Nova Bassin' Any Good Pointers?

[m4gicm4tt]

Hello everyone,

I'm relatively new to fishing only been at it 5 or so years now. I have been monitoring these forums since many people from NoVa seem to be active posters. I just wanted to say hello and ask for any advice you may have on various fishing spots, techniques or lures for the lakes and ponds we have here.

What I already do...

I usually go to Lake Braddock (i guess its private but I have friends there and it is for residents or friends of residents) and fish the dam, casting parallel to the shore. I use spinner-baits (dark green skirt)in the evening and bounce them off rocks on the bottom later in the summer I switch to poppers and top water fun stuff. I have had great success using these methods but I would love to expand to using stick baits and things of that nature.

I have heard, and read about the bass filled waters of Lake Royal but I think I have always gone to the 'wrong' end. Maybe everyone here is not talking about the side that is muddy and shallow and near the playground? Anyway no luck near the basketball areas.

I have tried woodglen lake and just repeat my "lake braddock technique' and do ok there.

I really could use some help with lure types and locations where the bass may hangout. I don't believe I am a total noob at fishing as I have read a ton and have many a book on bass fishing. I know to look for cover and drop-off's but I lack the handed down knowledge that can only come from experience. If any wise NoVa fishermen could help me out that would be great! Also I am thinking of trying royal tomorrow on the side I have never visited if anyone wants to meet up.

By the way I have no boat so I only fish the shore.

Thanks for the advice

[vaparrothead]

Welcome; you'll find a lot of NVA fisherpersons on this site who'll probably give you more advice than I can provide but here goes. What works on one lake one day may or may not work on the same lake the next day. You need a variety of lures to try and let the fish tell you what they want. Generally speaking NVA anglers seem to do well with plastic worms (senko or sendo knockoffs from *** work very well for me). Also the time of year or day, and the weather makes a difference on the type of lure the fish will want. You have to experiment and keep good notes on what works and what doesn't. Don't be afraid to try new stuff, somebody's got to the first. There are a lot of small lakes like Royal, and Huntsman that you can and should try. You can rent boats at Burke for something different. Good luck

[A.Do?]

welcome!! When I first started up, senkos were the way to go! As soon as I figure out those lakes you mentioned, I'll let you know. till then, you're welcome to join me whenever I get out there. can't guarantee you'll catch anything but it might boost your confidence to know someone else is doing worse than you. HAHA

[SteveinVA]

I would suggest getting a second rod if you dont have one. When I added another it made it easier to switch between lures. I fish with three now and tie on what I want to use the night before. I am currently having some luck with senkos texas and wacky rigged, split tail grubs by yamamato rigged texas with a split shot about 1-2 feet up the line. I use a pull and stop for a few sec. method then a lil twitch and another pull. Where I fish there is a lot of muck on the bottom so I like a weedless setup. Anyway having so me success with jerbaits still as well, lucky craft and rapala types. Countdown by Rapala as produced well for my buddy. Well theres my 2 cent good luck

[Bigbarge50]

I totally agree with parrot....... situations and conditions change very rapidly here compared to my two previous bass fishing locations of NY and FL. You need a full bag of tricks and a healthy dose of confidence.

In my experience it seems spinner baits can be deadly one day, a non producer the next. They are great to throw day in and out, but you certainly notice the difference on certain days. Top water action on most of these lakes is also erratic...... Burke and Huntsman both lack that shallow cover (lilly pads and such) that I love to work top waters around. With that said I had caught at both with a jitterbug, buzzbait, and torpedo.

The weather also seems huge on these lakes. Pressure shifts and fronts moving through seem to have a massive effect on the bite. Others can disagree and would love to hear feedback, but it seems that might be the biggest factor in choosing a pattern to go with. Especially this year, the lack of consistent clear days seems to really make it a feast or famine on the lakes. (river is a different story)

I also totally agree with the senko idea. I have never been a tube guy, have been trying to be one desperately after talking to denny brauer at the richmond fishing expo..... and have caught nada. Throwing to the same spots a BPS watermelon candy stick bait has produced where a tube has failed. Senkos catch fish around here....period. Probably true anywhere, but here I have really had to lean on them. Slow, fast, carolina rigged, weightless, whatever.... again different techniques for different days.

The other thing I have had a ton of success here, and many others will agree with, is jigs. I NEED to have a jig tied on to one of my set ups at all times. Like the senko, if I am fishing and do not have one tied on, well then I usually am not catching fish. Swim jigs, flipping jigs, whatever.... they have caught fish for me. A rage tail trailer on there.... seems to simply do it for me. Now from shore these might not be one you turn to first, but I think it will still do well for you.

