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Fishing Report

LAKE ANNA JULY FISHING FORECAST

by Jim Hemby

STRIPERS: The days of July are Hot, the water temperature is Hot [90*], but the Striper fishing is even Hotter and will continue to be for the rest of the month. There are literally hundreds of schools of Stripers roaming the lake feeding aggressively now. We are seeing acres upon acres of Stripers ranging from above the splits down to the dam. July is the month when any angler can catch Stripers on the lake, just pick your preferred method. Here are a few techniques to try to cash in
on this great fishery. In low light conditions, the Stripers will be near the surface busting on the small bait fry. When you see the action, ease up to the school, cut your big motor off 100 yards from the action and use your trolling motor to sneak up to the school throwing Pencil Poppers, Chuggars, Spooks and plastic jerkbaits on top working them as fast as you can. Please respect your fellow fisherman by not encroaching on them in a manner to spook the school. You can also throw Sea Shads and Berkley Hollow body swim baits under these breaking fish to catch some larger Stripers. A ¾ oz Hopkins spoon can also be cast a long distance into the breaking fish and retrieved as fast as you can across the surface. Vary your retrieve, occasionally letting the spoon fall where you saw a fish boil and Hang On to your rod. When the sun gets bright the fish will retreat to the depths and that is when you must locate the schools on your Lowrance depthfinder. Once you locate them you can use many methods to catch them. Many anglers simply troll Deep Diving Redfins with a Bucktail tied to the middle hook holder on a 3' leader. Others troll umbrella rigs and drop rigs. Some anglers locate the schools and vertically jig for them using ¾ oz. Hopkins Spoons and Zoom Super Flukes rigged on a ¾ oz. jig head. Simply drop the spoon to the bottom and jerk your pole up 2 to 3 feet and follow the spoon back to the bottom. If the Stripers are suspended , note how deep they are and measure out line to present your spoon in their face. The most productive way to catch Stripers this month is to locate the schools and put downlines rigged with Herring right in their face. Note the depth the fish are using and count down your bait to that depth, engage your reel and get ready. This is the tactic I use, it is common for my clients to experience 200 to 300 hits a morning! When you use this method you can't keep up with the constant and frantic action and this method usually produces the larger fish.

BASS: By now the Bass have taken up residency in their summer haunts and are predictable in their feeding patterns. In low light conditions, fish top water baits [chuggars, prop baits, twitch baits, etc.] on main lake points, flats and humps. Many fish will school in the mouths of creeks and on structures especially humps and ledges where baitfish are present. After the sun gets bright the Bass will retreat back to the depths using stumps, rock and brush piles, bridge pilings and ledges as cover. To catch fish that don't see lures try fishing ledges that drop sharply from 10 to 25'deep. Use your favorite lures [Carolina rigs, worms, drop shots rigs, deep diving crankbaits, etc.] to catch the Bass. Once you catch one fish you are likely to be on a school where you can catch numerous Bass. Parallel the bluff banks and Rip Rap along the dikes and the roadbeds early with topwater baits and change to crankbaits in brighter conditions to catch schooling Bass. Try fishing deeper than you ever have to catch the larger fish. Up lake concentrate on structure nearby the channels of the creeks. This is a great “Structure” lake and now is the time of year when a good depthfinder is essential. Later in the month Bass will be feeding heavily in the backs of the creeks and all the way up the rivers nearby the schools of bait, usually on the ledges of the channels in water depths ranging from 2 to 8 feet deep.

CRAPPIE: Most slabs have moved to deeper water now using bridge pilings, brushpiles and ledges in 15 to 30 feet of water as holding areas. Also try fishing the docks that have lights on them in deeper water. Use heavier jigs or slip bobbers tipped with small minnows to catch the slabs this month. On the private
side of the lake the crappie are stacked up under the bridges. The best way to catch these fish is to use a tandem crappie rig with 2 minnows, drop the rig down to the depth you see the fish at on your depth finder, and once you start getting double hookups mark your line at your reel with a magic marker. You will be able to limit out very quickly using this method, and have a lot of fun in the process.

CATFISH: The Cats have moved to the 20 to 40 foot depths and are feeding on Herring now. You can use live bait as well as cut bait to catch the fish. They are either behind or underneath the schools of Stripers and can be located on your depthfinder as arches on or just above the bottom on deep flats. There are so many good eating size Cats in the lake, it is a great way to spend a couple of hours catching fish and filling your freezer. Many anglers enjoy eating Catfish but don’t like cleaning the fish. Instead of skinning the catfish the old way simply fillet the fish like you do any other fish, remove any yellow meat and have a great fish fry.

This report furnished by Jim Hemby of LAKE ANNA STRIPER GUIDE SERVICE
www.JimHemby.com JimHemby@hotmail.com 540-967-3313

Fishing experiences brought to you by Jim Hemby:

Richard Bergey and family (October 2008)

Doug Meyers and guests (July 2008)

Bobby Barnes (April 2008)

Mohr Group (April 2008)

Bruce Riddle (August 2007)

Jim Burroughs (April 2007)

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