Lowrance HDS Screenshots

 This is a pic from early in the morning when the fish were up on a 15 to 20 foot flat hugging the bottom.

 This shot is the school still on the flat but as the sun gets brighter they start moving off the flat into deeper water. These fish are feeding , notice the streaks on the sonar page.

 As I gradually worked deeper I started seeing and catching larger Stripers. Notice my history in the upper part of my sonar page. The Stripers are stratifying in the water column at 20 feet. They were hugging the bottom on the 20 foot flat and as I moved deeper they continued to stay at the same depth.

 I think I am on them here. Again notice in my history on the top of the sonar page all of the fish and how long I had been on them. We were catching 50 fish an hour here.

This is a great shot of some structure on Lake Anna. You can tell it is a hard rocky bottom by all the yellow on the bottom on my sonar page. What I like best about this pic is the side scan screen. Now that's a beautiful shot....I am going to name this picture Jeanne after my wife.

June is the best month to catch schooling fish on Lake Anna.

If you want to learn how to read a Lowrance and have 

fun catching a lot of Stripers, call or email us to book 

a trip. I have two boats rigged the same and the best 

guides on the Lake to put you on the Stripers.

Jim_Hemby@hotmail.com  540 967 3313

Record setting morning

Kylie, Pappa Don, Megan, Jason and Caden

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 77* and Clear.

Picked my crew up at the dock at 5:45 and went fishing. After showing them how to deploy the lines we set up on a flat that fish were holding on. We picked up where we left off yesterday, couldn't keep a bait in the water. By 7am we had already caught 40 fish and had used up every fish in the tank. I went and filled my tank up with bait again which took about an hour. Everyone had a good rest and were ready to get back to the action. We found a school and wore them out. Everyone was proficient now and the fish did not stand a chance. We went through another full tank of bait and by 9am had boated over 111 Stripers, a new record for my boat. Everyone did great on the boat especially the two children. Jason remarked on the way back in that this was great, they could get back in and go out to breakfast. The kids will always remember this fishing trip. Fishing for them will never be the same. What a beginning to a great summer. Book a trip to get into some great action this summer.

100 Plus Striper morning

John, Michael, Carroll and Kelly

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 77* and Clear

I was  ready for my crew this morning when they arrived at the dock. I had a tank full of baits and was ready to show them what to do. After going over how to deploy the lines and how to reel the fish in I went looking for schools. All it took was about 10 minutes for me to find what I was looking for. Before we knew it we were reeling in fish. Kelly hooked up with the first Striper and won the $100 bet for first Striper of the day. Then everyone hooked up and the game was on. We worked the school for about 45 minutes then I pulled off of them so we could catch our breath and regroup. We had caught 20 Stripers and it was only 7 o'clock. We checked a few more places out catching fish everywhere we stopped. After running out of bait as I looked for bait I ran over school after school of Stripers....Murphy's Law if guess. I finally found some bait and filled the tank up again and headed back to where I saw the schools. I never made it to them, I ran over some nice fish so we set up on them.Things got real crazy then. We tried to get all of our baits in the water but the Stripers would have no parts of that. Every time a bait would hit the water it got attacked. We worked this school till we completely ran out of bait. Within an hours time we had over 100 hits and finished the morning well before lunch time with 103 Stripers. Kelly caught not only the first, but the largest and the most. They took home 20 nice Stripers and a whole lot of memories and some torn up thumbs.

Herb and John

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 77* and Clear

This morning I caught bait then picked my clients up at their dock. After our introductions I told them that they were in trouble today only having two anglers this time of year but they laughed and said "Bring it on". Well within 10 minutes I had located a school of fish, taught them how to deploy the lines and the fun began. Since there were only two of them I put John up front and kept Herb in the back with me. Our goal was to get at least 8 baits in the water to show a school of bait. Silly of me to think that could ever happen. We had constant action and eventually I pulled them off of the school. They couldn't keep up with the action and I was having fun watching them try. I decided to leave that area and locate schools that were smaller so we could have more control over the action. We hit a few different areas but the action had slowed so I decided to go catch more bait. I caught over a hundred more baits then decided to put them back in a school to see what they could do. For the next 3 hours they had problems keeping one bait in the water much less attempting to get other rods in. It was comical to watch them go from reeling in a fish, trying to get that rod baited then attempt to put another line in before the first bait would get hit. They simply could not due to the action. They were loving every minute of the frantic action and I was loving watching them enjoy reeling in fish after fish. I would pull them off of a school so they could get a break then when they were ready put them right back over another to do it all over again. We fished till we ran out of bait then called it a morning. I lost track of how many fish they caught but John said he knew he caught well over 30 himself. I can't imagine how many we really caught but we used up over 200 baits. 

