Post by 31Airborne on Apr 24, 2023 9:21:47 GMT -5
I'm a little late posting this - my apologies. Came home to a host of work distractions. All good now. Just hope I didn't forget anything useful or important. I have a good memory. It's just short.
I went up early so I could spend a little more time scanning and scouting. With the warmer-than-usual winter, I figured the fish would be in all stages but mostly staging or on beds. My time on Anna during this set of conditions is limited. The additional practice gave me the opportunity to add to what I knew. I am pleased to report that my guess on bass stages was about spot on. I regret to report that everything I thought I learned didn't translate well into tournament day. A little more on this later.
This practice period was about the most productive I've ever had on Anna. It started w/ guessing right about where to start. Throughout the week I was able to make all of the right adjustments as the weather and fish progressed. The cool mornings were not a deterrent to catching. In fact, I had the best quality during the cool mornings. Blue bird skies and high pressure were also not deterrents to catching. It was obvious early on that the fish were hungry and wanted to eat, weather immaterial. As the week progressed and the weather warned, I was able to track the fishes' movements fairly accurately. Was able to catch fish throughout the day with plenty of quality fish mixed in. Later in the week I kept the rods on the deck and spent the bulk of my time on the water scanning, marking, and taking notes. Was able to profile a number of patterns using a short list of baits and presentations. My partner was able to do the same. We were pretty confident heading into TX day.
Our plan for the tourney was to target a specific shape and location for main lake and secondary points, and the immediate transition lanes on those points. We had a list of points that had produced better quality fish in practice, along with a little bit of history that has been effective for us. All of these points produced, some of them multiple fish, but the quality just wasn't there for us. We hit no less than 50 targets during the tourney (lots of running-and-gunning), switching up baits and presentations along the way. Nothing we did drew strikes from better fish. We moved up, we moved back; we moved from sunny side to shady side and vice versa; we worked structure along and across, up the slopes and down. We got bit every time. Just no quality. Finally, with maybe an hour left in the day, we got into a string of bites from fish that helped us upgrade our sack a little. Best way describe this is frustrating fun. We caught a lot of fish. The better bites eluded us. Our 5 weighed 9.25 - a very typical Lake Anna bag.
Observations: 1) WTs ranged from 57 early in the week to 70+ later in the day on TX day. WTs rose gradually each day. From midweek on the overnite temps didn't have any effect on WTs. 2) Water was slightly stained up in the rivers (maybe 2-3' of viz) to gin clear down lake. Our best bites came in the clear water. 3) I had one (1) fish on a moving bait all week. That fish was a punk that slammed a 1.5 squarebill. Everything else came on slow presentations - plastix and jigs. I threw top water baits a good bit in practice and on TX day. I had a couple of swirls but no takers. No surprise on colors - greens. It helped if you had a little orange in/on it. 4) We saw some monsters cruising the banks in the backs of coves and on flats. Also saw groups of fish loitering just under the surface over deeper water. My guess is they were warming themselves before making the move up shallow. 5) Saw bait fish activity everywhere. Some creeks are choked with it, others have more scattered bait pods. We did not see signs of shad spawning. 6) The pan fish were up shallow in force. Lots of nips on our baits from them. We did some signs of bluegill bedding in a number of places. 7) The rec boat traffic on TX day was unusually high for APR. We had ski boats make laps around us as we fished (always a joy). Just about every pontoon boat on the lake was out and about, mostly cruising the places we had hoped to fish. None of this should've been a surprise to us after 3 days of very warm weather and steadily rising temps. 8) When the wind blew, it was an enabler. When it died so did the bite. As the rec boat traffic built on TX day it was impossible to discern waves from wind from boat wakes. 9) The happy zone for us was 4-6'. Sharp breaks were better than gradual depth transitions. Sharp breaks on channel swings were money. 10) Main lake and secondary points all produced, to include quality fish. Points w/ sharp contours were best. Sharp contoured points w/ rock or wood on them were special. 11) We caught quite a few post-spawn fish. These fish were actively feeding so they'd been off of beds for a while. 12) Did I mention the lake was busy on TX day?
The greatest disappointment for us on this trip was our inability to make the right adjustments on TX day. After a week of making all the right moves, on TX day we couldn't get anything right. I don't fish Anna (or any other lake popular w/ rec boaters) when the weather is warm. I make it a point to be off the water before they get on. The lesson here is simple - the only way to figure out how the fish adjust to boat traffic is to spend time on the water when the boat traffic is heavy. Kinda makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I go back and read what I just typed, but it's true. Practice should focus on replicating TX conditions as much as possible. Anything else is guesswork.
A couple plugs for local businesses, in case y'all make your way up to the Lake Anna area: Callie Opie's (Mineral) is a must for dinner. Superb menu and wait staff, nicely stocked bar, good wine list. Lake Anna (on north VA 208) winery boasts the state's oldest vines and has some superb wines (try the Claret).
