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Jim
Hemby's
LAKE
ANNA FISHING REPORT for MAY
This
report furnished by Jim Hemby of LAKE ANNA STRIPER GUIDE SERVICE
The lake is full now,
Water temperatures warmer than normal, Fishing is Great!
 
The Bass is held by Bobby Barnes ,
Citation fish, 8 1/2 pounds. The group picture is the "Mohr"
group who went out later with me the same day. Fish caught on April
25th.
BASS: Fishing just
doesn't get any better than Lake Anna in May. April was great , two of
my clients Geo. Hussey and Ron Emery catching citations in successive
trips. Bass are post spawn down lake and are either spawning over the
rest of the lake or will be within the next 2 weeks. Target shallow
coves and especially 30 degree gently sloping banks with sand or
gravel bottoms and stumps scattered about. If you find these
conditions with a secondary point, even better. Tube baits, Senkos,
Carolina Rigged Lizards, and Jerk baits work well here. Baitfish are
spawning on windblown rocky and clay banks, find a point with these
conditions and throw a #8 willowleaf spinnerbait in White or Pearl up
on the banks and try to get your bait back to the boat. You can catch
some hogs here especially if these points are nearby spawning areas.
Up lake in the North Anna they will hit spinnerbaits near the willow
grass beds and mid lake Bass will blow up on poppers and chuggars as
well as buzz baits in 4 to 15 feet of water. Bass are cruising the
shallows now, cover lots of water using Polarized Glasses looking for
Stumps, beds and Bass. Later in the month the larger fish will fall
back to much deeper water to recover from the rigors of the spawn and
will gorge themselves on Herring. We catch many of these fish around
the splits along the edge of the channel where points and flats are
nearby.
STRIPERS:
Striper fishing is great now as is evident in our catches of recent
weeks [To view our daily catches, visit my journal at www.JimHemby.com
]. Limits are common and with most fish averaging 8 to 10 pounds
although on the days the "Cows" feed the averages go way up.
One morning in April my clients caught 2 Stripers over 19 pounds.
Striper fishing should continue to get even better as the fish are
still spawning and after they finish later in the month they will move
to deeper water where daily catches for my clients should average 30
to 50 fish per day. Many patterns exist now and will change as the
water temperature increases. Early in the day, late in the evening and
in low light conditions work shallow flats, main lake points and
shallow humps nearby deep water. After the sun get up high in the sky
pull off the shallow flats and move to the deeper flats in 20 to 30
feet of water where baitfish are present. Throw Redfins, Chuggars and
Spooks in lowlight conditions and when the fish go deeper work swim
baits [ Sea Shads, Sassy Shads and Berkley 5” Power Mullets] with
steady retrieves. Without a doubt the best catches will come this
month from savvy live bait fisherman. Huge Stripers will blow
10 to 12 inch Gizzard Shad
out of the water pulled behind planner boards or on freelines
when they are shallow and when the fish move deep we put Blueback
Herring in their faces on downlines for multiple hookups. Be versatile
in May , start off shallow and if you aren't hooking up with Stripers
simply back off to deeper water. With water temperatures being much
warmer this year than normal I expect to see the fish school up
earlier this year resulting in better downline fishing with increased
catches.
CRAPPIE:
Most Crappie have spawned by now and have moved back to the 6 to 15
foot depths with nice slabs being caught on deeper docks and the
shallower bridge pilings. April produced dozens of Crappie citations
and fish will continue to be great in May. Look for rocky drop-offs on
or nearby points , brush piles on flats and generally areas where
baitfish are plentiful with structure . Another trolling technique
that works well now is employing the use of numerous length rods
tipped with jigs fishing 10 foot flats catching the roaming schools of
Crappie that are not relating to cover, especially on cloudy days.
www.JimHemby.com
HYPERLINK "mailto:JimHemby@hotmail.com"
540-967-3313
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