This time of year at least 4 anglers are needed to keep up with the action.

Cool Lowrance Pictures

 This shot is a school of Stripers that we worked today. You can see the arches on my sonar page and see nicer fish on my down scan. My side scan [upper right screen] shows fish on both sides of the boat but more fish are to the right. I actually turned to the right after taking this pic and had 5 rods hook up all at once. If you look up on my sonar page in my history [the space to the right of the 31.0] you can see we were on fish for a while but we were just coming into the heart of the school.

 This is a picture of us going under a bridge. My sonar shows Herring from the surface down to 15 feet with a few Gizzards underneath them. I was fairly close to a piling so my down scan with a broader cone angle actually picked up the piling on the right. My side scan shows a sunken boat between the pilings laying on the bottom of the lake. You can click on the picture and it will enlarge.

This picture was taken after going over a road bed that parallels Stubb's bridge.  On my sonar page from left to right is deep water coming up onto the old road bed with a couple of fish above the road, then schools of bait with some crappie in it. My down scan shows the road bed along with the guard rails on the edges of the road, then two pilings with crappie between them. Crappie are hugging the bottom. My side scan shows the submerged road bed with the guard rails, a rock vein between the old road and the bridge piling and a school of bait just outside of the last piling.

Hydrosys Beijing Technology

David, Hali, Andrew, Bernard, Chris and Justin

Cloudy and rain, Water temperature 72*

Saturday, May 10

Hali called a couple weeks ago wanting to book a trip for some international friends to go out and catch some Stripers. I set him up with Guide Tony and that exactly what they did. Come to find out his friends had never fished before so this was a special treat for all of them. Most of his guests flew in from China and one came from Singapore, arriving late last night. After catching about 20 Stripers they wanted to go catch a Bass so Tony obliged them with this nice Bass. This was a great first day visiting the USA.

Lowrance Pics

 This is a screenshot using my chart on the left and sonar on the right. I have highlighted my depths on the chart using dark blue [0 to 10'], light blue [11 to 30'] and gray [31' and over]. This helps me run contours and pattern the fish for that particular day. When the water is cool and maybe cloudy I will pull boards nearby the 10 foot breakline and as the water warms the 30 foot break may produce most of our fish. You can see two waypoints I have on the chart that are on underwater points that are prime examples of where Stripers may hold. The sonar page on the right shows our bait [horizontal line] at 20 feet going right through Stripers [arches] at 22 feet. This bait didn't go far before it was clobbered.

 This is a good example of a rock pile that I ran over. You can tell the bottom was hard by the wide band of yellow. The down scan on the bottom right screen shows more detail of the structure but it is the side scan in the upper right that clearly shows the boulders. You can actually see a vein of rocks going out to the right side of my boat about 60 feet. I was moving pretty fast here, the sonar shows the fish coming up on the left side of the screen about 12 feet deep where at higher speeds the down scan does not show fish quite as well. Speeds under 5mph the scan shows up better.

Here is a shot of my sonar showing a major school of Herring at 15 to 30 feet deep with a school of Stripers underneath the bait ball. Notice the few diagonal lines moving upward from left to right. These are fish streaking up to feed on bait. The majority of fish are simply suspending under the bait. The majority of the Stripers are not feeding in this picture and I did waist bait fishing here. If the bait was more broke up and there were many more streaking fish I would have worked it more. I did come back to the area a couple hours later and saw the bait broke up, put downlines out at 30 feet and wore the Stripers out.

A Whole Lot of Catching Going On

Bob, Paul, Dave, Ron and Errol

Fog in the morning turning into sun and Hot, Water Temperature 73*

I got out early to catch bait but bait collection was tough. I picked the guys up at 6 then took the bait I had and went fishing. We set out a spread of boards pulling a bank ranging in depths from 5 to 20 feet deep. We popped about 10 fish there before I had to make a move to catch more bait. I caught bait and we were ready for action. I have had this motley crew out many times before but I never had experienced anything like what I went through today. I believe the fog got into their brains this morning and clogged up their receptors, and that is all I have to say about that. When we fish together we have a whole lot of fun and today was no exception. I put them on so many fish they were running around the boat for 5 hours in a state of confusion. Bob got in a corner of the boat for a couple hours and spanked the Stripers. He ended up catching over 20 himself. He made the mistake of leaving that corner for a second and Ron took over where Bob left off. Today we took over 200 hits, caught over 70 fish and everyone went home with torn up thumbs from handling Stripers. 

