Stumped in VA

[MassYak85]

So I'm down in Virginia Beach for the Summer and have been out fishing 5 or 6 times now. The places I have been are really neat bodies of water but my success on them has been very limited. I've been fishing Smith, Prince, and Western Branch and so far only have four bass and a catfish to show for my efforts. Needless to say I think I need a few pointers on fishing this area during the summer. I'm fishing out of my kayak and I feel I may not be fishing deep enough. I've seen some bass shallow and there are more trees down than I could ever dream of casting to but I don't seem to be having much luck around the obvious visible cover. I don't have a fish finder so finding deep structure will be a challenge but if dragging a jig the old fashioned way to locate stuff is what I should be doing then I don't mind. I don't need any specifics on spots but where have you guys been catching them this time of year? The first drop, second drop, points, channel swings? I can use my phone on the water with the Navionics app to give myself a fair idea of what I should be looking for but I need to do something other than what I have been, I'm just not sure what. Any advice is much appreciated. 

[Brayberry]

I was just out at Cahoon today.  Fish lately have been off points for me, typically 10 - 15 feet deep.  Any bait, dropoff, bushes, humps, etc make it even better.  I do well with Carolina Rigs, Jigs, and Cranks.  Also in the morning I'll target laydowns and weeds with topwater.  

 

In Western Branch and Prince, you can usually find some bass around the aerators.  Also look over the Navonics app and when you see a hump or drop off, fish it.  

[Dieselguy416]

Well don't feel bad I have a fish finder and haven't had much luck at all the places you listed I'm also fishing from a kayak. 

[Brayberry]

Another good nuggest of info: In the lakes with aerators, they are all located on the main channel that runs down the lake so if you fish it or follow them you can follow the channel without a fish finder

[MassYak85]

31 minutes ago, Brayberry said:

Another good nuggest of info: In the lakes with aerators, they are all located on the main channel that runs down the lake so if you fish it or follow them you can follow the channel without a fish finder

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind when I go to Western Branch next. 

 

I fished Smith again today for 5 hours with only a dink on a squarebill to show for it. I tried to fish the main points with cranks, C-rig, flukes, lizards, paddle tails and didn't get a sniff other than that one fish. Am I wasting my time there or am I still missing something? 

[Brayberry]

Smith is a weird lake, I don't remember the exact numbers but the average lake depth is 4-6 feet, and the deepest spot is like 10 foot.  It's a mudhole after it rains a lot.  I've never done well there, but there's some big ones there.  I stick to Suffolk

[MassYak85]

2 minutes ago, Brayberry said:

Smith is a weird lake, I don't remember the exact numbers but the average lake depth is 4-6 feet, and the deepest spot is like 10 foot.  It's a mudhole after it rains a lot.  I've never done well there, but there's some big ones there.  I stick to Suffolk

It's been a mudhole every time I've been haha, never seen more than 6 inches of visibility. I've looked at tournament results for smith and you're right they seem to pull some nice one when the bite is on. I'll probably focus my efforts on the suffolk lakes for planned trips but they're a little far if I want to just go on a whim in the afternoon. Weestern Branch seems really nice but I was only there for like an hour before getting chased off by a storm on Saturday. 

[Brayberry]

Western Branch is clear.  The offshore bite is better then the shoreline.  Stick to points, aerators, and deeper shorelines and you'll do ok

[sc1978]

check out TKAA.org tons of kayak-fishing info down tidewater area