Question and free bait

[jt]

Hello guys, I just introduced myself a minute ago, the bait gods smiled on me this morning around 5 o'clock AM. I left the light out on the dock all night and with my first cast I scooped up about 150 alewives. 2nd throw I got 10 and the third throw I got 0! Those alewives catch on quickly! I think I also need to make my light beam a little more narrow so they don't move away from the doc about 20 feet. Baits are mostly 3 inch with a few bigger once mixed in.
About a month ago I was at Lake Anna and could not catch even one piece of bait to save my life, sure wish somebody had offered some free blue back herring. So that's why I'm offering a couple of dozen bait if you are hard up for some. I gave away some this last June to somebody around the campground and I feel it's good fishing karma. Also gives me a chance to meet new people. I will be fishing for the next several days south of the campground and I'm pretty sure I'm the only pontoon boat that has a large orange bait tank on the back. Please feel free to look me up.

Question: if any of you were fishing south of the State Park, where would you point me to go and fish for some stripers? I've read the threads and it seems like the rule of thumb right now is to go up into the rivers or maybe just north of the Dam into those fingers. Any info would be appreciated and I will report back if I catch anything, thanks, JT

[mwardncsu]

Welcome to the lake.

I can't really help you down that way as I've been fishing up well up from there but there are bound to be some fish. From the State Park is is probably the same drive towards the bridge as it is towards the dam and more creeks to check going up than down. Then again - maybe you'll discovery something great going against "conventional wisdom" as well. Look for the bait and likely there will be some fish near by.

[jt]

Thanks mward, that's kind of what I decided to do today and I started fishing this morning around the island and northwards of the inlet that leads to the cabins. For the first time I caught a couple of large mouth bass on elwives believe it or not and had about five other substantial bites without producing anything. Will keep you posted if I catch anything else.
Also wanted to ask your opinion on something: was wondering what you think of the idea of pumping continuous fresh water into the bait tank instead of adding shad keeper and salt? In other words, because the water is cool, wold it not be more advantageous to just keep pumping in fresh water instead of treating the water with chemicals and passing it through activated charcoal? It's my understanding that we keep the bait in a closed loop because we want to keep it cool, otherwise it seems like it might be better to keep pumping in fresh water if it's cold enough, what do you think?

[BentRod]

Try right above state park in Walton. Also try Elmo near dam - there will be fish somewhere around dam if you can find them - birds may help.

Salt > than continuous recirc unless you don't have filtration then recirc (some doesn't have to be continuous unless no aeration) may be better in cold water.

[cftaylorjr]

Hey bent rod. Just curious about Elmo near the dam. Where is that??

[jt]

Bentrod, thanks for the reply. I appreciate the fact that you and mward put together and run the forum, its been helpful to me. I also read a lot of your past posts regarding baits and how to fish for stripers.
Walton looks interesting and I will probably fish it tomorrow but I couldn't find Elmo on the chart, is it east of the point? What do you think of fishing Craddock creek for striper? I come here once or twice a year and just like everyone else would like to learn to land the big ones. Just missing a couple of pointers. One is where are some good places around the campground to locate some mongos with my electronics? And second is some good places where winter striper are hanging. Is the jist of the whole winter striper behavior that they tend to feed more in shallow water everywhere around the lake? Or for some reason do the 30 to 40" all head north to the beaverdam area?
As far as the bait tank question: my tank has 4 different filtration pads, lots of activated charcoal, and maybe too much air infusion for the winter(?). Not only do I have a water pump that infuses air, but after talking to Jim Hemby(super guide at lake anna)I installed a separate air pump that powers 2 six inch dougnuts. I was loosing some ales today, more as the day progressed. All was working( probably didn't add as much salt as you recommend)but I think they could have looked better. Caught them at 5am and still had dozens alive at 4pm, just a little lethargic. Too much air cool them down too much? Curious as to why you would think that the chemicals and filtration would beat out having an overflow with a continuous fresh water supply? And you might be right, but since I built my own tank I think I will add an overflow just out of curiosity. I will let you know how it works out. By the way, I went all the way up to almost the end(or beginning) of Gills Creek and caught a 25". Got there aroud 3.Thanks again for any info

[BentRod]

Osmoregulation - salt changes the osmotic pressure of the water which helps to maintain proper fluid n electrolyte balance in stressed fish.

Elmo is straight across from the dam behind the big island. Sure there are fish in Craddock as well. Your fish upriver are gonna be a LOT easier to locate but there's a bunch down lake too.

[Pete D.]

JT where do you live at? I frequent Anna, as it is my stomping grounds.