Northern Richmond bank/wading spots?

[fishwizzard]

Hi,

 

I am heading down to Glenn Allan VA this weekend for a family thing and want to take my teenaged bass-obsessed nephew fishing on Saturday but cannot find anywhere to take him. All the spots he goes to are subdivision ponds that are clearly posted and from the hour I spent reading the Hernco County Parks website, none of the country’s ponds have reasonable bass populations.  

 

Can anyone recommend a spot within like an hour of Glenn Allan?  We have gone to Pocahontas State Park before but the bank access there isnt great either. I would love to take him wading in the James but I am having a hard time finding info on wading spots closer to the city.  

 

Any info would be amazingly helpful, thanks!   

[WdyCrankbait]

I would first look at Echo Lake in Glen Allen.  Tough place to fish, limited access, but there are some healthy bass in there!  Go with Green pumpkin plastics, creature baits.  There is a layer of vegetation about 5 feet down in case you want to run some sort of crankbait.  There is a fountain in the middle and a nice wooden pier to fish off of (very low side rail).  From that pier heading away from the parking lot is shallower, and can be heavy vegetation.  I did well there one day with a whopper plopper.

 

As far as the James River, look at Pony Pasture.  Park there, and follow the trail along the side of the river going with the current down about 1/2 mile.  Hikers, mountain bikers will be on the trail, it is wide enough to drive a car down so you can't miss it.  Just walk down that thing and you will see opening on the river to wade into.  I popped a really nice smallie at the 1/2 moon beach opening.  I would recommend Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed craw, green pumpkin.  Or, go to the Wetlands on the James River.  It is about 3-4 miles down that trail mentioned above, but you can drive to that access point and then make a shorter walk.  Or, you can go to Brown's Island in the city, walk across that hanging bridge under the Manchester Bridge and fish that lake on/in the island.

 

Good luck!

Wdy

[fishwizzard]

14 minutes ago, WdyCrankbait said:

I would first look at Echo Lake in Glen Allen.  Tough place to fish, limited access, but there are some healthy bass in there!  Go with Green pumpkin plastics, creature baits.  There is a layer of vegetation about 5 feet down in case you want to run some sort of crankbait.  There is a fountain in the middle and a nice wooden pier to fish off of (very low side rail).  From that pier heading away from the parking lot is shallower, and can be heavy vegetation.  I did well there one day with a whopper plopper.

 

As far as the James River, look at Pony Pasture.  Park there, and follow the trail along the side of the river going with the current down about 1/2 mile.  Hikers, mountain bikers will be on the trail, it is wide enough to drive a car down so you can't miss it.  Just walk down that thing and you will see opening on the river to wade into.  I popped a really nice smallie at the 1/2 moon beach opening.  I would recommend Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed craw, green pumpkin.  Or, go to the Wetlands on the James River.  It is about 3-4 miles down that trail mentioned above, but you can drive to that access point and then make a shorter walk.  Or, you can go to Brown's Island in the city, walk across that hanging bridge under the Manchester Bridge and fish that lake on/in the island.

 

Good luck!

Wdy

Thanks for all that info!  Echo lake was one of the ones I read a discouraging fisheries report about, but it's pretty close to where they live.  Hopefully the storms change course and we can do some wading, Pony Pasture looks great!

[WdyCrankbait]

Echo is a great place to fish!  There are a lot of healthy bass in there!  The tough part is getting a bite without your lure getting all slimed up.

 

PM in bound.

 

Wdy

[flyfisher]

Lots of places to wade on the James but i am not sure of water levels right now.  Pony pasture is a good spot to wade but the fishing is eh...another spot to wade is the south anna on the 33 launch.  you can go a long ways up or downstream there and there are other spots as well.  Innsbrook ponds in glen allen are also ok and you may catch a couple and while they are in business complexes, nobody really bothers you if you aren't an idiot.  

[fishwizzard]

Thanks so much for the info guys! I love getting out with the kid but I am entirely too old to reasonably go trespass-fishing in subdivision ponds and I was having trouble finding decent looking public spots.

[Sam]

Let us know when you make it down this way.

[fishwizzard]

We hit up Three Lakes this afternoon and did a little fishing in the rain.  Kid did ok and got one but I was bass-less.  I generally do better in clearer water as I like to target specific bits of cover buy the kids “cast a blue/black stickbait right up at the bank” presentation worked.  It’s a pond classic and I don’t know why I dont start with it every time.  

 

The rains chased us a way before we could really pick apart either pond but there are enough interesting spots to warrant return trips. 

 

I think tomorrow we’re going to hit some office park ponds in the AM, assuming everyone gets out of bed in time.  

 

Thanks a lot everyone who sent me info, it’s really frustrating how limited public fishing access is down here, I never knew how lucky I had it at home where I have 4-5 decent spots all within a half hour drive.  

 

I am especially excited about How good some of the wading spots right around Richmond are. When I get home I’m going to try to figure out which USGS gauges I need to start following and, assuming it ever stops raining around here, run down to take him out once the water levels are a little more cooperative.