Fishing Report

                     McCotter's Lake Anna Guide Service Fishing Report/Forecast June

Lake Anna, VA - June fishing on Lake Anna is usually a fantastic
activity because many fish are actively feeding all over the lake. The
spawns are over and our bass, striper and crappie and slipping into
their summer patterns. This means you need to fish shallow early in
the morning and late in evening and deeper at other times for all
three species. Water temperatures were approaching 80 degrees on June
1. Striper fishing was finally beginning to pick up at the turn of the
month. We will experience a good panfish spawn on the June 18 full
moon and perhaps on the new moon on the 5th so get the flyrods and
crickets ready. Here's what you can expect for your next visit.

Largemouth bass - You'll find schooling bass on bait in many creeks.
Determining when they will feed on the plentiful bait is the key.
Think early morning with topwater and soft plastic jerkbaits and
you'll be on the right track. Elsewhere, concentrate on shallow willow
grass and docks with a wacky rigged worm, soft plastic stick bait,
buzzbait or a topwater popper first thing in the morning and have some
fun. By 10 am, you'll probably have to start fishing a shaky worm or
other finesse type worm in 5-12' deep. Crankbaits are also good when
you find baitfish on the depth finder in 5-12'. I've started to catch
fish on swimbaits. Use a long cast and fish them over
main lake flats near grass lines. You'll be surprised how many bass
come from dark corners to eat your bait.... Hot zone for bass this
month is the midlake region as well as the extreme upper ends of the
North Anna, Pamunkey and Terry's Run.

Striper - Excellent fishing now for schooled fish in the midlake
region. Target stripers from the Rose Valley and Stubbs Bridge areas
down to the mouth of Sturgeon Creek. Fish are breaking early in the
mornings and will take a Zara Spook or swimbait. After the breaks, go
deeper with a vertically jigged spoon or live bait on downlines.
Herring, shad and jumbo shiners are working just fine. The hot zone
this month is The Splits. Long line trolling with deep diving plugs is
also working now.

Crappie - Not as many folks targeting specks this month on Anna. They
are holding in brush 10-20' trying to recover from their spawning
activity. I like fishing midlake brushpiles, but uplake bridges and
rocks are also good. Try a 1/16-oz. jig head and tiny Bass Assassin or
minnows on slip bobbers.

June 2008 Lake Anna Fishing Report

                                     Jim Hemby - Lake Anna Guide Service  

   STRIPERS: Striper fishing is and will be for the next 2 months HOT. With water temperatures rising into the 80's and the Stripers finishing their spawn the fish are pulling back to their deeper main lake schooling areas and are feeding on schools of Herring and Gizzard Shad fattening up for the summer. The Stripers are migrating into the midlake regions of the lake and feeding on points and midlake humps in lowlight conditions, falling back to to the river channel bends and flats in the 30 foot range during the day. Topwater baits will entice some explosive strikes early in the morning hours. Good baits to throw are Berkley Frenzy Poppers, Pencil Poppers, Redfins and Spooks. For live bait run Water Bugz planner boards early in the morning in the shallow waters and once the sun gets bright pull back to the adjacent flats and put downlines in their faces baited with Herring, Gizzards or Jumbo Minnows and be ready for constant and ferocious action. For artificial during midday,  jig a ¾ oz. Hopkins spoon in their face or troll deep diving Redfins with  bucktail trailers, Norman DD-22’s, or XPS LEC-15’s and umbrella rigs  over 30' flats. Concentrate your efforts within 3 miles either side of the 208 Bridge. Guide Jim Hemby and clients have been catching limits of fish fairly consistently in the past weeks.  Paul Henon, George Hussey, Gary Skillicorn, and Tom Welsh caught their limit with Jim.  As did, Michael Kohler, Jim Ciulla, Eugene Caine, and David Najeti.

   BASS: The Bass have finished their spawn and have retreated to deeper water nearby spawning areas to replenish their energy and feed up for the summer months. The Bass will regain their energy levels and start feeding on the points, humps and flats hitting chuggar and popping baits with vengeance. Work your baits in clear water with slow, rhythmic chuggs giving the Bass time to locate and blow up on the bait. The Bass will come up out of 20 feet of water to take advantage of your offering. When they are not chasing baits the Bass can be caught in main lake brush, rock piles and on primary points using large Berkley Power worms in the cover and Carolina rigged worms or lizards elsewhere covering as much water as you can. Drop Shotting over rocky flats with smaller offerings and shakey jigs around bridge pilings will produce this month. The Bass will also ambush spinner baits and twitch baits around the grass beds in the North Anna.  Wilson Bradley of Spotsylvania caught a 6 lb fish.  Martin Villa and Jeff Gibson had a 13 lb 8 oz stringer

   CATFISH: These fish are extremely plentiful and are feeding everywhere. The larger Cats are just under or behind the schools of Stripers . Anglers are catching fish using Powerbait Catfish Bait on fish finder rigs and the Cats sure are hitting live bait very well. The Catfish show up on your depth finder as arches on or very near the bottom.