandoah.  I was never skunked, but I never caught 10 smallmouth in a day.

Totally understand where you're coming from.  The crowding is just something I never had to deal with back home.  Thanks for providing the info. I knew better than to expect similar production to my home waters.  It's all good though.  Any day on the water is still better than a good day at work!

[CountryboyinDC]

2 hours ago, RichF said:

The crowding is just something I never had to deal with back home. 

If it bothers you, and it did (and I guess still does) me, going on a weekday helps a lot.  The weekends remind me of hunting public land here in the east.  Even where I'm from, when they used to only stock trout once a year, opening day was a regular circus.  

On the other hand, there are a lot of good fish to be caught, and I've met some good people here too.

[OnthePotomac]

FYI Leesylvania is open as are the ramps.  If you Yak you can turn right from the ramp, go under the RR bridge and enjoy a nice, calm pretty large (and shallow) protected bay

[RichF]

1 hour ago, OnthePotomac said:

FYI Leesylvania is open as are the ramps.  If you Yak you can turn right from the ramp, go under the RR bridge and enjoy a nice, calm pretty large (and shallow) protected bay

Awesome! Thanks for the heads up!

[CountryboyinDC]

I've had some luck with both snakehead and bass there, and I've seen some catfish caught around there too.  I've also gone left past the boat launch, fishing pier, and small beach, and had some good luck there. A lot of boats don't go back in that bay much farther than the marina.

[RichF]

Tried to dump the yak into Roaches Run yesterday but the parking area was closed. Ended up dropping in at Daingerfield Island. Fished all the way to 4 mile run and halfway up it. Saw tons of bank fisherman trying for carp (saw lots of carp). Fished almost 5 hrs without a sniff.  At least it was a nice day.

[OnthePotomac]

Be aware that the Don's Johns are locked at Brittle, so everyone get to go in the lake.  Brilliant.

[RichF]

So do we think all the creeks on the potomac will be completely blown out tomorrow from all the rain?

[RichF]

Went out to Leesylvania from 930 to 2 today. Paddled around Powells creek. Caught a 13 incher around the bridge and my first snakehead. Had no clue it was that shallow in there! Not a great day.

[RichF]

Does anybody know if the LRPRA boat ramp on the Occoquan Res. is open to the public?

[RichF]

Well, finally made it out to Roaches Run. Now I know where not to go haha. Man the fishing around the city is brutal.  They need to open up Fountainhead quick so I can catch a Virginia bass. Missing upstate NY in a huge way!  Hope everyone else is fairing better!

[dd123]

On 5/2/2020 at 8:03 PM, RichF said:

Went out to Leesylvania from 930 to 2 today. Paddled around Powells creek. Caught a 13 incher around the bridge and my first snakehead. Had no clue it was that shallow in there! Not a great day.

What bait did you use? Went there in the afternoon and caught nothing with worms. About to hit it around 7am soon. 

[RichF]

4 hours ago, dd123 said:

What bait did you use? Went there in the afternoon and caught nothing with worms. About to hit it around 7am soon. 

Caught the bass on a zoom speed craw with a pegged 3/16 oz weight. Got a snakehead on a bladed jig in the pads.

[dd123]

1 hour ago, RichF said:

Caught the bass on a zoom speed craw with a pegged 3/16 oz weight. Got a snakehead on a bladed jig in the pads.

thanks

[simek3ru]

Anyone know how the grass is in Belmont Bay near Conrad Island by chance?

[OnthePotomac]

On 4/26/2020 at 11:47 AM, OnthePotomac said:

Be aware that the Don's Johns are locked at Brittle, so everyone get to go in the lake.  Brilliant.

Good news, they are now unlocked.

[Bigbarge50]

On 5/16/2020 at 3:29 PM, RichF said:

Well, finally made it out to Roaches Run. Now I know where not to go haha. Man the fishing around the city is brutal.  They need to open up Fountainhead quick so I can catch a Virginia bass. Missing upstate NY in a huge way!  Hope everyone else is fairing better!

