Briery Creek Lake...

[Wayne P.]

No coves were involved in my catch yesterday. At no point was I fishing anywere within 100 yards of shore. I don't fish the shorelines unless it is prespawn and spawn. I caught all but four of the fish on a weedless wacky rigged Zoom Trick or Finesse worm. Two came on a Super Fluke with a weighted swimbait hook and the other two were on a Chatterbait. The cove you mention where I marked is not referring to the shore, its the creek channel just offshore in that area.

I don't use topwater lures early when the air temp is very much lower than the water temp.  edited: this time of year when the air temp is within 10 degrees of freezing.

[osbornj2]

I appreciate your advice!  We'll have to re-think our strategy now!  :-/

I am curious, though, about one other thing that you mentioned earlier.  You indicated that you were fishing a Fluke, and that "when it hit the bottom", a 7-lb'er picked it up!  To clarify, then - do you put them on a weighted hook, and then let them sink to the bottom and fish them essentially like a T-rig worm?  

Maybe I have always completely missed the mark, because I have always used Flukes like a jerkbait, letting it glide down a few feet, then jerking it back and letting it dart around like a wounded baitfish.  It has never really occured to me to fish it like I just described, but I can definitely see how that might be a huge benefit!

And the same with the wacky-rigged trick worms?  Do you let them sink all the way to the bottom as well, and then fish them slowly? If they're wacky-rigged, how do you keep from getting hung up alot?

I hate to sound so "elementary", but these are burning questions!!  Thanks again !  

[Wayne P.]

Good questions, yes I let both sink to the bottom when the fish are on or close to the bottom. With the Super Fluke and weighted hook, I am using it in about 15' depths and working it through the timber laying on the bottom. I use the wacky rigged woms in the same areas. If you will notice my presentation description I use the term "weedless wacky" and if you are not familiar with how I rig it, send me an e-mail to purdum43@aol.com and I'll forward instructions.

For your presentation of a Fluke or wacky rig, I prefer to use a suspending hard jerkbait.

Another note, I haven't gotten my last three fishing reports posted on the other site since some parts of the site are experiencing some problems.

[osbornj2]

Wayne - you are, totally, "'da man" !   8-)

This is really super that you're so willing to help a young whippersnapper out!  Too bad you won't be on the boat with us tomorrow, coaching us!!  ;D

Check your inbox...I'm sending an email now!

[Wayne P.]

INCOMING-----

[IMPY03]

If it wasnt for Wayne I dont think I would have boated as many fish as I did this year, he knows his stuff!

I think I need to start fishing along the creek channels, I've still been fishing mid lake around the banks and weed cover and havent been catching much of anything. Hopefully by the time I head out again the bass will be chasing shad. Will the upper end of the lake and coves be the place the bass will be pressuring the bait fish to?

osbornj2- I'm anxious to get your report tomorrow because I may be heading up Friday or Saturday.

[Wayne P.]

IMPY03, my guess is after the water temp stabilizes some that schooling will be going on all over the lake. I went to several areas of the lake North and South of the ramp looking for concentrations of bass and shad, but didn't find any. The last 3/4 to 1/2 mile of the South end is where I found the fish.

[par4fishin]

Hey I have been reading all of yalls post for the last couple of weeks. I'm new to this here website and I'm liking what I'm have been reading.  I went up to Briery Creek here last month. Buddys of mine told me about it and I have been reading about it. Once I got up there i seen what everyone was talking about. TREES!!! I put in at the dam and trolled along the shore and to cove across from the ramp. I got alittle neverous about all the trees and decide to go up to Sandy River. What I'm tring to get at is can anyone help me out getting around Briery without missing up my boat, and where are good places to fish. I'm thinking about making a return trip up there soon and if not next spring.

OH yea if you know anyone that is looking for a boat I have one for sale. Its a 1968 Lonstat jon boat with a 3hp motor and a trolling motor.

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

8-)

[Wayne P.]

allst8rnnr, don't be afraid of navigating Briery Creek. Bumping into the submerged stumps won't damage your boat at trolling motor speeds. Getting hung up on top of one is a challenge sometimes though. What I do is when I feel the boat hitting one, I keep up my monentum and I usually just slide over it. Shifting your weight to opposite the hang up helps too. I run my jon boat with a 9.9 outboard on plane just about everywhere on the lake that I choose to fish but take it slow to a fast idle in some areas. I hang up on stumps on purpose lots of times to hold the boat in position while fishing so I don't have to keep using the trolling motor especially when its windy. I have been fishing there since it opened in Jan 1989 so I know it quite well. The next time you go, use the Rt. 701 (mid lake) ramp as some the best catching areas are within sight of the ramp.

[Dan:]

Wayne, I don't know if I ever plan on fishing this lake but I am truly impressed by your willingness to help other members, you are a helluva guy

[par4fishin]

Thanks Wayne.  The reason why I'm so worried about the trees is because I just got the boat here couple months ago. Where is the 701 boat ramp at. I done that whole mapquest thing but it got me confused on getting there, so that is why I just went to the dam.  Are there less trees up on that end of the lake or are they just easier to see?

