newport news reservoir

[shorefisherman]

Does anyone have any good information about newport news Res? the one you can see from 64? I live right down the road from it and thinking about taking my son out on one of the little john boats they have there and seeing if we could scrounge up a mess of crappie.

[Barnacle Bill]

Does anyone have any good information about newport news Res? the one you can see from 64? I live right down the road from it and thinking about taking my son out on one of the little john boats they have there and seeing if we could scrounge up a mess of crappie.

Hi shorefisherman and welcome to Crappie.com. I've never fished there but every time I go by it I wonder how it is. Come to think of it, I don't ever remember seeing a report on it.

[tahoe 50]

hey Bill how about that pond off the expressway? I drive by it everyday on my way to work in va beach. I look at it and think the hell with work go fishin. thanks on the info I found it and am looking for portsmouth/suffolk now. Also looking for a bobber that you fill with water. I used them as a kid in the lakes in Ca. Have looked in bass pro. Have seen some in this month In-Fisherman,but no place to buy them Thanks again and I hope to see ya out fishing.

[Barnacle Bill]

hey Bill how about that pond off the expressway? I drive by it everyday on my way to work in va beach. I look at it and think the hell with work go fishin. thanks on the info I found it and am looking for portsmouth/suffolk now. Also looking for a bobber that you fill with water. I used them as a kid in the lakes in Ca. Have looked in bass pro. Have seen some in this month In-Fisherman,but no place to buy them Thanks again and I hope to see ya out fishing.

You must be refering to Lake Trashmore. Never tried it but its been there long enough to have some fish in it.
Are these the bobbers you are talking about?
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...results1.jhtml

[PanMan_VA]

Does anyone have any good information about newport news Res? the one you can see from 64? I live right down the road from it and thinking about taking my son out on one of the little john boats they have there and seeing if we could scrounge up a mess of crappie.

I have not fished there for many years. Here is what the VDGIF has to say about Lee Hall Reservoir. http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing...oir/index.html

[Boscoe]

We use to fish Lee Hall a lot, Scott went once last year in April did pretty good.The coves across the lake from the stage are good early in the year.
The pilings of the docks and stage are another place to try.There is one cove across the lake with alot off hanging willows that's good during the spawn. The area where the old walk bridge (just past the new bridge) was is on top of the old Civil War era dam, there are a couple of cuts in it that hold crappies during cold weather. It's a good place to take a kid because even if you don't catch any crappies you will catch some pickerel and bass early in the year. There are some nice bass in there and the glitter boat boys don't fish it much because it's electric motors only, Scott caught one there 10.5 lbs back in March of 80 and I lost two the following week close to that size.

[shorefisherman]

Sweet, will see what I can do about getting my son out to fish there this weekend, got a friend at work with a trolling motor but no boat, so that might ease the effort of the weekend.

thanks for the welcome, and thanks for the help. love to crappie fish, but haven't fished since i left Ga in 01. Had a couple of nice honey holes there, plus easy access from the shore. when is the spawn here? or did i miss it already?
about the only thing freshwater i fish for is crappie , and cats. love the cats too.
thanks guys

[SkyChimp]

I know this is an old post, but I figured I'd reply and tell you I've been fishing Lee Hall Reservoir all spring and have been catching lots of crappie (biggest about 1.5 lbs). I'm not necessarily targeting crappie, but I'm getting a lot of them - by far more than anything else. I release all my fish so I'm not really sure what a keeper is.

Lee Hall has LOTS of weed. Good LORD it has lots of weed. The water is semi-clear, too. In the mornings and early evenings I've been catching crappie (near shore, and equally from shore) on Bass Pro Shop's "Cajun Critters" - little 2" softies with 2 tails. Black with chartreuse tails on a green jig head is doing well for me. I don't use a spinner attachment.

The major weed is looks like hydrilla, and it seems to grow in patches. It's all over the lake. I cast into what looks like a bare spot near shore and let it sink a few feet and hit bottom. Then I give it three short jerks and let it sink again. (Does this technique have a name? Hell, I don't know, but it works for me.) It's pretty exciting because you can sometime see the fish dart out of the weeds and take your jig. I caught several crappie just today doing this - one being about 1 lb.

Anyway, give Lee Hall a try. I fish it a lot because it's close to where I live. It has a boat ramp and launching you own cost $4, I think. No gas allowed, electric only. It's a long lake, so take two batteries if you'll be out all day. Either that, or take oars . It has a some good coves, and due to the hurricane, some bigs trees that have been knocked over into the lake. These have been great for everything. Avoid weekend afternoons, as there are lots of paddle boaters out. Weekend mornings and evenings things thin out a bit. Week days are great, and on occassion I've been the only one on the lake. Besides crappie, there are bass, blue gill, yellow perch and LOTS of pickerel, some very big. There are even some remnant northern pike (think they stopped stocking those years ago), but I've only caught them when the water is cold.