Lake Anna Striper Fishing

By Jim Hemby

Expect Striper fishing to be excellent this month on Lake Anna, due to the harsh winter that we have been experiencing. Water temperatures are lower than normal causing massive bait kills all the way to the power plant. Also, the back of most of the creeks and up the rivers are frozen forcing the Stripers to feed only in the main lake regions.

There are many patterns to catch stripers this month and probably the easiest is to follow the gulls. Birds are feeding on dying Threadfin early in the mornings but later in the day they will advertise where Stripers are feeding. Small swim baits like Sea Shads, Sassy Shads, bucktails and Road Runners will catch plenty of smaller fish this month. Cast your bait as far as you can, count it down to the depth you see fish on the depth finder and use a slow retrieve to catch schooling Stripers.  For more explosive strikes, try waking a Redfin over shallow humps and points nearby deep water. Suspending Jerk baits work exceptionally well in the clearer water with a jerk, jerk, pause, jerk pause retrieve, allowing the bait to suspend motionless on the pauses. This method works when others fail and usually catches larger lethargic fish. When you see the Stripers deeper in the water column when they are not aggressively feeding shallow, jigging ¾ oz. Hopkins spoons, blade baits and Super Flukes on ½ oz heads in their faces will work. Trollers are catching fish using umbrella rigs. Unfortunately, there are still many inconsiderate jump fisherman that see birds working fish or other anglers catching fish that run their big motors too close to the action resulting in spooking all the fish but the juveniles. Not only do they not catch keeper fish they tend to ruin the fishing for the anglers who have located the fish. Winter Stripers will not tolerate boat traffic! Simply cut your big motor off at least 100 Yards before you reach the area you want to fish and use your trolling motor to sneak up to the fish.
Report furnished by Jim Hemby
LAKE ANNA STRIPER GUIDE SERVICE
www.JimHemby.com 540-967-3313 Jim_Hemby@hotmail.com

 Lake Anna Bass Fishing

By Chris Craft

The Greenbacks are shallow and active on Lake Anna. There are fish all over the lake willing to take a variety of baits. I have had reports of some fish already guarding fry in the extreme down lake region. For the most part, there are a lot of fish on the bed spawning. The full moon is on April 6 and the week prior to and after will be a fishing bonanza. This time of year my go-to bait is a weightless Burton Minnow rigged on a 4/0 EWG Gamakatsu Hook. Fish parallel to the bank when possible, this keeps your bait in the strike zone longer. You can target several stumps on one cast while fishing this way. If you are fishing in the willow grass up lake, cast your bait to the back of the grass and when you reach the front grass line, kill your bait and let it slowly sink down. This is when the majority of the bites occur. Flipping the grass with creature baits will work well, and this slow presentation will catch numerous fish for you.

If you want to cover a lot of Lake Anna there is no better bait than a Tiger Shad Spinnerbait. I like the 1/4oz single willow leaf (Purple Tiger or Sexy Blue Back Herring) on calm days and the 1/2oz double willow leaf on windy days. With all three phases of the spawn going on this month, the top water bite will really start to come on later in the month. My favorite bait is the Pay Check Baits Repo Man. This walk the dog style bait is loud, walks very easy and will cast a country mile. It is loaded with Tunston & Glass Rattles and 3 Gamakatsu Treble Hooks. The Buzz Bait comes in a close second as my favorite top water bait. I use the Bill Deeds and Damiki MTB Noisy Buzz Baits. Pop-R’s are an old reliable when it comes to top water fishing. When a fish swirls on a top water bait and misses, quickly follow up with a Burton Minnow, Fluke or a Yamamoto Senko. Remember, the majority of the fish are spawning at this time. Please practice C-P-R: Catch, Photo, Release!
Chris Craft, CCBASSN Lake Anna Guide Service
ccbassn@aol.com, www.ccbassnlakeanna.blogspot.com, 540-894-6195