Kevin Farley with sons Taylor and Jacob

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 84* and Clear.

As usual I got out early this morning, caught bait then picked my clients up at 5:15 at High Point Marina.

It didn't take long before I located some fish so we attempted to set up on them but it was a learning experience and took a little too long to get the baits deployed. I soon located a couple acres of  Stripers and before we knew it fish were coming in the boat. This was a huge school so when my Lowrance showed only a few fish we would get our lines in, get on the big motor, find the fish and set up on them numerous times. We probably hit the school a dozen different times before we limited out. We certainly attracted a lot of attention reeling in fish, when I located the school there were no boats around then a few minutes later every Striper fisherman on the lake must have been around us. We got off the water very early, the weekend warriors were probably still in bed dreaming about pulling skiers through our lines. Hopefully everyone has a safe and fun weekend celebrating the 4th of July.

Jack Mathews with guests Larry, Pat and brother George

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 85* and clear

Caught bait early then picked up my clients up at their dock at 5:15. We went looking for schools of Stripers, found one and set up on them. We popped 3 or 4 before we lost the school. We looked and set up on a couple more schools before I made a major move and found an untouched school. We used up all of our baits on this school and still I was seeing them on my Lowrance. I went and caught some more bait then limited out. We got off the water before noon. It is hard to tell from this picture but these fish were very solid fish today.

Stephanie and Jamisson

Sunny and Hot, Water Temperature 82* and clear.

Guide Tony took this couple fishing this morning for Stripers and by the looks of the stringer they had a great morning. Stephanie is holding the big fish of the day, a 10 pounder, which is the largest fish she has ever caught. They got off the water early so they did not have to deal with the heat.

Kalie, Joe, Robert, Bob and Jessie

Guide Tony and I double teamed the Stripers today and here are the results of what two experienced guides and clients who follow directions very well can catch in a morning. Tony got out very early this morning to catch bait and worked diligently to teach his crew how to deploy the baits so that when he put them on the fish they would spank um. This crew kept 24 nice Stripers and caught who knows how many more fish. Everyone had a great morning fishing and got off the water before the thunderstorms hit. Kalie caught the largest fish of the day.

Bob, Dennis, Jim and Jim Jr.

Sunny and Hot, Water Temperature 85* and Clear.

I caught 150 baits then picked the guys up at their dock at 5:30 am. I explained to them how to deploy the baits then set up on a small school hopefully to teach them how to put the baits out and reel a fish in. We stumbled a little and lost the school so I had them get the baits in and I located a huge school of Stripers. One of our other guides Tony was out so as we were setting up on this school I called Tony a couple of times urging him to come join in the action. We were actually on a school of fish that covered a minimum of 5 acres of water. Needless to say both boats had their way with the fish. As I would start to loose the school I would get aggressive and get back on my big motor to relocated the school. After doing this several times I finally lost the school. We found numerous smaller schools that we would work until we were out of bait around 8:15. I went and caught 200 more baits and looked for some more fish. Tony called me and said he had located a school about 5 miles from me so I headed his way at full throttle. I pulled up next to him but by now he had lost the school. He said it to was a huge school so I went one direction without locating it so I turned the boat around and headed back up the lake and found the school about 500 yards from where Tony last saw them. We attempted to get all our baits in the water but the fish would not tolerate a live bait around them, as soon as the bait hit the water we would hook up. After a minute or two I looked up at the front of the boat and Bob had 3 fish laying at his feet and Jim Jr. had 2 in the boat, meanwhile Jim and Dennis were engaged in the rear of the boat with their own action. I had called Tony up to the school but he had run out of bait so I called them over to my boat and gave them about 40 baits. They went through the baits also very quickly. We had our limit so we gave the other boat the rest of the baits then called it a morning. Today was a celebration of Jim Sr's 75th birthday and of the 50 years of marriage of Dennis to his bride. After I took the picture of the guys holding the fish I think they were going to call their wives to come down to the dock to clean all these fish!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY AND BIRTHDAY

Tim, Tom, John and Rick

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 85* and Clear

Guide Tony got out early this morning , caught 100 baits for his charter and picked his clients up at High Point at 5:30. He knew there was a good early morning bite so he looked for a school of Stripers till he found what he wanted to see. They put Herring rigged on downlines on the fish and proceeded to wear them out. There are actually times when every anglers are hooked up and can't handle other rods bent over. Not a bad catch for a busy weekend day on the lake.

