Public side of lake Anna

[Nitrofreak]

I fished Anna this past weekend, all my time was spent in Sturgeons, Duke, Boggs and Beaver Pond areas, all areas that I needed to work on, if your planning a trip to Anna, now is the time, while conditions this past weekend were high pressure conditions I did see 4 rather large units looking for a place to eject some young, while they weren't on the bed just yet I attempted to catch one for a photo opportunity, well, that didn't work out, I rigged a couple of weightless rigs up and tossed my offering in a very gentle manner, they both landed with barely a sound but you would have thought a bomb went of as they scurried to safety, they must have just cruised in scouting the area because these girls were really really easy to spook, but the next couple of weeks should yield some great memories for those who can venture out.

Look for areas that contain as many stumps as possible with docks in close proximity, Anna doesn't have a lot offer other than that down lake, there are a few shoals to speak of but really she's pretty barren for the most part and the fish will use these stumps during the spawn, find isolated areas like way back in coves and major creeks that offer peace and quiet and protection from the winds and you will find fish.

The upper regions of this lake warm first, your better chances will be up in the upper reaches of Pumunkey and Anna River, or, the first coves at the splits as well as Marshal and Pigeon Creek, on my last visit, Marshal Creek was spotted with some good size bait clusters, this trip, the areas I had fished, the bait clusters were difficult to find with exception of Sturgeon Creek.

Ended up with 3, I had 4 bites total, total weight, approx. 9lbs. one came unbuttoned right at the boat, tuff day, water was really clear in most areas with a really clear and bright sky, even skipping docks you could see the fish scatter as the bait skipped across the surface.

Hope that helps if your planning an Anna trip !!

[Sam]

Great report, Nitro. Thanks for sharing.

I hit One Fish Anna on April 3rd and we never did find a bed or any lady cruisers.

We did see a school of 10-2 pounders in Dukes Creek but that was it. And the were not interested in anything we threw at them. They just ignored our baits and finally swam off into deeper water and disappeared.

Caught our fish in the back of Mitchell's creek on the docks and I did nail another one in Duke's creek on a shaky head.

Fishing was difficult and the bass were not hitting the plastics hard. In fact, it took me a few missed hits until I figured out that they were picking up the plastics and walking off with them. Thank goodness I hit my plastics with MegaStrike which caused them to hold on to the bait a few seconds longer allowing me to set the hook on the ones I caught.

One Fish Anna strikes again!

[Nitrofreak]

8 hours ago, Sam said:

Great report, Nitro. Thanks for sharing.

I hit One Fish Anna on April 3rd and we never did find a bed or any lady cruisers.

We did see a school of 10-2 pounders in Dukes Creek but that was it. And the were not interested in anything we threw at them. They just ignored our baits and finally swam off into deeper water and disappeared.

Caught our fish in the back of Mitchell's creek on the docks and I did nail another one in Duke's creek on a shaky head.

Fishing was difficult and the bass were not hitting the plastics hard. In fact, it took me a few missed hits until I figured out that they were picking up the plastics and walking off with them. Thank goodness I hit my plastics with MegaStrike which caused them to hold on to the bait a few seconds longer allowing me to set the hook on the ones I caught.

One Fish Anna strikes again!

The lower part of this lake from Sturgeons down takes a lot of time spent on the water to get a feel for just when and where these big girls will show up and for how long.

Understanding fish behavior, especially the Big'uns will help for those not familiar, my techniques for fishing spawners are very limited because I simply don't do it but I should probably learn how to, very few areas will hold to be good enough areas for the spawn, in most cases the girls are in and out of the shallows within a week and it's off to the flats or they will hang around the deeper docks in the area to take a breather before heading out, timing is everything down in those areas, these fish are used to 25+ feet, they just don't like being in places like that for very long.

Scan all areas for bait first, those areas will be best or offer better odds.

Your chances would have been better near the splits when you were over there my friend, in particular Marshal Creek.

Down lake, the fish that I did catch had not even had their tails all beat up yet so they were just moving in, most were still staging out on main lake points and also found on secondary points, few were in deep looking to procure a spot for their honeys.

I should have been fishing the entry points but I found that out a little to late, everything is running about 2 weeks behind with all the recent fronts we have had.

Thanks Sam, it's much appreciated !!

Hopefully we can spend a day on Anna sometime this year and have some fun!!!

 

 

[HistoryNerd27]

Glad to see a couple reports on Anna. My family and I are heading down there for a vacation in 2 weeks and it'll be the first time I really get to test out the Lowrance we bought over the winter. We are up-lake a good ways though, staying near Hunter's Landing. We had some pretty decent success last year fishing around that area in early May so I'm hoping to catch a few good ones. I think you guys both gave me some advice actually for that trip and it worked out really well. So, any more tips I can glean from the experts?

