Burke Lake (Fairfax)

[VolFan]

My wife and I fish the Potty out of a canoe. You just have to stay closer to where you lauch.  The bays fish the same whether you're in a canoe or a bass boat.

[bigbasskiller]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Much appreciated!  I have a small 14 foot jon boat with a trolling motor.  So far tried Burke and the Occoquan Res.  Last couple weeks went out 4 times with no luck.  My buddy caught one good sized walley, wacky rigged.  On the Occoquan, we were getting some strikes but the fish were not taking it hard, just playing with it.  I'll try Burke again and continue to work those points and try to find some brush. 

[A.Do?]

My wife and I fish the Potty out of a canoe. You just have to stay closer to where you lauch. The bays fish the same whether you're in a canoe or a bass boat.

Agreed! there are a few bays you can launch out of and just straight out stay in and still catch a lot of decent fish.

[Bigs]

don't let anyone tell you that you need a fancy boat to catch quality fish on the river. Don't limit yourself to small bodies of water just cuz you have a smaller boat. There are a few guys that cash checks in those potomac tourneys out of jon boats. The last few times I went out it was real calm out there with no chop or waves at all. Boat traffic and wind play a part

[steveb1]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Much appreciated! I have a small 14 foot jon boat with a trolling motor. So far tried Burke and the Occoquan Res. Last couple weeks went out 4 times with no luck. My buddy caught one good sized walley, wacky rigged. On the Occoquan, we were getting some strikes but the fish were not taking it hard, just playing with it. I'll try Burke again and continue to work those points and try to find some brush.

You could launch out of Pohick Bay State Park without any trouble on a quiet day. Pohick Bay is very shallow and the waves don't get that big. Launch, turn left follow the shore and head for the pads. There is a feeder stream that you can follow way back into the pads. Be prepared to land a monster Snakehead.

[DieselvRR]

Thinkin about tryin Burke tomorrow morning...will let you know how it goes.

[DieselvRR]

Went from 7pm-9pm today and not even a bite....

[Jake...]

^lol

[skinyea]

been fishing burke lake for over 20 yrs.   I alays have better and bigger fishing from 12 midnite to about 6 am.    

[Bigbarge50]

Went out Friday from about 530pm to 1030 pm and was also skunked. I went from end to end and worked the edges, which seems like a mistake.

Must admit only been there twice before and am totally new to NOVA fishing. Was a NY-er my whole life and fished Florida too, so looking forward to learning the Bass of NOVA. Burke has the most split opinion of any lake I have ever seen.... though it certainly looks like prime territory. I am going to hit it up again this week, though will try the early AM this time around.

Any pointers on where these underwater brush piles are would be nice. I tried some deeper spots with a Carolina rigged sluggo with no luck, but to be frank it was an aggressive rattle and I did not really pound it.

Glad I found this forum, will report later with the next trip and looking forward to any pointers.

[Bigbarge50]

Just an update.....

Went out Thursday and was on the water by about 430am or so.  Not much luck hitting the shallows with topwater.  Later on in the morning had some luck, two largemouth, a walleye, and a catfish.  All on cranks. 

No real luck finding these underwater brush piles, worked off points and where there was some deeper water near some shallow flats.  Also worked the d**n area topwater wise early.  I think I need electronics to really take advantage. 

Think will move over to the potomac or sounds like people are going to huntsman.... will look into that too.  Will still keep hitting Burke too, just seems everyone is catching a lot more a lot quicker elsewhere.

[fishguts]

I used to live in NoVa and fished Burke frequently, especially in the summer. My best action came at first light by throwing small topwaters along the edges of the willow grass, especially if there was deep water nearby. I think everyone throws the same topwaters--Pop Rs, Spooks, etc-- and the bass are clued in on those bigger baits. My best bait was a Tiny torpedo that i worked slowly. I also did well on unweighted T-rigged finesse worms dropped into the open pockets of the willow grass. Green pumpkin or black.

We caught some on 7-inch T-rigged Culprit worms fished down ledges and points later in the morning.

[Bigbarge50]

good stuff, did you use electronics on burke normally or you just new where a lot of the underwater structure was?  I am going to go either there or huntsman after the rains pass here .... probably Thursday.  I was also fishing a tiny torpedo up until early light.... then I got one to the side of the boat before I lost him on a medium sized jitterbug.  Did not see a lot of higher underwater grasses, but there was a weird swirl of algae on the lake by the dam early.   

Anyone got some boat launch info on Huntsman?  checked a lot of the older threads, and parking sound sketchy and everyone seems to be casting from shore. I would like to launch my boat on huntsman.... 11 ft inflatable seamax.... I am the guy in that red boat on Burke if anyone has been there lately. 

As for burke, I was really surprised to catch the cat fish that day just because I was not trying to land one. I caught it on a lipless crank..... never woulda thought that would be what a cat would go for. 

[Bigbarge50]

Hit Burke last night from about 830pm to about 2 am. The sole positive was I did locate a bunch of brush and timber off a point with my carolina rigged sluggo.

The bad.....

1)- Boat value had an issue, so got on the water an hour later than I wanted.

2)- No caught fish. Got three within 10 feet of the boat, one looking like a nice fish. I also had one throw my jitterbug about a yard when it missed.

3)- I have not had a backlash seriously in 2 years. Last night I had like 4 huge ones, all in the dark of the night. Throw in I had one pole keep fouling for some unknown reason and I was down to three for the night.

4)- The bushpiles produced nada......

5)- I did catch something..... I sunken beer can from the 70's.  I took a pitcure of it to post on here for a laugh.... but my batteries died as soon as I took the pic.  Just one of those nights. 

So all in all it was a bad trip. Just one on those times you really try to squeeze in some fishing and it backfires. Then you try to make some positive so bad you stay out till 2am when you have work at 8 the next day......

Last week Lebron had "the decision"..... Today I am going for "the redemption" .... going straight from work with the seamax to Pohick Park and going for some of these lilly pads I heard about.....

Anyone on Burke lately too?

[Rocky1965]

I was at Burke Lake last night from 2am till 5 LOL I didnt catch anything I did get a bite or two... LOL sorry to hear your trip was so rough

[lollerskated]

Went out this morning to Burke Lake for about an hour and caught my very first LMB (ever).

[DieselvRR]

congrats

[AnglerNFuego]

Way to go! 

[Rocky1965]

Nice!

[lollerskated]

Thanks guys. I also went out to Lake Royal today and snagged something, but unfortunately it broke my line.

[Bigbarge50]

Did an overnight at Burke Monday into Tuesday morning.  Was out there a long time, the weather was so much nicer not being 95..... heck just before sun up was actually a little cool. 

Nothing worth reporting really..... lost what felt like a good one and caught a small bass and a small walleye. 

The most notable thing was the water was like a bath.  Still seemingly way too warm.....

[Rocky1965]

I hit Burke lake this morning and around 8:15 i caught my 1st bass on my trusty topwater then 15min later i caught another!

[Rocky1965]

here is the 2nd one i caught...