Thread: "A great day at Lake Anna"

No, this isn't a real headline.

I've never fished at Lake Anna--in spite of the fact that it's closer than other places I do fish. Why don't I fish there? Mainly, it's because there's a total absence of C.C reports. 9,600 acres of water must hold enough slabs to feed several small countries, but that's a lot of lake to cover if you don't know where to start.

Has anyone fished Lake Anna for specks?

I haven't but I visited High Point Marina one time to fish with a striper guide and they had lots of pictures up of crappie. You might want to try there and fish the bridge pilings right there at the ramp.

Buy a contour map if at all avaliable. look for the largest flats in the up stream end of the lake. find the fish hiways that lead to it, fish them, checkin all depths and speeds.

I went camping up there with a group of friends in early spring about 10 years ago. One of the guys was local and had a pontoon boat so he took us out for some crappie. He had what looked like about 12 dozen minnows in a bucket and I asked him what all them was for. He said do you think we have enough? Over the course of 3 days 6 of us caught hundreds of crappie off every dock he pulled up to. I have tried to go back and repeat that success but haven't had any luck on my own up there.

Lowrance has a free contour map if it will work with your GPS. Enhanced Lake Maps | Lowrance

Every year at Bassarama, the Lake Anna guides are there bragging about the amount of crappie they catch in the spring. That is a big mess of water to try to find them on.

Originally Posted by brad reedy

Every year at Bassarama, the Lake Anna guides are there bragging about the amount of crappie they catch in the spring. That is a big mess of water to try to find them on.

That's why I'm looking for pointers. It's 35 miles closer than BI and if it can produce the same catches of specks, I can't afford to ignore it.

I'm not ruling out a guided trip to get started. Any guides you'd recommend?

Originally Posted by ekim22

You might want to try there (High Point Marina) and fish the bridge pilings right there at the ramp.

Good suggestion. Thanks.

Originally Posted by fishdoc

Buy a contour map if at all avaliable. look for the largest flats in the up stream end of the lake. find the fish hiways that lead to it, fish them, checkin all depths and speeds.

Thanks, Doc. I found the map several weeks ago & will study it with these suggestions in mind.

pardon me for butt'n in ...

I've never fished Lake Anna, nor any other Va. lakes/waters ... so take this as a generic suggestion.

If the following are present in this lake :

Shad base (esp Threadfin)
Black Crappie
Docks with > 10ft of water underneath
Bridges over main lake or large/deep creeks (concrete bases/supports)
Flats with submerged timber, or humps with stumps

My suggestion is to :

Shoot the docks w/jigs - 1/32oz-1/16oz jighead/plastics or 1/64-1/32oz hair.
Cast jigs & Vertical Cast jigs around the concrete foundations of the bridges.
Cast jigs over the submerged timber on the flats/humps.

Of course, you already know how to fish these areas, using minnows ... so, I'll leave the choice up to you

Some interesting websites to look at :

Fishing Lake Anna with Glenn Briggs. Your Virginia Fishing Guide.

New Page 1

My suggestions are based on how/where I fish on East TN's Watts Bar Reservoir ... during the months of Oct/Nov. But, after reading the info in those two links, I think I've made some decent suggestions

... luck2ya ... cp

ps ... did a Google Earth search, and looked over the lake ... very interesting !! Lots of good sized docks, nice looking facilities at Anna Point, 208 Bridge ... all pretty close together.

All I know about Lake Anna, I've learned from forums on "other" fish.
(there's walleye in there) Stripers too.
The main thing everybody complained about was the large amount of boat/jet ski traffic. Now that the summer is over, this might not be as much of an issue.

Originally Posted by ShellQuacker

The main thing everybody complained about was the large amount of boat/jet ski traffic. Now that the summer is over, this might not be as much of an issue.

You're right about his problem--it's terrible during summer. When the school buses start rolling, the fishing season can get under way! Ten thousand acres is a lot of lake, but I'm beginning to get a good idea of where to invest a trip or two.

I wouldn't mind hitting that lake too. May be a well kept secret. I got to get thru Octobers (soccer and scouts) then I will have room to breath. We will have to make a trip up.

Dayton