LakeAnna 2017/2018

angler’s paradise|feature
Lake Anna
Fishing
From March through the winter,
Lake Anna offers fishing for every season
BY: CHRIS CRAFT,
CCBASSN GUIDE SERVICE
Lake Anna is a 13,000-acre impoundment located in the counties of Louisa, Spotsylvania
and Orange. Out of the 13,000 acres, only 9,600 are open to public use. The remaining
3,400 acres is used as cooling lagoons for the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant.
Most anglers refer to the different sides as the “hot side” and the “cold side.” Although
there are fishing opportunities on the hot side, you must have access to one of the private ramps
located on that side. The cold side, however, has several public ramps that can be used 365 days per
year. I personally use the ramp located at Anna Point Marina.
There are several different species of fish that anglers can pursue on Lake Anna, with the top
three being Largemouth Bass, Crappie and Striper. I guide for Largemouth Bass and Crappie mostly,
but I do throw in some striper fishing when the timing is right.
LARGEMOUTH BASS
The Largemouth Bass gets the most
attention; many anglers visit Lake Anna in
March and April looking for that bass of a
lifetime. Lake Anna does not have a minimum
size requirement to keep a bass; most anglers
practice catch and release, as they are a popular
tournament fish. If you do keep some, please
remember that the creel limit is five per day, per
angler. A trophy fish by Virginia guidelines is a
fish that weighs 8 pounds and or measures 22
inches in length. The lake record was caught on
March 20, 1985, and my personal best weighing
in at 9 pounds, 1 ounce was caught on March
13, 2012. So, it can be said that the best time to
catch a true giant largemouth from Lake Anna
is during March.
There are many ways to catch bass as they
move from their winter hideouts. In early
March when the water first starts to warm
up, they will slowly start making a move to
shallower water. Keep in mind that deep
water nearby is a must. They will still be very
lethargic, and you will almost have to hit
them in the nose with your bait to entice a
strike. My best overall bait this time of year is
a suspending jerkbait. This bait fish imitator
comes in a variety of sizes and colors. I try to
keep in mind what they may be feeding on
and match the color and size to that—it may
be Threadfin Shad, Blueback Herring or even
Crappie—and I have colors for all three of
those to match the situation.
As we move toward the end of the month
and the water warms even more, the bass will
become more aggressive. You can now fish your
suspending jerkbaits much faster and even move
on to other baits such as spinnerbaits, squarebill
crankbaits and soft jerkbaits.
As the full moon in April approaches, the
bass start feeding heavy in preparation for the
upcoming spawn. They will take a variety of
baits and be very aggressive doing so. Being
very aggressive does not make it easy by any
means; you still have to be stealthy and accurate
with your presentations.
Now that they have moved onto the beds,
they will be less likely to feed. The spawn
usually lasts for about a month, and after it is
over, the females will move out and recover
for a few days. The males stay behind to guard
the bed and eventually the fry. After about
3–5 days of recovery, the females will start to
feed back up. This is a great time to put your
top water lures to work. Large walking baits
(Zara Spook, Paycheck Baits Repo Man and
Damiki Rambler), poppers and buzzbaits are all
great choices for this task, as they will all draw
explosive and violent strikes.
Fishing Continued On Page 34
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