This is the beginning of the summer season. It is common to take up to 300 hits a morning 

and to catch unbelievable amounts of Stripers. When booking trips for the next couple of months 

you will need to bring at least 4 anglers  in order to keep up with the action.

What happened to Spring?

Farley, Darrell and Dwanye

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature climbing to 75* 

This morning the guys wanted to see how I catch bait so we met at five and went up lake pounding the banks for Gizz. After throwing for a couple hours we had a tank full so we went and set out a spread of boards pulling 15 to 25 foot flats. We worked them for a couple hours then we had to go catch more bait. One throw later we were set. I couldn't get baits out without taking hits and for the next 4 hours it was non stop action. I did not count fish today but we caught over 40, maybe over 50.

 Darrell is holding up a nice Bass

This is one of a few Bass Dwayne caught today.

A busy day of Catching Stripers

Maggie, Jim, Hamid, Senior and fast Eddie 

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 68*

This morning I caught bait and was ready for the guys when they showed up at the marina. We headed off to the fishing grounds and I set out a spread of boards about 100 yards before an area where I knew fish were holding. I got my boards out but the plan did not work well, a guy motored in in front of me and fished with his big motor running???? Naturally he did not catch any fish and spooked most of the fish in the area. We still managed to catch 12 to 15 fish in a couple hour span before making a move. We moved about 4 miles where I found a nice school of fish. I no sooner put one bait in the water and immediately it hooked up. We scrambled to get as many lines out and caught a bunch of fish. I decided to make another move which really paid off, we ended up catching over 60 fish with the guys keeping their limits. It was a good day of fishing especially with some clients that have been going out with me for about 10 years. My job is great, I can earn a living, go fishing and be with good friends,,,, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Lowrance Screen Shots

 This is a stack of Crappie. Pic was taken in April after a cold front passed.

 Here is a picture of Stripers in 15 to 20 feet of water. Notice to the left of them on the sonar and downscan pages is a ball of bait. You can also see on the side scan page Stripers off to the right of the boat 40 to 60 feet.

 This is an example of Stripers feeding. The Stripers are actively "Streaking" as is evident by the trails they are leaving. There are traces of bait in the same part of the water column.

This is a great example of how down scan clearly defines what is under the boat. On the sonar page you can see the bottom, see something clustered on and off the bottom rising up about 10 feet with a couple small fish near the top of the structure. Looking at the bottom right [down scan] screen you can clearly see trees laying on their side with limbs protruding upward. Notice the main trunk of the trees about a foot or two paralleling the bottom. Looking at the side scan screen you can see not only the trees under the boat but also trees on the bottom 30 feet to the right of the boat. You can also see that I made a waypoint of structure in which I can return to on another day if I choose to. 

Lowrance HDS is a technology that every angler can benefit from, I just can't imagine a fisherman that fishes the lake not utilizing this kind of information to improve their catches. Stop by Greentop Sporting Goods and check out the Lowrance HDS products, could be the difference in going fishing or Catching!

Sixty fish morning

Lou, Bruce, Jeremiah, Francois

Sunny, windy and pleasant, Water Temperature 68* 

Today Tony had a charter with some of my regular clients so he picked them up at their dock at 6:15 and went fishing. I texted him around 8 this morning asking him how many he had caught and he came back with 19. A couple hours later I texted him again and he replied 60 but should have caught 100. That's a whole lot of action! Tony had the guys back to their dock by lunchtime which gave them plenty of time to clean fish this afternoon. They kept 20 Stripers and released the rest to fight again. Pretty good morning on Lake Anna.

Lake Anna is a Wreck!

 Water this morning was over the bulkhead and no docks were visible.

 Hunters Landing Ramp

 Where are all the docks?

 5 Miles of this.

One of five boats we saw in a couple mile span that had broke loose.