The Pederson Boys

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 85* and Clear.

Caught bait and picked the guys up at 5:30 at High Point then went looking for fish. We located a school and set up on them with downlines. The first set up was pretty slow and we lost the school so I had to relocate the school numerous times to put fish in the boat. By 7:30 we had 8 keepers in the cooler but the fish had split up and were in pods of 10 to 20 fish. I decided to check out some other areas which paid off. We kept 16 Stripers today. Ryan is pictured holding up 2 fish that he caught on one rod at the same time, quite a battle.

Terry, Brian, Larry and Dan

Sunny and Hot, Water Temperature 84* and Clear.

We started off this morning with 175 baits looking for schools of Stripers. We looked for an hour without seeing a fish! I finally saw a few fish in 35 feet of water so I set the boat down, turned it 90* and saw about 50 on my side scan out about 80 feet to the right of the boat. This was our first set up and as usual it was a little difficult for some to get the baits out properly. The guys soon caught on and we started putting fish in the boat. We lost the school 3 or 4 times but I easily found it again and we continued work on the school. After about an hour we had gone through most of our baits so I went to catch more bait. I wanted to show Brian how to catch daytime Herring so we took about a half an hour setting up and throwing on schools of Herring. We caught about 120 more baits then took off in search of more schools. We saw scattered fish so we put out some trolling rods and started picking up fish again. Next thing I knew we went over a major school so we reeled our lines in and put out live bait on downlines. That is when the fun began. We could only get 1 bait in the water and before we could think of putting another bait out the first bait would get clobbered. For 30 minutes we spanked this school of fish, the whole time never getting all of our rods in the water. It was pure madness! Everyone was working so hard trying to reel in fish and trying to get at least another bait in the water but we just could not keep up. I looked up and there were 6 lines that needed baiting and I asked the guys if they would like to pull off of the school, let it be and go find another school. After a little deliberation we all decided we had enough fun and it would be best to leave that school alone.We left the school and fished for about 2 more hours trolling for Stripers. It was actually quite relaxing and fun trolling catching fish without the pressure that we went through on the previous school. Terry did not want to take any fish home so Brian kept 3 and Larry took home 8. A great day was had by all of us. These Lowrance screen shots were taken on a couple different schools we worked today.

The Whalings...Bailey, Amy, Jacob, Jamie and Alexis

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 80* and Clear.

I caught 150 baits this morning then went to the marina to pick up Jamie and his family. As I left the marina I explained to them how to deploy the baits and how to reel in the fish. We then proceeded to look for Schools of Stripers. Within 10 minutes I located what I wanted to see so we set up on the fish. Before we could get all the baits in the water we started taking hits. They must have listened to me pretty well when I told them how to put the baits out because they were extremely proficient and their results showed it. We found and fished 5 or 6 schools of Stripers and had to catch more bait. We looked for and found more Stripers and fished till we ran completely out of bait. We went through 300 baits today catching between 80 and 90 Stripers and about 20 Catfish. Alexis caught a Largemouth bass also. This family came to fish and they did an excellent job today.

Lonnie Carter with sons LJ and Ryan

Lonnie called wanting to take his sons fishing for Fathers day but I had been on my road trip and Tony had a day charter. I called Tony and he said he would take Lonnie fishing for a afternoon trip on Sunday so he could catch fish with his sons. They went out at 3 with still plenty of boat traffic on the lake and proceeded to catch 20 Stripers .The gang is pictured holding some of the fish they caught with LJ in the middle picture holding up a nice Striper. Ryan is in the lower picture holding up one of the fish he caught on Sunday. Looks like everyone had a great time and got to enjoy Fathers day on the water.

Brian, Doug and Bob

Yesterday guide Tony took these guys out for a full day charter for Fathers day fishing for Stripers. They got started early trying to beat the weekend traffic but it didn't take long before the lake was full of boaters. They had a great day, they caught over 40 Stripers and numerous Catfish. They did not want to keep any fish so they released all but these 3 which Tony kept to take home for dinner. They will always have these memories to keep of spending the day fishing for and catching Stripers on Lake Anna on Fathers day.

Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Benedict

Cloudy and Cool, Water temperature 78* and Clear.