[IMPY03]

When you get on route 15 you need to keep strraight past the road that leads to the ramp near the dam and look for 701 on the right(I'm guessing you are coming from north VA) and once your on that road just follow it to the end and you will see the parking lot and ramp.

As for trees...its about the same but I find it a little easier to find navigational paths to the upper end of the lake and other areas.

[Wayne P.]

Rt. 701 is about 3 miles South of the entrance to the dam area. There is a brown Game Commission sign just before the turn off on Rt. 15. It is a right turn heading South from Farmville. Just follow the road to the end and when you hear a splash, you are there. LOL. The number of trees is not much difference but there are open shallower areas without any trees. There are some boat lanes thru the trees that are not obvious unless you are familiar with the lake. When you were there a month ago, the water level was such that normally submerged broken off trees were visible. When the level gets back to normal like in the Spring, those short stumps you saw will be just under the surface. Now is a good time to get familiar with the mid lake and upper end areas so you will know what is hidden later. There are some broken off trees right at the surface now but are around some that are visible so it helps.

[Wayne P.]

Check this VDGIF site for lake info including a map.  http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/waterbodies/display.asp?id=21&section=maps

[Wayne P.]

This is what the upper end looks like when the water level is about 1' lower than it is now.

[Wayne P.]

This is what the lake looks like as you look across the lake from the 701 ramp at normal water levels.  The first few years after the lake was opened to fishing, the 701 ramp was not there and you couldn't see across the lake because of the thick timber and bushes.

[IMPY03]

I've noticed that when I head up towards the upper end of the lake that once I get so far up there really isnt any open paths to navigate through, do you just stay straight and try to go up the middle of the lake to avoid most of the submerged trees or is there another way?

I haven't been all the way to the end yet because I was a little worried (afraid of the unkown I guess you could say).

It looks as if that is where most of the boat traffic is, toward the upper end.

[Wayne P.]

IMPY03, I usually get on plane just out from the boat dock and stay on plane until I get near the large shallow clearing at the upper end where Briery Creek and Little Briery Creek enter the lake. Of course I know where the creek channel is amongst the trees and which stumps lean in towards the channel middle.  The creek channel is about in the center of the lake in the middle of the trees. It makes a few turns in some places though. It takes a few times going slow using a sonar to find the path or you can watch someone blasting thru like I do and get an idea if you are in the area. Ocassionally someone will put some barely visible markers on trees that are close but they don't last long.

[IMPY03]

Thanks wayne!

I'm still a little uneasy of running my outboard after i get so far from the ramp but I'm going to try it and just idle around for a bit until I get to where I want to fish hopefully I wont get stuck on a tree on fall out of the boat! lol I'll be sure to wear my life jacket.

[par4fishin]

thanks guy for the help. next time i get a chance to get up there i will surely remember what yall said. one other question i have that i read was yall was using wacky rigs. to you was a wacky rig with a weight or do you go weightless? also what is the prefered color to use up there?

[IMPY03]

I use weightless and weighted wacky rigs, to me it just depends on the depth I'm fishing. If I'm in 0-8 ft of water I use weightless but if its deeper I usually tie on a very small split shot weight.

As for color I've had luck on lots of different ones but my most productive ones are watermelon seed and pumpkin seed. Junebug and black/silver are also good colors to try.

[Wayne P.]

I know from over 19 years fishing there using dozens of worm colors including several colors on a particular day that it makes no difference to the fish. Just use whatever color you like and it will work. I prefer to insert a nail into the worm head if weight is needed.

[osbornj2]

Well...I promised a report, so here it is....Windy!

I think that they just opened a wind-creation factory at the end of the lake, and that they were running all 3 shifts on Thursday!  I'm not talking about periods of calm, punctuated by occasional gusts.  No sir!  I'm talkin' about an all-day steady thumping of wind!

Sounds like a good spinnerbait day, huh?  NOPE!  Not happening!  Although, we did manage to catch a few pickeral on spinnerbaits.  However, between the two of us (and we're real pro's, now, mind you!!), I think that we boated a grand total of about 4 bass, the largest about 1.5 lbs!

Sorry, Wayne, that I didn't really have the opportunity to gear-up before we went on the trip, as I would really have loved to throw the wacky rig.  I printed off all your notes and pictures so that I can head out to Sportsman's Warehouse to get me some mosquito hooks!

But, we threw EVERYTHING else that we had, and all to no avail. :-[ There were NO baitfish schooling yet, and the surface temp was right around 60 all day (we were fishing the upper end the whole time).  In fact, we never even really found any concentrations of fish on the electronics.  Maybe it just needs to cool down a little bit more before they start moving into the coves?  Your thoughts, Wayne?

[Wayne P.]

Well, you doomed your trip by not being prepared with the wacky rig, ;D

The fall transition has the whole food chain messed up, it will get better after all that settles down. The wind will speed up the process some.

As far a the shad migrating into the coves, I have never seen that type of behavior at Briery Creek based on time of year. The only times I have seen it is prespawn when there was a heavy warm rain that raised the water temp up significantly or during the warm months when there is a heavy cool rain that cools the water down significantly. I don't think the lake is large enough for that like it happens on large bodies of water.