In spite of the tournament day frustrations, we learned a lot on this trip. All of it will help when we come back next year. I will factor in practice time while the rec boat traffic is up. My partner and I are taking a break to get a bucket list trip in the first week of May (Hartwell). We'll be back at it mid-May when we hit Gaston for the first time in about 10 years.
be safe,
B
I went up early so I could spend a little more time scanning and scouting. With the warmer-than-usual winter, I figured the fish would be in all stages but mostly staging or on beds. My time on Anna during this set of conditions is limited. The additional practice gave me the opportunity to add to what I knew. I am pleased to report that my guess on bass stages was about spot on. I regret to report that everything I thought I learned didn't translate well into tournament day. A little more on this later.
This practice period was about the most productive I've ever had on Anna. It started w/ guessing right about where to start. Throughout the week I was able to make all of the right adjustments as the weather and fish progressed. The cool mornings were not a deterrent to catching. In fact, I had the best quality during the cool mornings. Blue bird skies and high pressure were also not deterrents to catching. It was obvious early on that the fish were hungry and wanted to eat, weather immaterial. As the week progressed and the weather warned, I was able to track the fishes' movements fairly accurately. Was able to catch fish throughout the day with plenty of quality fish mixed in. Later in the week I kept the rods on the deck and spent the bulk of my time on the water scanning, marking, and taking notes. Was able to profile a number of patterns using a short list of baits and presentations. My partner was able to do the same. We were pretty confident heading into TX day.
Our plan for the tourney was to target a specific shape and location for main lake and secondary points, and the immediate transition lanes on those points. We had a list of points that had produced better quality fish in practice, along with a little bit of history that has been effective for us. All of these points produced, some of them multiple fish, but the quality just wasn't there for us. We hit no less than 50 targets during the tourney (lots of running-and-gunning), switching up baits and presentations along the way. Nothing we did drew strikes from better fish. We moved up, we moved back; we moved from sunny side to shady side and vice versa; we worked structure along and across, up the slopes and down. We got bit every time. Just no quality. Finally, with maybe an hour left in the day, we got into a string of bites from fish that helped us upgrade our sack a little. Best way describe this is frustrating fun. We caught a lot of fish. The better bites eluded us. Our 5 weighed 9.25 - a very typical Lake Anna bag.
Observations: 1) WTs ranged from 57 early in the week to 70+ later in the day on TX day. WTs rose gradually each day. From midweek on the overnite temps didn't have any effect on WTs. 2) Water was slightly stained up in the rivers (maybe 2-3' of viz) to gin clear down lake. Our best bites came in the clear water. 3) I had one (1) fish on a moving bait all week. That fish was a punk that slammed a 1.5 squarebill. Everything else came on slow presentations - plastix and jigs. I threw top water baits a good bit in practice and on TX day. I had a couple of swirls but no takers. No surprise on colors - greens. It helped if you had a little orange in/on it. 4) We saw some monsters cruising the banks in the backs of coves and on flats. Also saw groups of fish loitering just under the surface over deeper water. My guess is they were warming themselves before making the move up shallow. 5) Saw bait fish activity everywhere. Some creeks are choked with it, others have more scattered bait pods. We did not see signs of shad spawning. 6) The pan fish were up shallow in force. Lots of nips on our baits from them. We did some signs of bluegill bedding in a number of places. 7) The rec boat traffic on TX day was unusually high for APR. We had ski boats make laps around us as we fished (always a joy). Just about every pontoon boat on the lake was out and about, mostly cruising the places we had hoped to fish. None of this should've been a surprise to us after 3 days of very warm weather and steadily rising temps. 8) When the wind blew, it was an enabler. When it died so did the bite. As the rec boat traffic built on TX day it was impossible to discern waves from wind from boat wakes. 9) The happy zone for us was 4-6'. Sharp breaks were better than gradual depth transitions. Sharp breaks on channel swings were money. 10) Main lake and secondary points all produced, to include quality fish. Points w/ sharp contours were best. Sharp contoured points w/ rock or wood on them were special. 11) We caught quite a few post-spawn fish. These fish were actively feeding so they'd been off of beds for a while. 12) Did I mention the lake was busy on TX day?
The greatest disappointment for us on this trip was our inability to make the right adjustments on TX day. After a week of making all the right moves, on TX day we couldn't get anything right. I don't fish Anna (or any other lake popular w/ rec boaters) when the weather is warm. I make it a point to be off the water before they get on. The lesson here is simple - the only way to figure out how the fish adjust to boat traffic is to spend time on the water when the boat traffic is heavy. Kinda makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I go back and read what I just typed, but it's true. Practice should focus on replicating TX conditions as much as possible. Anything else is guesswork.
A couple plugs for local businesses, in case y'all make your way up to the Lake Anna area: Callie Opie's (Mineral) is a must for dinner. Superb menu and wait staff, nicely stocked bar, good wine list. Lake Anna (on north VA 208) winery boasts the state's oldest vines and has some superb wines (try the Claret).
In spite of the tournament day frustrations, we learned a lot on this trip. All of it will help when we come back next year. I will factor in practice time while the rec boat traffic is up. My partner and I are taking a break to get a bucket list trip in the first week of May (Hartwell). We'll be back at it mid-May when we hit Gaston for the first time in about 10 years.
be safe,
B