I caught bait this morning then picked my clients up at their dock at 5:30. We went searching for schools of Stripers and after about 15 minutes of looking I found a nice school. We set out downlines on the fish and after before you knew it the deck was littered with fish. We went through about 25 baits on the first set up. I looked for and found a couple more schools experiencing similar results and by 8:30 we had gone through a hundred baits. It started to rain about 9 this morning and by 9:30 everyone was cold and wet so we called it a day and I took them back to their dock. I expected to see Stripers breaking this morning but only a few broke the water, at least where I was fishing. I have been away on my yearly motorcycle trip for the last week and this is the first day back on the water. I expect fishing only to get better for the next month or so.

Patricia and Ed Frosch

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 81* and Clear

Guide Brian Mohr took Ed and Pat out yesterday on the lake to catch Stripers. Brian located a huge school of over a thousand Stripers and attempted to set up on them with downlines. He could only get 4 or 5 lines in the water before the bait would get clobbered. After taking about 30 hits and boating about 10 Stripers his clients realized they had to go back to the marina, so Brian had to leave the feeding Stripers and take them back. By the time he returned back to the area where the school was it had moved. They decided to troll while looking for schools but could only put out 2 rods because with only 2 anglers on board when you get multiple hookups there has to be people to man the rods. Brian located another huge school and tried to put downlines on the fish but the action was too intense for just 2 anglers to handle again. They had fish on constantly but could not keep up with the action. Eventually Brian could not keep baits in the water and the school dissipated.

This time of year it is imperative to have at least 4 anglers on the boat to keep up with the action. We want to have out 10 downlines when we locate the schools so we can show a "school" of bait to hold the Stripers in the area. Two anglers simply can not keep up with the action. Ed and Pat accepted the challenge and caught about 30 Stripers before the weekend boat traffic took its toll. Patricia sent me an email commending Brian and thanking us for a great fishing trip.

Mike, John and Reggie Bob

Sunny and warm, Water Temperature 78* and Clear.

I got out early this morning, caught bait and picked the guys up at High Point Marina at 5:30. After showing them how to deploy the baits we set out to locate schools of Stripers. We looked on my graph for 45 minutes seeing only small pods of fish, nothing worthy of setting up on. I continued to look till I saw a few pods nearby each other so we set up on them. After taking about 20 hits I decided to look for other schools. After seeing fish still scattered and not schooled tightly I decided to troll lures through the broken up fish all the while looking for larger schools to set up on with live bait. The plan worked out perfectly. We started boating fish after fish trolling then when we would see the larger schools we would quickly change over to downlines rigged with live bait and work the school till we lost them, then convert back to trolling. We did this time and time again with great results. John is pictured holding up one of the few "doubles" that he caught at the same time on one rod. Reggie Bob is in the back of the boat staring at his rod wondering why he couldn't reel in two at a time. Reggie Bob should know that John has a lot more experience on this lake, after all he is the head biologist [VDGIF]  on the lake and has been for some time now. Mike worked the front of the boat this morning reeling in fish and alerting John to when he was hooked up. The two seasoned veterans enjoyed playing with the rookie Reggie Bob today although Reggie did reel in his share of fish. Today we caught 38 Stripers by lunch time. The guys kept 14 to take home and sample and released all the other Stripers healthy to fight again another day.  

Schools of Stripers

Yesterday I took Chris Myers, his son and Grandboys fishing for Stripers. We caught about 60 fish and by the end of the trip everyone was tired of reeling in fish. As you can see by the Lowrance pictures there were plenty of Stripers around to catch. We found 6 or 8 different schools yesterday similar to the ones seen on these pictures.When you are on schools like this everyone stays hooked up!

DP's Lowrance

Guides DP and Anthony went out for a couple hours this morning looking for Stripers and took these pictures off of DP's graph. The top picture shows the Stripers between 24 and 35 feet deep.
The red horizontal line is his sinker being pulled through the school. The arches that are streaking either up or down are actually feeding fish while the other arches depict fish in a neutral mood. Needless to say they caught fish here.

JFHQ-NCRJ3 Annual Fishing Trip

Today was this groups Annual fishing trip to Lake Anna. Group participants were Mr. George Lockwood, Col. Shields, Angel, Michelle, Jerry, Al, Scott, Chris, Craig, Tamim, and Zimmer. Although fishing was slow today due to the bad weather everyone hung in there and had fun. Today we never found any huge schools but fish were scattered everywhere we looked. We would put the baits in the fishes faces but the fish had something else on their minds other than eating.