In my second year of really hitting the water hard here I must say the area is a very interesting a different place then what I am used to. The bait monkey has made my selection literally explode, because I simply feel like I need more variety to produce.

[quanjig]

All of the water in nova has the potential to humble the dogsnot out of you!! No outing is ever a failure! Keep in mind that what everyone has said about these bodies of water is true for them, but not necessarily true for you. What I mean by that is, and I hope I have not offended anyone, is don't let someone else's success or failure prevent you from trying different lures and techniques. Many times, I've stumbled on to something that will flat out catch the daylights out of them no mater what day or weather condition is present!! I would tell you guys what they are but I've got to have some secrets!! Bottom line is go out, wet a line, have fun, create some magic and keep on gaining valuable time on the water! NOVA is an awsome place to fish, many options, many species. It's all fun!!

[m4gicm4tt]

I totally agree with parrot....... situations and conditions change very rapidly here compared to my two previous bass fishing locations of NY and FL. You need a full bag of tricks and a healthy dose of confidence.

.....

Wow thanks for the great info everyone. I have some senkos and will definitely start trying them out. Are there any great places where these may be more effective then others? What I mean is what type of cover or bass locations (weeds, points, rocks, pier) will benefit from the senkos. Are their any colors that work well in the stained to muddy water here? I use mostly dark colors.

I can't wait to get out and try some senkos I already have some and some jerk baits so I will try those out tonight.

Right now I mentioned I mainly stick to the dams as I don't see much lily pads or underwater grass or logs. Any great shore places on Mercer, Burke, or Royal I should be checking out?

I would love to put together a regional guide to the fishing around NoVa. You guys have great tips and I'm sure BassResource could sticky a NoVa fishing guide if we had enough interest.

[TheLastRodBender]

I fish lake royal ALL the time. I dont know when the last time you were out there was but they've really started moving up and getting fat. I've attached a few pics of bass caught from the bank at Royal.

That being said, this area is VERY finicky when it comes to bass fishing. Like another guy said before, i've got some secrets that flat out catch fish, but even those aren't 100%. Around here you have to simply get out and fish. I've done HOURS upon HOURS of research and none of it has held an ounce of water.

I used to live on lake braddock... there are a few decent fish in there, generally on the shoreline across from the boats.

Burke lake is not a go - to for me, i just dont have much luck there.

Huntsman, i will stop by there on my way home from work if i've got an extra hour or so to kill, but not really a lake i like to frequent. Saw quite a few dead shad so far this spring and havent had much luck there either.

As far as your senko's go. There's no WRONG cover to fish them. I've pulled bass out of grass, trees, docks, rocks, ANYWHERE, those things work. Color wise, i usually go dark no matter what, but in muddy water, the darker the better. My fav muddy water bait is a Junebug colored stick bait, but any dark brown/black/blue/purple color will produce strikes.

[m4gicm4tt]

I fish lake royal ALL the time. I dont know when the last time you were out there was but they've really started moving up and getting fat. I've attached a few pics of bass caught from the bank at Royal.

That being said, this area is VERY finicky when it comes to bass fishing. Like another guy said before, i've got some secrets that flat out catch fish, but even those aren't 100%. Around here you have to simply get out and fish. I've done HOURS upon HOURS of research and none of it has held an ounce of water.

I used to live on lake braddock... there are a few decent fish in there, generally on the shoreline across from the boats.

Burke lake is not a go - to for me, i just dont have much luck there.

Huntsman, i will stop by there on my way home from work if i've got an extra hour or so to kill, but not really a lake i like to frequent. Saw quite a few dead shad so far this spring and havent had much luck there either.

As far as your senko's go. There's no WRONG cover to fish them. I've pulled bass out of grass, trees, docks, rocks, ANYWHERE, those things work. Color wise, i usually go dark no matter what, but in muddy water, the darker the better. My fav muddy water bait is a Junebug colored stick bait, but any dark brown/black/blue/purple color will produce strikes.

Thanks a lot I decided to move away from the dam rocks and started walking along to find some lillypads and sticks in the water. Used a senko and sure enough I got a fish. I think im sold back on to these things again (the first fish I ever caught was on a senko).

I will definitely try out royal is this the right place to start walking around?