Also new to a yak and also from NY.....

 

Fished roaches for years from a zodiac and had some great days but not been there for 2 or 3 years now.  Been 3 times in a week with the new yak and only have a catfish to show for it.  (It took a jerkbait).  Seemed everyone else fishing there lately has been struggling to find bass and even snakeheads.  Not sure what is going on there because it used to have nice bass and some very large snakehead.... maybe the bow fishermen have hurt the numbers in there. 

[RichF]

9 hours ago, Bigbarge50 said:

Also new to a yak and also from NY.....

 

Fished roaches for years from a zodiac and had some great days but not been there for 2 or 3 years now.  Been 3 times in a week with the new yak and only have a catfish to show for it.  (It took a jerkbait).  Seemed everyone else fishing there lately has been struggling to find bass and even snakeheads.  Not sure what is going on there because it used to have nice bass and some very large snakehead.... maybe the bow fishermen have hurt the numbers in there. 

Where abouts in NY? I'm actually up there now and man, the fishing is night and day different. I've gone out 3 times and none were what I consider really good days for home. About 60 bass but only 2 over 4 (one 5).  Why did I ever leave!?

[Bigbarge50]

5 hours ago, RichF said:

Where abouts in NY? I'm actually up there now and man, the fishing is night and day different. I've gone out 3 times and none were what I consider really good days for home. About 60 bass but only 2 over 4 (one 5).  Why did I ever leave!?

I grew up in Putnam county just outside NYC but went to school our in Rochester and have been all over the state.  My best evening numbers wise still came from a Upstate NY public pond on a calm summer night..... 48 bass in a couple of hours.  As I get skunked here in NOVA/DC I often wonder the same thing.  I grew up in NY reading bassmaster and watching all the shows dreaming that the waters down south were so full of bass you could walk across them and that 5lbers were like every other fish.  Ah reality. 

 

Glad to have another NY-er on here to talk shop with and excited to not be land locked anymore and back on the water. 

[CountryboyinDC]

I got out on the South Fork of the Shenandoah yesterday for the first time this year (normally I'd have already gone 5+ times by now), and it's low like it usually is around the 4th of July.  Last year was horrible - not only was I not good enough to catch any nice fish, I couldn't catch many dinks either on the Shenandoah or the upper Potomac.  I put in at the State Park, and my wife was nice enough to pick me up at Gooney Creek.  For those of you that haven't done this trip, there is a lot of dragging your boat involved on this section once the Front Royal gauge is below 2'.  The good part is it concentrates the bigger fish.  I got a few bites on a small swim jig and a few swatted at a small torpeedo bait and a Zara puppy, but both were behind the bait, and after trying a small Sammy and getting no takers, I left the topwater stuff alone.  I went to the places that normally have some 14"+ fish in them, and couldn't manage better than a 12" the whole trip, but I did catch a bunch of dinks on a 3" Senko (the only thing that I caught anything on).  I took a picture of the smallest one, which frankly, wasn't much longer than the Senko.  The good news is that from this trip, the fish seem to be back.  Hopefully, they can start putting on some size.

[Kayak Dad]

Snakehead in Fairfax county.

 

I just got turned on to this fish, and I'm hooked! Setting aside, for now, the invasive species discussion, I'm curious to get some feedback on techniques in the NoVa area.

 

For context, I caught a ~3.5 lber at Burke Lake, but overall picking has been SLOOOOOW. That one fish was AWESOME though and was cooler than every large/smallmouth bass I've ever caught.

 

A few snakehead questions for you guys:

 

- What time of year is best? I know it's best in the summer, but summer is a long time and I'm wondering if I missed the heart of the bite.

- What time of day do you guys like?

- Other than Burke lake, where do you guys like to go? I'm on an inflatable  kayak with little kids, so I'm focussing on small lakes vs. the fishing the potomac basin at this point.

- It seems like a lot of is sight fishing...true?

 

Tight lines.