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Post by Pete D. on Jan 11, 2014 17:50:17 GMT -5
I have heard from a few places that this time of year is the time to pull out artificial baits, and to stop fishing live bait. How do you guys feel about that?
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 11, 2014 17:58:43 GMT -5
A lot of that is due to it being too dang cold to throw the net or too dangerous when the deck is icing over. A nice to mix it up a little with some light tackle too. That said, we got the job done today with live bait  |
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piper
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Post by piper on Jan 11, 2014 19:32:29 GMT -5
I'll be throwing tom. Its been very tolerable and I'm fairly cold natured
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 11, 2014 19:47:02 GMT -5
Threw Thur night - water was 44, air temps 36. Was comfortable and hands didn't get too cold and could have kept throwing There Fri night - water was 44, air temps 35, foggy and drizzle and a little wind - froze my hands off. Just have withered, shriveled stubs left. But found what we were looking for   |
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Post by Pete D. on Jan 11, 2014 21:58:54 GMT -5
Cool! I fished on Friday, didnt have any luck. Mike what were you guys looking for on the depth finder? Small schools or large ones? All I have been seeing is smaller pods.
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 11, 2014 22:04:59 GMT -5
We have a silly amount of bait everywhere right now - acres it seems. For ales, I've been throwing on lights after dark. For gizzards, I look for pods or schools of bigger marks that I expect to be gizzards - the bigger the better - some creeks are holding them in big numbers right now - I was catching them 1 or 2 a throw most throws last night when using by bow-mount sonar - waited till I saw the heavy/big marks of a decent pod and then toss.....
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BentRod
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Post by BentRod on Jan 12, 2014 21:19:37 GMT -5
I'm not having as good of success on artificials this year. Some days have been decent but most days have been rough. I think we're short on fish and have too much bait in the lake, which is strange when you look at our growth rates. Our fish are really fat right now though. Every time we get into fish, it's very scattered fish and it's not thick 60-80ft schools like we used to see. It seems like the fish are just staying scattered out and eating whenever and wherever they want. They're not corralling bait up into cuts as often as they used to. I'll probably try to take bait with me from here on out because that seems to be working a little better and more consistent than jigging at this point.
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Post by Pete D. on Jan 13, 2014 7:58:49 GMT -5
I'm not having as good of success on artificials this year. Some days have been decent but most days have been rough. I think we're short on fish and have too much bait in the lake, which is strange when you look at our growth rates. Our fish are really fat right now though. Every time we get into fish, it's very scattered fish and it's not thick 60-80ft schools like we used to see. It seems like the fish are just staying scattered out and eating whenever and wherever they want. They're not corralling bait up into cuts as often as they used to. I'll probably try to take bait with me from here on out because that seems to be working a little better and more consistent than jigging at this point. Thanks for the input, Bent. I am mostly a Lake Anna fisherman. We have the same old story up our way. Tons and tons of tightly packed schools of bait, and the occasional 2-3 feeding striper hanging around the schools. Funny thing is that I think it is the same way on Anna from what I can tell. Short on fish and too much bait. On the other hand, since the lakes are so close together, maybe the strange weather patterns have just done some strange things to the fish. It's hard to tell really. All I know is that I will cruise around slowly with my side imaging stretched out on each side, and am still having trouble marking any schools worth fishing. Its been disappointing, really. That and the guides (Hemby's guys) take stringers and stringers full of fish out of the lake. I really hope that the DGIF cuts the 4 fish creel limit per fisherman limit down to 2 for a while. It even seems to me like the birds are getting desperate. They are scouting around all day long. I have rarely seen a nice feeding session going on here the past two months, and I have 50-60 hours on the water the past two months or so. Puzzled. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2014 9:37:09 GMT -5
Dang, it's hard to believe there is a shortage of fish, as many as there was schooled up down the way during the spawn. But, the fish never schooled up good this summer, something is going on.
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 13, 2014 9:56:01 GMT -5
I was talking with someone this weekend about the weird pattern this winter..... he was commenting on how this whole year has been weird - we had so much water this year, seemed like the seasons all started later than normal, etc.... who knows.... Dan W from DGIF said he expected our bait population to be really good due to all the water inflow (bringing all of Roanoke's crap into the lake ), and it sure enough seems to be that way right now. All they have to do is swim around with their mouth open and they are going to fill up on shad. I noticed that there was not as much bait in the main Roanoke channel in the stretch from 47-Indian this weekend as there was over the Holidays - seemed like the bait was a bit further down this weekend.... maybe due to the temps cooling a little - of course I marked a silly amount of bait from the turn at Jumpin Run up for a mile or so right after New Years but I did not get up that far this weekend..... |
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Post by Pete D. on Jan 13, 2014 12:50:52 GMT -5
I was talking with someone this weekend about the weird pattern this winter..... he was commenting on how this whole year has been weird - we had so much water this year, seemed like the seasons all started later than normal, etc.... who knows.... Dan W from DGIF said he expected our bait population to be really good due to all the water inflow (bringing all of Roanoke's crap into the lake ), and it sure enough seems to be that way right now. All they have to do is swim around with their mouth open and they are going to fill up on shad. Great feedback from Dept of Game. The good news about all of this is that the fish are getting bigger and bigger. I must say that the few fish that I have caught the past few outings had HUGE belly's. Even the smaller ones. I guess I didn't really think about it until now. This little guy had just ENGORGED himself, and still bit the line.  Even the decent sized crappie are eating my presentations.  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2014 16:22:15 GMT -5
That and the guides (Hemby's guys) take stringers and stringers full of fish out of the lake. I really hope that the DGIF cuts the 4 fish creel limit per fisherman limit down to 2 for a while. I couldn't agree with you more! I also believe that Anna needs the 2 per day then quit rule in the Summer. Of course, this would cause a war with the guides. I also don't believe it to be enforceable. However, this rule provides an education to those who care. Namely, that most stripers you throw back in the summer DIE! And they don't float...they just sink. I know a few guys on Anna who throw back 10-20 stripers a day in the summer. And the guides?? Wow...they are striper factories. And the people on Anna wonder why their stripers are not as big as they once were?? Hmmmmm. |
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Post by Pete D. on Jan 29, 2014 17:27:21 GMT -5
I know it really boils my blood..... But the DGIF is stocking 90,000 hybrid stripers this year to see how they do. They are supposed to be able to survive the heat much better. Another issue is that there are so many fish just under the creel limit, that you HAVE to throw them back. Anna is a nice sized lake, there is no reason why we can't start seeing some citations out of her.
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