Spotsylvania County

[keeganzpapa]

I received a canoe with electric motor for Christmas and recently moved to Spotsylvania County, Virginia from out of state. Having recently retired I want to get back to fishing, which seems to be not only my favorite and only sport but also my wife's way of getting me out from under her feet for a couple hours. I live close to Ni River Reservoir, Hunting Run Reservoir, and Motts Run Reservoir.  I took the maiden voyage down Hunting Run Reservoir Sunday and it is a highly beautiful reservoir within 15 minutes from my home. Is anyone willing to help an old guy out and give up a hot spot or two, and maybe a couple techniques?  I just heard about the wacky worm rig and plan to use it, and found out that trolling with the electric motor produced nothing but a good sunburn.  Ni River Reservoir is 5 minutes from my home but I have read that it's "No Fish Ni" reputation turns a lot of fishermen away, I don't mean to steal your thunder, just want a little help to get started.  Thanks for taking time out of your day to respond.

[Choporoz]

You should get some good advice on Hunting Run.  There's a few members on here that know it much better than I.   I haven't been there this year, but was down there a dozen times the last couple years.  I like the lake, but the bigguns elude me.  Never caught anything over 3 there.  Plenty of days of 20+ one-pounders, though.  Finesse-y plastics - either drop shotted or weightless will produce little bass all day most days.  Those a little more respectable, I found cranking steeper drop-offs....and by chasing baitfish boils. 

Good luck. Good reservoir....I need to get back down there one of these days

[keeganzpapa]

Thanks for your reply. I feel moving into this area was a stroke of luck for close-by beautiful lakes and reservoirs that restrict the speedboats and jet skis. Both our children live close by with their families. I will certainly attempt your suggestions. It is exciting to find areas where the speed boats and jet skis are not permitted, and are just a few minutes from home, they just swamp a jon boat or canoe with their wakes and have no respect for fishermen that just want to get out and enjoy the peace and tranquility even if we catch nothing. This is my first experience with that. Hats off to Virginia for restricting some areas for us.

[quanjig]

Hopefully Wayne will see this and chime in! The couple neck down areas headed down to the dam and the couple little feeder areas have done well for me in the past. I can remember where the standing timber was before they brought the water levels up to full pool but am not sure how well I could describe them to you! Sorry! They should have a map at the launch that might give you an idea about areas to try. Ask about the old ponds that were flooded in the process of building the reservoir! It is an amazing fishery but has gone thru some changes in its short life. I wish they had shad as forage there but as of now it's just bluegill, crappie and other sunfishes. Jigs and bigger worms do well on the down lake points. 

[keeganzpapa]

Thanks. I will check on the map next time I check in for sure, and I think I found the standing timber showing on google earth's most recent (1994) satellite image, before it reached its high water mark, but gone now, according to what I observed Sunday. My main interest is bass but there are supposed to be some nice crappie as well. Can't wait to get out again. Thanks.

[quanjig]

Some good crappie and some nice size pickerel too!

[Wayne P.]

I did the contour map of Hunting Run. It is Navionics Sonar Charts and is available with the Navionics Mobile App for IOS and Android devices. It is also available with the Sonar Charts map layer for Navionics Hotmaps Platinum East region and Navionics + map cards. The current map has been updated from the printed copy at the check-in shed.

It is very easy to catch lots of bass in the summer, just concentrate on the outside edges of the submerged vegetation in the 10'-12' depth range. My best day number-wise is 184 bass. Best five bass day is about 31#

There are two standing trees and the rest of the "standing timber" is just the small bush-like trees that grew up when the water was about 15' lower than it is now.

Lots of brush/log piles around the lake and several "fish attractors" that are too deep for a summer pattern.

This is part of the map from the mobile app:

This is one of the brush piles:

This is one of several "fish attractors" and this is the shallowest one I have found.

 

 

This is one of the brush piles before the lake got to the current level:

[keeganzpapa]

Is WOW!! a proper and sufficient response? Thank You very much! I could spend the day, (and probably will) looking at all your pictures, graphs, and contour maps. How does one thank someone for that? You have certainly been very kind, In fact everyone who replied has been very helpful. I took a couple pics with my cell phone so I can refer to them when I am out on the water. When I was a kid in school I had to memorize a poem about the village smithy with arms like iron bands from hammering hot iron under the spreading chestnut tree. I can't imaging catching 184 bass in one day, or in my case so far, one lifetime, your arms must have been very tired. Thanks again.

[quanjig]

That first pic of the contour map, I know where that is for sure!! That spot in particular on the second day Hunting run was open. A buddy of mine and I had at least a dozen fish over 4lbs from there and with each fish hooked up, at least half a dozen others as big or bigger would follow the fish to the boat!! Truly one of THE most amazing days I've ever had fishing!!  That day the water was crystal clear and probably close to 20 foot lower than it sits today!

[keeganzpapa]

Sorry, but I am not used to this kind of thing. Where I come from in Ohio if you tell one person you caught a perch off a rock at  Lake Erie and went there the next day you couldn't find a place to park from all the people that told somebody who told somebody else where your "spot" is. Or if you caught a Walleye at Pymatuning Lake in the morning and told anybody, there would be 100 boats that night in your "spot", or if you caught a salmon in the Grand River and mentioned it at the bait shop, there would be shoulder to shoulder fishermen lined up and down both banks of the river for a week on your "spot". So you NEVER told anyone or helped anyone but family. You guys don;t know me from Adam, but you have helped me like this. It's hard to understand your good sportsmanship but it is truly appreciated. 