[Nitrofreak]

44 minutes ago, HistoryNerd27 said:

Glad to see a couple reports on Anna. My family and I are heading down there for a vacation in 2 weeks and it'll be the first time I really get to test out the Lowrance we bought over the winter. We are up-lake a good ways though, staying near Hunter's Landing. We had some pretty decent success last year fishing around that area in early May so I'm hoping to catch a few good ones. I think you guys both gave me some advice actually for that trip and it worked out really well. So, any more tips I can glean from the experts?

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.

[HistoryNerd27]

6 hours ago, Nitrofreak said:

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.

That's the place. I heard from a friend that it's under new management now though so I'm not actually sure what they are doing anymore.

Anyways, I would definitely appreciate the report since that is the area I'm looking to fish. Good luck!

[Nitrofreak]

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.

[HistoryNerd27]

Thanks for the report. Here I thought going to the big lake and getting away from the little ponds would save my tackle from the turtles.

I'll try and post a few reports here in a couple weeks to let everyone know what I find too. Thanks again for all the info!

[Nitrofreak]

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 !!!

[CrazyFluker]

I fished my first tourney at Anna last weekend and I didn't do very well, my buddy did okay. We caught 4 total for only 6.5lbs. 3 out of the 4 were in areas with stumps, the other was off a dock. The winning bag was 18.79lbs. I have only fished Anna a few times but really like the lake. I hope to fish it more and hope to learn more from my buddies out there in the future. I'm a big fish in the little pond I live on but a small fish at Anna lol.

[Nitrofreak]

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 !!!

 

[HistoryNerd27]

Thought I would make an early report since it looks like I'm gonna get rained out all day today. We fished most of the morning yesterday and then an hour or two in the evening. Was kinda cold so we didn't get out until around 8 am. Water is pretty muddy (no surprise) and we found fish holding tight to cover. Dad pulled an almost 3 pounder off the end of a dock and I pulled a barely over 3 a few docks down. Ended up catching about 10 combined yesterday but the rest were 1 lb and under. The bigger ones came of chatterbaits, but crankbaits, jerkbaits, and worms all yielded fish too. 

Side note, got to use the new lowrance and I'm a bit hooked now on learning more. Can actually see bait balls, structure, points, etc. Pretty exciting for someone new to bigger lake fishing.

I did find some pretty big carp cruising the shallows in the back of an inlet. Might try and fish from the dock today and see what other species I can hook into. I'll post pictures when I get back home and have better connection. We fished the pamunkey arm so I'm hoping maybe tomorrow or Thursday we can hit the Anna arm and see what's going on there. 

[Nitrofreak]

1 hour ago, HistoryNerd27 said:

Thought I would make an early report since it looks like I'm gonna get rained out all day today. We fished most of the morning yesterday and then an hour or two in the evening. Was kinda cold so we didn't get out until around 8 am. Water is pretty muddy (no surprise) and we found fish holding tight to cover. Dad pulled an almost 3 pounder off the end of a dock and I pulled a barely over 3 a few docks down. Ended up catching about 10 combined yesterday but the rest were 1 lb and under. The bigger ones came of chatterbaits, but crankbaits, jerkbaits, and worms all yielded fish too. 

Side note, got to use the new lowrance and I'm a bit hooked now on learning more. Can actually see bait balls, structure, points, etc. Pretty exciting for someone new to bigger lake fishing.

I did find some pretty big carp cruising the shallows in the back of an inlet. Might try and fish from the dock today and see what other species I can hook into. I'll post pictures when I get back home and have better connection. We fished the pamunkey arm so I'm hoping maybe tomorrow or Thursday we can hit the Anna arm and see what's going on there. 

Best of luck and be safe, I am in hopes of getting over there this Saturday and do some fishing myself, looking forward to seeing your day!!!

[HistoryNerd27]

Took me a while to get back to reality, but thought I would get on here and post about Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday was tough. One Fish Anna stayed true to her name and I did only catch one real small (maybe a pound) bass all day. Everything that worked Monday stopped working, so we ended up trying to find some new water and I did manage one on a shakeyhead right before we called it quits. That evening we were a bit sick of throwing for bass so we stopped under a bridge and caught a few crappie. I spotted a huge mass on my graph every time I would go under the bridge and then the nice folks at Hunter's Landing told us that it was crappie. Got to use the livewell on the boat for the first time too, so it was generally a success.

Thursday we decided to get out of the Pamunkey and try the Anna branch. We managed 3, one of them almost 3 lbs so it was better than the day before but not exactly a huge success either. We spent most of the time in an inlet I felt pretty good about. Saw fish all over the graph and shad/panfish hitting the surface pretty well. Guys were catching striper in the mouth of the inlet the evening before. Even heard what I'm going to assume was a carp flopping around in the shallows. Still really couldn't figure out the bass though. We ended up catching the few we did off points with rocks and grass, completely different from Monday. Guess it just goes to show you how quickly a lake can change. The water did clear up a good bit by Thursday. Probably gained 2-3 feet of visibility.