After all the rain the lake is tore up. The water got higher than I have ever seen it. It picked up everything [mulch, leaves, chairs, tables, gas cans, floats, literally everything that was not tied down] The lake looks like a mud bog all the way down to Jetts Island and to Rose Valley. If the wind would get up it probably would blow the debris to one side of the lake so that it could at least be navigable. Fish can still be caught, but you have to fish where your line can get through the water without picking up trash. Downlake from the splits should be fish-able this afternoon. With all the water that fell west of the lake I would imagine debris will continue to inundate the lake for a couple more days pushing the mud line further down the lake. 

A Beautiful Lake Anna Morning

 Cassie and Christian

 Christians first Fish Ever

A couple fish that hooked up at the same time.

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 63* and Clear.

This morning I caught bait early, picked my clients up and set out a spread of boards. This was the first time Christian had ever been fishing so I was excited for him, knowing what I knew what was about to happen to him. He hooked up first and the fun began. He did great and we boated the fish after about a minute battle. Now we were ready to have some fun. We took hit after hit and I believe I had more fun watching their faces as they reeled in the fish than they did. We had a couple hook up at the same time and after I netted the fish both of them acted like their hands and arms were paralyzed from the ordeal of reeling in the fish. They kept some fish to take home and released the others but what they will also take home are some great memories of catching fish on a Spring morning on a beautiful lake.

A limit of Stripers

Catfish, Huffy, Sport and Firestone

DP took these guys out this morning for some "Catching" for Stripers and looked like they did pretty good.

A fun day on the water

Ed, Jane, Cat, and Jim

Sunny and Pleasant, Water temperature 65* and clear

This morning I went out early to hang lights then caught bait and picked my clients up at the break of dawn this morning. We set out a spread and pulled for a few hours then made a move. We worked depths ranging from 3 to 30 feet today and fish hit in all different depth ranges. My clients thoroughly enjoyed themselves today... the weather, company and fishing was excellent. Maybe Spring is here to stay!

Fish and Fowl

Yesterday Tony went Turkey hunting in the morning then took Jimmy Striper fishing in the afternoon for a couple hours. Life is tough, wonder what they are going to do today?

The Copenhavers

 Mark, Dicky, Kim, Kelly, Nicole and Jeremy

Mark"s Hog

Partly Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 60* and Clear

Today"s trip was a Christmas present  given to her Dad and Sister Kelly from Kim. I had caught bait by the time I picked them up at 6:30 so we were able to start fishing immediately. As luck would have it I started getting my spread out and a boat ran right down the whole bank that I was going to fish. We still hit the bank because I did not want to waist the baits but only got rolled several times,  the fish were spooked. After moving to another bank we continued to take hits but had marginal hook-ups. We worked different areas through out the morning with fish working our baits about everywhere we tried. We probably had 50 hits today and the family got to take home enough fish for this holiday weekend's bash on the lake. Mark is pictured holding a 15 pound Striper. Looks like the lake is going to "Turn On" finally and fishing should improve greatly.

Alec, Michael and Anthony

Today Tony, DP and myself wanted to take our sons out for a couple of hours to have some fun on the water. Everyone met me at 10 at my house and off we went to the lake. After catching bait we only had a couple hours to fish before having to get back for baseball practice. We set out a spread of boards and worked an area about 500 yards long. Michael took the first fish on and brought it to the boat, a nice 10 pounder. Alex hopped on the next rod and landed one about 6 pounds. Then we hit a spot where it got real crazy and they all reeled in fish after fish. We moved away from it and hit one more point and that is where Alec's 14 pound Striper tried to pull him into the lake. He battled it for about 5 minutes before we finally boated the fish. If there was a boat within a mile of us they probably thought we were beating the kids because of all the screaming and moaning. Alec thought he had broke his hand reeling in the fish but in the end he was just fine. We could not figure out if the boys enjoyed the fishing or just being together more, there were just smiles the whole time.

John and Jack

Cloudy, Rain and Wind, Water Temperature falling from 61* this morning to 57* at 2pm.

Today was another terrible weather day on the water with wind gusts exceeding 30 mph and rain blowing sideways. Guide Tony met the guys early this morning but had to pick his times between fishing and trying to stay dry in the truck. They all hung in there and produced a great stringer of Stripers. Today boat traffic was certainly no issue as is evident by the stringer.

Fishing in the wind

A happy Jacob and Scott

Today guide DP took Scott and his son out fishing for Stripers. The wind was hateful today, at times there were gusts up to 40 MPH. DP was challenged to keep the boat in the zone but obviously the fish bit today and the guys ended up with a great stringer of fish. Great job guys!