[Wayne P.]

This is the only "standing timber":

Another one of the brush piles, there are several dozen around the lake:

 

[keeganzpapa]

I have a Garmin Etrex20 GPS which I brought out in case I needed it back in the bays to not get lost or turned around, thinking the area was larger than it is.  I also would like to use it to mark structures since I don't have any equipment yet to find fish or see the bottom. Is there a website, or map that gives their GPS coordinates?  

[Wayne P.]

3 hours ago, keeganzpapa said:

I have a Garmin Etrex20 GPS which I brought out in case I needed it back in the bays to not get lost or turned around, thinking the area was larger than it is.  I also would like to use it to mark structures since I don't have any equipment yet to find fish or see the bottom. Is there a website, or map that gives their GPS coordinates?  

No, just in my files.

The Mobile App has some Community Edits as shown in the map picture above but no brush piles are indicated.

[keeganzpapa]

Ok, thanks. Those are some awesome shots. It really shows the importance of fishing around structures.

 

[keeganzpapa]

Those pics are pretty awesome;  Would you mind saying what kind of locator, or depth finder that is? It shows the structure like a camera would and the fish around it show very clear. Looks like it would be quite expensive.  The cheaper ones I have seen show bars and graphs, and I have read where a lot of frustrated fishermen are having trouble deciphering what they're seeing on their screens.  Being on a limited income being retired, opinions count when you're buying "toys for papa", or do you recommend a lower cost finder that would give similar information that's understandable?

[Wayne P.]

You can get that technology for under $500.

I have four Humminbird Side Imaging units.

Two 1198c SI Combos

One ONIX 10 NT SI

One Helix 12 CHIRP SI

The first screen shot was from the ONIX and the other two are from a 1198.

The ones that are frustrated do not put learning how to use them ahead of fishing. To be successful you learn how to use them first and then apply it to fishing. There are lots of videos on line that show how to interpret the images and operate the units. You just have to make the effort to do the learning process.

I have been retired since 2005.

Garmin, Lowrance, and Raymarine have units that do the side looking imaging also, they copied Humminbird which had it on the market in 2004.

 

This is at Hunting Run which shows the main creek channel and vehicle tracks made during lake construction. The image was from my first Humminbird Side Imaging unit that I sold earlier this year--798ci SI Combo.

[Wayne P.]

On ‎5‎/‎31‎/‎2016 at 0:26 PM, quanjig said:

Hopefully Wayne will see this and chime in! The couple neck down areas headed down to the dam and the couple little feeder areas have done well for me in the past. I can remember where the standing timber was before they brought the water levels up to full pool but am not sure how well I could describe them to you! Sorry! They should have a map at the launch that might give you an idea about areas to try. Ask about the old ponds that were flooded in the process of building the reservoir! It is an amazing fishery but has gone thru some changes in its short life. I wish they had shad as forage there but as of now it's just bluegill, crappie and other sunfishes. Jigs and bigger worms do well on the down lake points. 

There are shad in the lake and they have changed the bass behavior since introduced.

[keeganzpapa]

That's awesome, I did not realize you could get pictures like that. Last time I saw pictures like that you heard in the background....."that's one small step for man....................

[quanjig]

5 hours ago, Wayne P. said:

There are shad in the lake and they have changed the bass behavior since introduced.

Really??!! Hmmmmmm...... I might have to make another visit! Quick question for you Wayne, since you have been fishing there from the get go. Are you finding the fish to follow the bait and suspend? Are you able to successfully target those suspended fish in the summer?? 

[Wayne P.]

1 hour ago, quanjig said:

Really??!! Hmmmmmm...... I might have to make another visit! Quick question for you Wayne, since you have been fishing there from the get go. Are you finding the fish to follow the bait and suspend? Are you able to successfully target those suspended fish in the summer?? 

That is what they do now because of the shad. 

The only way I have been able to catch those is with an Alabama Rig or on the surface when the bass are chasing the shad.

 

 

[keeganzpapa]

Wayne P. ......What is the deepest part of Hunting Run? I assume it is around the dam.  I thought I read around 60 feet.

[Wayne P.]

About 67'. Look at the Web App map and change the Safety Depth to 60' and all deeper than that will be white.

I was catching them in the 15'-20' range Thursday on the brush piles and beaver huts.

This is one of them and the brush pile is shown on the left side of the 360 view. Several that size with a total of 46 bass.

 

 

 

[keeganzpapa]

 That's a very nice bass. I will be happy to catch just one like that this year. I have had to take another break due to health reasons but I certainly hope to be out again soon. Having no location or depth equipment I still feel much better equipped and positive after talking to you guys, and will certainly get the map from the check-in.

[Wayne P.]

You cannot get the map at the check-in unless they made copies of the one I gave them.  I have not seen any copies and they did not tell me they had copies. You can look at it if you ask. I printed the map and had it laminated to give to them and it was a few years ago. The current map has several corrections done from that one. Just did an update for one area a couple of weeks ago.

It is a digital map via Navionics map software.

[keeganzpapa]

ok Thanks