Lake royal entrance

[Bigs]

don't fall too in love with senkos. They work good and all but tend to catch small-medium size fish with a big one thrown in there from time to time. This time of year Im mostly throwing moving baits , at least till local waters start to clear up. Go and get yourself a Bass Pro shops 7 foot medium crankin stick, they are around 70 bux and use it for crankbaits , and even spinnerbaits and buzzbaits if you must. Buzzbait fishing is good right now when its cloudy out no matter what time of day. And the crankbait bite has been on fire lately. Fishing moving baits will allow you to cover much more water and much faster. Where as senko fishing is slow , very slow. If you can only have two rod and reel setups then its essential to have one for senkos/jigs/soft plastics and one for moving baits.

[SteveinVA]

Completely agree with choppin that wood. I use three, got one setup for soft plastics, creature baits and senkos, got a crank bait tied on another, and a buzzbait on the last. Figure I cover my basis till I find out what they want

[SteveinVA]

My buddy pulled this ol girl out last weekend on a swim jig 5-10 ft of water off a point.

[m4gicm4tt]

Completely agree with choppin that wood. I use three, got one setup for soft plastics, creature baits and senkos, got a crank bait tied on another, and a buzzbait on the last. Figure I cover my basis till I find out what they want

I have a couple of buzz baits but never cought anything on em. I hear that when they hit them they do it hard. I do have three rods though and I like how you split up your technique to lake bottom, middle/versitile, and top water. I think I may start doing that as well.

[Bigbarge50]

I do not do a lot of shore fishing since I got my boat, but I did just go last week and one thing that made me very happy was bringing not just three rods, but I also brought a 4th rod with no reel. It was a much shorter "bionic Blade" BPS baitcasting rod. I switched out my carrot stick (which is about 8 feet) when I got to some tree cover. The carrot stick was great for long distance casts, but I really got back to my younger roots and went into some really heavy tree cover of did some short casts and flips to stumps and submerged sticks with the senko. The shorter rod really let me make some casts I could not with the other rod.

So if your going to a lake that you really can have room to launch some long cats, a longer pole would seem great, but if you don't mind getting scratched to shreds then might be worth it to bring a much shorter one (6ft and shorter) to find those little openings on a wooded shore to get to the fish. It seemed a little silly to bring an open rod like that, but I think it worked out well for what I wanted to accomplish. Just another thought.

[Bigs]

I know others who never caught anything on a buzbait for the longest time but mostly cuz they rarely used one. As soon as you get that first buzzbait fish tho, its an addicition. Something bout the sound of the buzzbait moving along and then all the sudden it vanishes under water. I like it better then frog fishing but to each their own. I can get a buzbait thru lilly pads just as well as a frog, grass maybe not as well but i still get it thru. The key is to start reeling it in before it hits the water. That way it "hits the ground runnin" you could say, it's on plane as soon as it lands and you avoid fouling it up with grass or debris. Hold your rod tip high if you must and vary your retrieve some. I been throwing a pink buzzbait but also use white, black, and other bright colors when called for. And as for swimmin jigs and chatterbaits, its one my fave things on the potomac, bout to order a Powell Swim Jig rod right now as soon as *** answeres their dang phone

[Rocky1965]

I wish they would re stock Accotink personally Had a lotta good times there before they drained it...I stopped in the office there a couple of weeks ago and they told it was not restocked this year after the work was done...So its back to Huntsman and Blackburn pond for me LOL BlackBurn was very good to me today (see pic) and last week I pulled a couple of catfish and some decent sized blue gills...BTW excuse the blurry pic I was figiting with that d**n blackberry...when the i snapped it finally LOL

[Nayte]

I wish they would re stock Accotink personally Had a lotta good times there before they drained it...I stopped in the office there a couple of weeks ago and they told it was not restocked this year after the work was done...So its back to Huntsman and Blackburn pond for me LOL BlackBurn was very good to me today (see pic) and last week I pulled a couple of catfish and some decent sized blue gills...BTW excuse the blurry pic I was figiting with that d**n blackberry...when the i snapped it finally LOL

Where's Blackburn?

[Rocky1965]

Where's Blackburn?

In Burke...Down the road from Lake Royal

[SteveinVA]

Back on subject, Caught about 20 between 430 and 8pm on tuesday. all but three came on a 4" wacky rig, purple flake, pumpkin seed, and watermelon red flake Kinami worms. the other three were on a blue gill imitation jerk bait. was fishing on a small lake, throwing at the bank. No big girls but it sure was fun. So there is a tip from me.

[TheLastRodBender]

In Burke...Down the road from Lake Royal

Is that the small lake over by Lake Braddock?

[Rocky1965]

Is that the small lake over by Lake Braddock?

Indeed it is (i sent you a PM) i've used nothin but spinners there and have really good luck with em' although im dying to try this new crankbait I picked up @ bass pro last month