Precious Moments

 Dillon and Alex

 Two fish caught at the same time

 Alex's first Striper of the afternoon

Dylan's Hog

Today I had an opportunity to take a couple of boys out for 2 1/2 hours this afternoon that dream about fishing, Dylan [guide Brian's son] and Alex his neighbor the lives across the street. DP and I got out just after lunch and caught bait then picked Brian and the boys up at 2 o'clock. We were ready for whatever action the lake would give us with 3 guides on the boat. All we wanted to do was hook the boys up with fish. We set out a spread of 10 planner boards, a bobber and a free line and before we knew it we started taking hits. Alex jumped on the first one and reeled it in like a pro. Dylan was next up but he did not know if he wanted to play with his dinosaurs, eat candy or reel in a fish but we persuaded him to reel in the fish. I have a rule on the boat if you pick up the rod you must not "tap out" and give it up regardless how big the fish is. Dylan did a great job and after some time the fish came to the boat and he won the battle. He was so proud of his accomplishment that his focus was now on the fish, not playing in the bait tank or dinosaurs. We actually got some great footage of both the boys reeling in the two fish that hit at the same time that they are holding up together. Before we knew it our 2 hours were up and we had to get the boys back to the dock to get them home but we delayed a few minutes emptying the tank allowing the boys to catch a couple more. Our prayers were answered today with the fish gods bestowing their blessings on us giving the boys memories they will never forget. Brian called me on the way home and said the boys were both sound asleep not knowing if they were worn out more from the actual fishing or the anticipation of knowing they were going fishing today. May God Bless our Children.

A Nasty Day on the water

 Doug, Joe and Steve

Joe's 30" Striper

Cloudy and Rain, Water Temperature 57*

We got early this morning to catch bait but we had to throw for a couple hours to get enough to get started. We set out a spread of boards and started taking hits on points. The weather was horrible. The cold, rain and occasional gusts made the day quite uncomfortable. We pulled for about 2 hours this morning before running out of baits then spent a couple more hours restocking the bait tank. This morning when the wind was blowing out of the East we took plenty of hits but the fish did not seem to really want the baits. The fish would hit the bait and pull the planner board 10 to 20 feet across the surface then simply let go. In the afternoon the wind changed to to West which changed the fishes attitude. The Stripers would hit the baits better increasing our hook up ratios considerably. Then the wind changed again to out of the North turning the fish off. Although the weather was poor today and the bite was fickle we had plenty of fun and action. We had over 30 strikes boating 12 Stripers and a few Catfish. Joe is pictured holding his 11 pound Striper. The water temperature dropped over 3 degrees while we fished today.

Some great father-son time

 Josh and Joseph

 Josh's first Striper

Cloudy and warm. Water Temperature 57* 

I met my clients at 6 and caught bait easily this morning. We had our spread out at daylight pulling beautiful baits over shallow flats. Today we had about 20 strikes and had fun catching Stripers. Joseph was going to bring his younger son but he had some medical complications last night and could not make it today. More fish for Josh to reel in but sad brother could not make it. We had steady action this morning but the bite slowed this afternoon. Today was a beautiful day on the water with plenty of action and good company. Josh's big fish was 8 3/4 pounds. Hope younger brother gets well soon.

Kenny

Guide DP took Kenny out for an afternoon of fun catching Stripers.

Emerald Homes

Ray, Marvin, Sean, Robert and Raymond

Sunny and beautiful, Water temperature 50* and Clear

Guide Brian who also sells homes for Emerald Homes in Richmond wanted to treat Ray and the guys to trip to the lake so Brian cooked up a feast Monday evening for them, housed them in the lake house and took them fishing today for Stripers. We threw for bait for a couple of hours then picked up the crew and went fishing. Once we got all of our baits out we started taking hits and Sean reeled in the first fish of the day. We worked the area for about an hour catching fish then caught some more baits and set up in a different area pulling planner boards. We caught fish there as well before deciding to make one more final move. I had to get off the water early for an appointment so we put out 14 lines then emptied the bait tank and took a picture of the guys holding up some fish. While I was popping the picture we hooked up and boated a Striper and before we could get our lines in another fish met his doom. We ended up with 14 Stripers for our efforts today. The water is finally warming which is going to turn this lake on.