Veterans Day fishing tournament @ Lake Anna, 11 NOV 2022
Nov 14, 2022 8:43:38 GMT -5
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Post by 31Airborne on Nov 14, 2022 8:43:38 GMT -5
Went up to NOVA for the 16th annual VDFT. While I missed the tourney, I did get 4 days of hard practice in. Hopefully some of this will help. The Martin family outdid themselves (again) this year. They had 116 boats show up for largest VDFT event to date and the largest Lake Anna tourney in 5 years. I encourage all y'all vets to think about this one. Larry Martin puts on a first class show. Well worth the trip up.
I got in on MON (07 NOV) around midday and was overwhelmed by the balmy conditions. 80 degrees, light winds, and heavy/soupy air. WTs ranged from 65* around midlake, 72 down lake around Levy and Valentine Creeks. Water down lake is crystal clear - easily 10' of viz. Water begins to pick up a little stain above the splits, but you still have 6-7' of viz. Water is more heavily stained up in the rivers, but still fishable w/ 3-4' of viz. Bait was scattered and in smaller pods. No real pattern to it. Almost all of the fish I marked were tight to the deck in 8-15'. Had a few small fish on MON, but didn't really fish that hard. Mostly ran the boat.
TUES-THUR were hard fishing days. The weather gradually cooled and the WTs came down about 5-7*. Marked more baitfish activity, but no big pods. TUES was bright, sunny, with some wind. Started out w/ moving baits (squarebill, spinner, jerkbait) but didn't have a bite. Switched to a jig and got bit almost immediately. As the sun came up the fish moved deeper. They resumed their bottom-hugging routine in the same 8-15' range. Managed to bang out quite a few, mostly small, fish on the jig and c-rig. Later in the day we got into some better quality fish. These doods were holding in 12-15'.
WED and THUR weather included clouds but the wind laid down a bit. Thought the moving bait bite might pick up. Nope. Saw some feeding activity shallow but wasn't able to draw a strike on anything I threw. The cloud cover did bring the fish up a bit. The jig and c-rig were effective at drawing strikes, including a few really good fish. The magic range was 4-8'. The fish were tight to breaks.
The tourney was moved to SAT because of the weather on FRI. It did rain a bit but none of the heavy stuff materialized. Made the most of the off day by visiting local tackle shops and a winery. The boys and I managed to entertain ourselves (and stay dry) as the bands of rain came thru.
Observations: 1) Water condition and temp info is above. One note - the lake is about a foot low. Not sure if this is related to the dry summer we had or the lake management team bringing it down in advance of FRI's weather. 2) The bite was good in the clear water, better in the slightly stained water, best in more heavily stained water. 3) Had a lot of very lite bites. Was as if the fish were sneaking up on the baits. This lasted throughout the morning. Bites became more aggressive later in the day. 4) Points were the deal for us. Main lake and secondary points all produced. Just had to have natural chunk rock on them. Wind blowing across a point was better than wind blowing in on it. No wind, no bites. 5) Crawfish imitators out-produced baitfish imitators by a large margin. Plastics were the only reliable presentation we came up with. You could throw any color you wanted so long as it was green with a little orange. Same-same for jigs.
I heard many talk about having a good buzzbait and crankbait bite but we never saw any of that. Was not for a lack of trying. Believe the WTs are still a bit warm. The cooler weather this week should bring them down to the optimum range.
I'm a few days late, but on behalf of my family, thank you to all of the Veterans out there. Thanks for showing up to do your part. And happy 247th birthday to our Marines (10 NOV). You have always been, are, and will continue to be America's first to fight.
peace,
B
I got in on MON (07 NOV) around midday and was overwhelmed by the balmy conditions. 80 degrees, light winds, and heavy/soupy air. WTs ranged from 65* around midlake, 72 down lake around Levy and Valentine Creeks. Water down lake is crystal clear - easily 10' of viz. Water begins to pick up a little stain above the splits, but you still have 6-7' of viz. Water is more heavily stained up in the rivers, but still fishable w/ 3-4' of viz. Bait was scattered and in smaller pods. No real pattern to it. Almost all of the fish I marked were tight to the deck in 8-15'. Had a few small fish on MON, but didn't really fish that hard. Mostly ran the boat.
TUES-THUR were hard fishing days. The weather gradually cooled and the WTs came down about 5-7*. Marked more baitfish activity, but no big pods. TUES was bright, sunny, with some wind. Started out w/ moving baits (squarebill, spinner, jerkbait) but didn't have a bite. Switched to a jig and got bit almost immediately. As the sun came up the fish moved deeper. They resumed their bottom-hugging routine in the same 8-15' range. Managed to bang out quite a few, mostly small, fish on the jig and c-rig. Later in the day we got into some better quality fish. These doods were holding in 12-15'.
WED and THUR weather included clouds but the wind laid down a bit. Thought the moving bait bite might pick up. Nope. Saw some feeding activity shallow but wasn't able to draw a strike on anything I threw. The cloud cover did bring the fish up a bit. The jig and c-rig were effective at drawing strikes, including a few really good fish. The magic range was 4-8'. The fish were tight to breaks.
The tourney was moved to SAT because of the weather on FRI. It did rain a bit but none of the heavy stuff materialized. Made the most of the off day by visiting local tackle shops and a winery. The boys and I managed to entertain ourselves (and stay dry) as the bands of rain came thru.
Observations: 1) Water condition and temp info is above. One note - the lake is about a foot low. Not sure if this is related to the dry summer we had or the lake management team bringing it down in advance of FRI's weather. 2) The bite was good in the clear water, better in the slightly stained water, best in more heavily stained water. 3) Had a lot of very lite bites. Was as if the fish were sneaking up on the baits. This lasted throughout the morning. Bites became more aggressive later in the day. 4) Points were the deal for us. Main lake and secondary points all produced. Just had to have natural chunk rock on them. Wind blowing across a point was better than wind blowing in on it. No wind, no bites. 5) Crawfish imitators out-produced baitfish imitators by a large margin. Plastics were the only reliable presentation we came up with. You could throw any color you wanted so long as it was green with a little orange. Same-same for jigs.
I heard many talk about having a good buzzbait and crankbait bite but we never saw any of that. Was not for a lack of trying. Believe the WTs are still a bit warm. The cooler weather this week should bring them down to the optimum range.
I'm a few days late, but on behalf of my family, thank you to all of the Veterans out there. Thanks for showing up to do your part. And happy 247th birthday to our Marines (10 NOV). You have always been, are, and will continue to be America's first to fight.
peace,
B