Fishing Report 1-AUG-2016

Well...my ocean trip was a bit of a bust, and by bust, I mean it was never meant to be.  Such is life, and it was for the best.  Next Time!  As a consolation, my family came down to Charlottesville, and the local fishing commenced.

The first stop was the Rivanna River, during the heat of the afternoon.  As was stated before, during the dogs days of summer, expect the bass to be less active during the day, with better fishing times in the early morning, and late evening hours.  If you can only pick one time of day, pick the evening, as the bass tend to eat late into the night, and therefore are less hungry in the morning.  With that said, sometimes you don't have the opportunity to fish during the best hours, and just getting out is a reward in itself.

As was expected, fishing was tough, and was made more-so by the passing kayaks and river floats.  With that said, we still managed to catch a few fish, with the largest smallmouth being caught deeper in a fast moving rapid.  Warmer waters mean less dissolved oxygen, so look for fish to take advantage of deeper white water during the hottest hours.

After an afternoon cookout, an ode to summer charcoal, my father and I hooked up the boat, and headed to Chris Greene.  After all the recent rains, the water is back to a darker chocolate, but the fish are still active, and did not disappoint.  After starting the evening with the usual bluegill, ensuring a successful trip, we targeted a deep water drop off near the shoreline with lots of fallen trees.  This type of bank structure allows access to cooler water with a shorter swim to bait rich shallows seeking refuge in the sunken tree limbs.  Here, fishing deep and slow is the key, and my father was rewarded with a nice 2-3 lbs largemouth, among many other fish.  Unfortunately, as is the danger with evening fishing trips, a strong thunderstorm rolled onto the lake, ending our trip.

Sunday morning, for our last outing, we decided to go to a more scenic lake, and trailed the boat to Beaver Creek Reservoir.  Besides from the pleasant views, Beaver Creek is spring fed, resulting in consistently clear waters.  While all of the surrounding ponds and rivers were mud choked from the torrent of Saturday night, Beaver Creek was still holding 4 foot visibility.  Unfortunately, while the morning looked fishy, the bass did not respond.  Several fish were raised from the deep by clousers, but none took the fly.  Our best guess is that the previous night's passing storm caused too great a shift in one or more environmental variables (temperature, pressure, etc), and shut down the bite.  Even the bluegill were reluctant to respond, although I did trick a decent 10"+ brim on a small yellow popper.

Next weekend sees the return to the upper Potomac...weather permitting of course.

Sometimes a fishing trip is just an excuse to get away, and enjoy the water...