Overall it was a pretty good trip. The family caught a boatload of panfish from the dock and even about 10 catfish. I caught my first fish off a baitcaster (which actually caught all but 2 of my fish) and now of course I want to buy another one. The last day we were there the sun came out in the evening and bugs started coming out. Holy smokes I have never seen so many fish hitting the top of the water. Definitely proved that the baitballs I was seeing on the depth finder were there, which was pretty cool. Seemed like a lot of guys were doing pretty well with stripers while we were there too. Anyways, I'll try and post pictures tomorrow from my work computer if I can get them off my phone. Thanks everyone for the info. It was very helpful

[Nitrofreak]

2 hours ago, HistoryNerd27 said:

Took me a while to get back to reality, but thought I would get on here and post about Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday was tough. One Fish Anna stayed true to her name and I did only catch one real small (maybe a pound) bass all day. Everything that worked Monday stopped working, so we ended up trying to find some new water and I did manage one on a shakeyhead right before we called it quits. That evening we were a bit sick of throwing for bass so we stopped under a bridge and caught a few crappie. I spotted a huge mass on my graph every time I would go under the bridge and then the nice folks at Hunter's Landing told us that it was crappie. Got to use the livewell on the boat for the first time too, so it was generally a success.

Thursday we decided to get out of the Pamunkey and try the Anna branch. We managed 3, one of them almost 3 lbs so it was better than the day before but not exactly a huge success either. We spent most of the time in an inlet I felt pretty good about. Saw fish all over the graph and shad/panfish hitting the surface pretty well. Guys were catching striper in the mouth of the inlet the evening before. Even heard what I'm going to assume was a carp flopping around in the shallows. Still really couldn't figure out the bass though. We ended up catching the few we did off points with rocks and grass, completely different from Monday. Guess it just goes to show you how quickly a lake can change. The water did clear up a good bit by Thursday. Probably gained 2-3 feet of visibility.

Overall it was a pretty good trip. The family caught a boatload of panfish from the dock and even about 10 catfish. I caught my first fish off a baitcaster (which actually caught all but 2 of my fish) and now of course I want to buy another one. The last day we were there the sun came out in the evening and bugs started coming out. Holy smokes I have never seen so many fish hitting the top of the water. Definitely proved that the baitballs I was seeing on the depth finder were there, which was pretty cool. Seemed like a lot of guys were doing pretty well with stripers while we were there too. Anyways, I'll try and post pictures tomorrow from my work computer if I can get them off my phone. Thanks everyone for the info. It was very helpful

Sounds like a great trip, I went over today and had a hard time putting anything together too, all of these fronts have really got that place all out of sorts, ended up with about 14lbs, 7 fish all together, I was talking to Chris Craft and he said I would have had second place with my best 5 if I was in his tournament, I asked what the winning weight was he told me 18 was all it took, surprises me because usually weights this time of year are up there, seeing the lake and her water temps this time of year explained it but anyway, it took a pretty good effort and had to cover a lot of water, duck in the hole creek in the back was at 60.2 degrees, at the mouth it was almost 4 degrees warmer but heavily stained, it was partially stained at the splits and still not into the 70's, I made it down to sturgeons creek and the water there was in the lower seventies without a whole lot more clearity than at the splits, fish were very scattered and ones that were grouped up ( well, in close proximity to one another ) weren't active at all, whenever we get a few warm sunny days in a row to warm things up a good bit,  I'd be willing to be that place will explode.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us and can't wait to see the pics !!!

I managed a couple snaps between the downpours today.

 

Whelp, it won't let me load the other two from my phone, I'll try again tomorrow.

[HistoryNerd27]

13 hours ago, Nitrofreak said:

Sounds like a great trip, I went over today and had a hard time putting anything together too, all of these fronts have really got that place all out of sorts, ended up with about 14lbs, 7 fish all together, I was talking to Chris Craft and he said I would have had second place with my best 5 if I was in his tournament, I asked what the winning weight was he told me 18 was all it took, surprises me because usually weights this time of year are up there, seeing the lake and her water temps this time of year explained it but anyway, it took a pretty good effort and had to cover a lot of water, duck in the hole creek in the back was at 60.2 degrees, at the mouth it was almost 4 degrees warmer but heavily stained, it was partially stained at the splits and still not into the 70's, I made it down to sturgeons creek and the water there was in the lower seventies without a whole lot more clearity than at the splits, fish were very scattered and ones that were grouped up ( well, in close proximity to one another ) weren't active at all, whenever we get a few warm sunny days in a row to warm things up a good bit,  I'd be willing to be that place will explode.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us and can't wait to see the pics !!!

I managed a couple snaps between the downpours today.

 

Whelp, it won't let me load the other two from my phone, I'll try again tomorrow.

Glad to see I'm not the only one that struggled then. That makes me feel a little better  hopefully the images will attach this time 

[Nitrofreak]

2 hours ago, HistoryNerd27 said:

Glad to see I'm not the only one that struggled then. That makes me feel a little better  hopefully the images will attach this time 

Very nice !!!!!