advice on Briery Creek in VA

[cnkale80]

I've never fished Briery Creek even though I live less than an hour away and when the water temp gets to 50+ deg, I wanna give it a shot.  a buddy of mine said fishing is great but gotta be careful of the trees.  ive got a 16' aluminum boat with 70hp so obviously I'll have to use my trolling motor due to hp restriction.  are there any areas in particular I should avoid?  its frustrating because, being spring, the best fishing is going to be in those tight areas.  anyway, just reaching out.  thanks folks.

[CVAkayakfishing]

I fish there plenty but from a kayak so if I run up on a stump it's not a huge deal. Your biggest problem will obviously be your trolling motor catching a stump. Depending on the recent weather you can usually see 2-3 feet in the water there so you'll see most stumps before they get you. Most of the stumps and brush stick out of the water so you'll know they're there and they tend to congregate. Plenty of people fish out of there in aluminum in fiberglass boats so I'd just say to take it slow and you should be perfectly fine.

[cnkale80]

thanks, appreciate it...

[Johnbt]

Go slow, take a spare prop, and maybe an old shovel handle so you don't tear up your paddle pushing on stumps. Have fun, and then try Sandy River reservoir if you haven't.

[Choporoz]

Pick a calm day for your first trip.

  I drive up and down 15 a few times a year, and I have stopped just to admire Briery.  Last fall, I had my kayak and 4 or 5 hours of slop in my schedule, so I dropped the Hobie in, despite a bit of chop.  In my mind, all those visible stumps were in 3 foot of water.  Not even close.  There are 'stumps' just below the surface even in 36 FOW.  I managed to cross the lake to try to get out of the wind, but it was scary.  After about 90 minutes,  the chop turned to full blown white caps and coming back was pretty terrifying.  I tried to retrace my path with GPS on my Garmin, but it wasn't much help.  I can handle rough water .... and I can handle obstacles ... but together,  they put my mind in a bad place.  Only other time I recall feeling like that was when I hit a confluence of two currents, with heavy crosswind and rocks.  

   I look forward to getting back, but it will a day when I can see the trees and navigate safely around them.

[cnkale80]

On 2/27/2023 at 12:11 PM, Choporoz said:

Pick a calm day for your first trip.

  I drive up and down 15 a few times a year, and I have stopped just to admire Briery.  Last fall, I had my kayak and 4 or 5 hours of slop in my schedule, so I dropped the Hobie in, despite a bit of chop.  In my mind, all those visible stumps were in 3 foot of water.  Not even close.  There are 'stumps' just below the surface even in 36 FOW.  I managed to cross the lake to try to get out of the wind, but it was scary.  After about 90 minutes,  the chop turned to full blown white caps and coming back was pretty terrifying.  I tried to retrace my path with GPS on my Garmin, but it wasn't much help.  I can handle rough water .... and I can handle obstacles ... but together,  they put my mind in a bad place.  Only other time I recall feeling like that was when I hit a confluence of two currents, with heavy crosswind and rocks.  

   I look forward to getting back, but it will a day when I can see the trees and navigate safely around them.

 

gotcha, good to know.  thanks for sharing man.

On 2/27/2023 at 8:14 AM, Johnbt said:

Go slow, take a spare prop, and maybe an old shovel handle so you don't tear up your paddle pushing on stumps. Have fun, and then try Sandy River reservoir if you haven't.

 

haha.  maybe ill use my boat in sandy and my canoe in briery.  I put on a new hawsing troll motor so id hate to damage or snag it.  thanks for the heads up.

[cnkale80]

took a ride up to briery earlier today to check the ramp out (701 landing) and I must say, ill probably take my canoe first before my boat.  lot of trees sticking up.  quite a few guys fishing though.  thats a good sign.

[VTFan]

I know I'm late on this but I have to say, Briery scares me.  I've been hung up on those underwater stumps too many times and several times I didn't think I was going to get off. I fish from a 16 ft flat bottom boat and it doesn't slide off stumps.  For peace of mind I'd rather fish Sandy.  JMHO.  Tight lines everyone!!!

 

[flyfisher]

It isn't bad at all really and for every one stump you see above the water there are probably 50 below.  There is a reason there is a HP restriction and its for boater safety.  With a trolling motor you will be fine if you are observant while moving spot to spot.