Post by 31Airborne on Nov 12, 2023 14:22:06 GMT -5
Went up to Anna for the annual Veterans' Day Fishing Tournament (VDFT). Have been a part of this event since its inception. Always a terrific opportunity to connect/reconnect with fellow vets in the area. This event has grown from an 8-boat gathering the first year to a 144-boat field this year. Has been fun watching this grow thru the years. It's now the biggest bass tourney on Anna.
Practice 7-10 - The LR forecast showed a hard cold front coming thru the area late THUR into FRI morning so I devoted all of my practice to looking at places where the fish might pull back to as the colder weather set in. I wouldn't usually let weather influence practice this much, esp during a time of the year fish are usually in the power feed mode. This front was a lil different - near-record highs were forecast for mid-week and the front was expected to cool things down by over 30 degrees. It got my attention. My plan for practice was to target the usual fall feeding haunts while focusing on places with sharp breaks. My guess was the fish would pull back a bit with the colder air but not too far. Any place they could easily elevate within the water column should be money.
Days 1 and 2 were wild. Highs in the 80s had the fish very shallow and actively chasing shad all day. WTs got up to a point where the shad started spawning. It was magical. Tempting as it was, I left the shad spawn bite alone and worked on structure. Had no trouble finding fish, to include some nice fish, willing to eat a variety of baits - medium running cranks, chatterbait, spinnerbait, swimbaits, jigs, and bottom presentations (plastix). Main lake and secondary points were equally productive. From there, I started fine tuning my approach to see if there might be something I could dial it in a bit further. Spent the latter half of day 2 and most of day 3 working on this. Didn't take long to find the pattern within the pattern. Then it was a matter of finding the better fish. I started with some history, visiting places that had given up quality fish in previous events. Confirmed a few of these and added a few new spots. All totaled, I finished my practice period with about 3 dozen places worth visiting on TX day. I spent FRI inside (rainy and a lil windy), looking over the map to lay out my plan for TX day.
TX day - I was paired with a really sharp Marine from NC. After getting loaded and settled in, I reviewed the plan w/ him. He was good. Turns out he had quite a bit of experience bass fishing so this made everything a lot easier (for both of us). We started off down lake on a series of off-shore humps. These areas are pretty complex, with lots of crowns and saddles. Most importantly, they were all littered with natural chunk rock. Didn't take long for my partner to hook up on our first fish - a shorty. Over the next 10-15 minutes, he was a catching machine. We managed one short keeper before sliding over to the next stop - another off-shore hump. I finally hooked up on my first fish - a solid keeper - working the saddle. Then I put on a show of my own, boating the rest of our limit in about 10 minutes. At that point, our limit was around 7-8 lbs. Time to start working on the better fish milk run. We motored up into the rivers, working thru the list I'd developed the previous day. My partner hooked up twice on a rocky secondary point, both times culling shorter fish. We're up to around 9 lbs at this point. We methodically worked thru most of my list, eventually making our way back to the mid lake region. I pulled up to a little piece of history - a do-nothing point adjacent to a large flat. If you looked at the shoreline you wouldn't think it was anything worth casting to, but when you zoom in on the chart function, you can see this long, tapered point that extended out to the main river channel. On the third cast I hook up on our best fish of the day, a chunky 3.52 LM. We burned thru the rest of my list and a few places my partner suggested before motoring in for the weigh-in. Our 5 weighed 12.61, good enough for 14th place and a small check.
Observations: 1) WTs ranged from the low 60s in the morning to upper 60s/low 70s during the hot period of the week. WTs stayed 63-65 after the front came thru. WTs up in the rivers were a bit cooler - upper 50s to lower 60s. Water mid lake down is gin clear, as clear as I've ever seen on Anna (~10' of viz). Rivers are a bit stained but you still have 3-4' of viz. 2) Bait was thick and shallow in the mornings, a bit more scattered as the sun came up. Bait was much thicker up in the rivers than it is in the creeks and coves down lake. 3) Almost all of our bites came in 1-4' on first breaks before the front, from 2-6' after the front (but still on first breaks). 4) Main lake stuff was better than secondary stuff for quality, the reverse for numbers. 4) Points w/ long tapers were better than rounded points. Points w/ one side w/ tight contour lines were most productive. Points w/ tight contours that touched the main or creek channel or a channel swing were money. 5) Rock was better than wood. Smaller chunk rock was better than bigger chunks or boulders. 6) Even tho' the WTs and conditions were perfect for topwater fishing, we had no (zero) fish on top all week. 7) Wind blowing across structure was better than wind blowing directly in on it. No wind, no bites. 8) No surprise on colors or patterns - shad crankbaits, green plastix and jigs (had to have a lil orange), white spinners and chatters. 9) The bites all week were no-doubters. The fish were hammering it. Thump, run, set the hook.
This is a fabulous event for vets and supporters alike. Lots of local and national sponsorship, to include payouts from all of the major boat manufacturers. VDFT is a registered 501.3.c organization whose sole mission is to celebrate veterans and their families. The Lake Anna area has lots to do and see, and no time is better than fall for visiting. Tons of great places to eat. If you're a vet or someone who would simply like to say thank you, come up next year for the VDFT. It's always on Veterans' Day (11 NOV). Want more details? Send me a PM. I'd be happy to share more.
peace,
B
Practice 7-10 - The LR forecast showed a hard cold front coming thru the area late THUR into FRI morning so I devoted all of my practice to looking at places where the fish might pull back to as the colder weather set in. I wouldn't usually let weather influence practice this much, esp during a time of the year fish are usually in the power feed mode. This front was a lil different - near-record highs were forecast for mid-week and the front was expected to cool things down by over 30 degrees. It got my attention. My plan for practice was to target the usual fall feeding haunts while focusing on places with sharp breaks. My guess was the fish would pull back a bit with the colder air but not too far. Any place they could easily elevate within the water column should be money.
Days 1 and 2 were wild. Highs in the 80s had the fish very shallow and actively chasing shad all day. WTs got up to a point where the shad started spawning. It was magical. Tempting as it was, I left the shad spawn bite alone and worked on structure. Had no trouble finding fish, to include some nice fish, willing to eat a variety of baits - medium running cranks, chatterbait, spinnerbait, swimbaits, jigs, and bottom presentations (plastix). Main lake and secondary points were equally productive. From there, I started fine tuning my approach to see if there might be something I could dial it in a bit further. Spent the latter half of day 2 and most of day 3 working on this. Didn't take long to find the pattern within the pattern. Then it was a matter of finding the better fish. I started with some history, visiting places that had given up quality fish in previous events. Confirmed a few of these and added a few new spots. All totaled, I finished my practice period with about 3 dozen places worth visiting on TX day. I spent FRI inside (rainy and a lil windy), looking over the map to lay out my plan for TX day.
TX day - I was paired with a really sharp Marine from NC. After getting loaded and settled in, I reviewed the plan w/ him. He was good. Turns out he had quite a bit of experience bass fishing so this made everything a lot easier (for both of us). We started off down lake on a series of off-shore humps. These areas are pretty complex, with lots of crowns and saddles. Most importantly, they were all littered with natural chunk rock. Didn't take long for my partner to hook up on our first fish - a shorty. Over the next 10-15 minutes, he was a catching machine. We managed one short keeper before sliding over to the next stop - another off-shore hump. I finally hooked up on my first fish - a solid keeper - working the saddle. Then I put on a show of my own, boating the rest of our limit in about 10 minutes. At that point, our limit was around 7-8 lbs. Time to start working on the better fish milk run. We motored up into the rivers, working thru the list I'd developed the previous day. My partner hooked up twice on a rocky secondary point, both times culling shorter fish. We're up to around 9 lbs at this point. We methodically worked thru most of my list, eventually making our way back to the mid lake region. I pulled up to a little piece of history - a do-nothing point adjacent to a large flat. If you looked at the shoreline you wouldn't think it was anything worth casting to, but when you zoom in on the chart function, you can see this long, tapered point that extended out to the main river channel. On the third cast I hook up on our best fish of the day, a chunky 3.52 LM. We burned thru the rest of my list and a few places my partner suggested before motoring in for the weigh-in. Our 5 weighed 12.61, good enough for 14th place and a small check.
Observations: 1) WTs ranged from the low 60s in the morning to upper 60s/low 70s during the hot period of the week. WTs stayed 63-65 after the front came thru. WTs up in the rivers were a bit cooler - upper 50s to lower 60s. Water mid lake down is gin clear, as clear as I've ever seen on Anna (~10' of viz). Rivers are a bit stained but you still have 3-4' of viz. 2) Bait was thick and shallow in the mornings, a bit more scattered as the sun came up. Bait was much thicker up in the rivers than it is in the creeks and coves down lake. 3) Almost all of our bites came in 1-4' on first breaks before the front, from 2-6' after the front (but still on first breaks). 4) Main lake stuff was better than secondary stuff for quality, the reverse for numbers. 4) Points w/ long tapers were better than rounded points. Points w/ one side w/ tight contour lines were most productive. Points w/ tight contours that touched the main or creek channel or a channel swing were money. 5) Rock was better than wood. Smaller chunk rock was better than bigger chunks or boulders. 6) Even tho' the WTs and conditions were perfect for topwater fishing, we had no (zero) fish on top all week. 7) Wind blowing across structure was better than wind blowing directly in on it. No wind, no bites. 8) No surprise on colors or patterns - shad crankbaits, green plastix and jigs (had to have a lil orange), white spinners and chatters. 9) The bites all week were no-doubters. The fish were hammering it. Thump, run, set the hook.
This is a fabulous event for vets and supporters alike. Lots of local and national sponsorship, to include payouts from all of the major boat manufacturers. VDFT is a registered 501.3.c organization whose sole mission is to celebrate veterans and their families. The Lake Anna area has lots to do and see, and no time is better than fall for visiting. Tons of great places to eat. If you're a vet or someone who would simply like to say thank you, come up next year for the VDFT. It's always on Veterans' Day (11 NOV). Want more details? Send me a PM. I'd be happy to share more.
peace,
B