Water Temp: 84 degrees                                                              Water Clarity: Good/Fair

Daytime high temperatures, that have been exceeding 90 degrees many days over the past several weeks will cool considerably after a cold front moves through the area on Tuesday. The daytime high temperature will only reach the low 80’s during the week and is expected to get up into the upper 80’s over the weekend. The low temperature at night will range from the upper 50’s to the low 60’s for the same period and these temperatures should cool the surface water in the lake. The surface temperatures, which had gotten up over to 90 degrees in some places last week could drop back to around 80 degrees, especially early in the day. There is a chance of scattered thunderstorms on Tuesday when the cool front moves through the area. Skies should be sunny to partly cloudy for most of the week with a chance of scattered thunderstorms this weekend. There is a full moon this Wednesday, June 18th and it will provide plenty of light on the lake at night.  

The recent rise in surface water temperatures, accelerated the spawning activities of many fish. While the alewives continue to come to the shoreline at night, the intensity of their spawning activities appears to have peaked and this bite may start to decline over the next several weeks. Bluegills continue to spawn along the shoreline and can be readily seen almost everywhere. For those with visiting youngsters, bluegill are easy to catch using “red wiggler worms” rigged on a number 6 hook with a split shot and bobber. Large numbers of carp can also be seen in shallow water up close to the shoreline. Black bass can be found cruising along the shoreline and suspended under the backs of floating docks looking for small bluegill to eat. Small swimbaits, flukes, Senko’s and topwater poppers in the appropriate colors can be effective lures for bass when fished near bluegill this time of year.   

The bass fishing continued to be good this past week. While some fish moved deeper with the continued warmer weather and resulting increase in water temperature, a number of fish remained up near the shoreline and were caught in shallow water this week. The fish in deeper water were found off the front of deepwater docks, on natural rock and around submerged brush piles. These fish are being caught on a variety of lures including crankbaits, sinking (Yamasenko) worms, shaky head jigs, football head jigs and rigs using worms, brushhogs and lizards. Bass are also being caught in water from two to ten feet deep, especially around docks and steep natural rock bluffs. Wacky rigged Gary Yamamoto “Senko” worms presented on free spooled, open faced, spinning reels and medium to medium light rods continue to be very effective around both. Amber laminates, watermelon and green pumpkin continue to be good colors. 

Topwater baits (Rico, G-Splash, Gunfish) continue to produce bass early in the morning and at night. Bass continue to look for crawfish up near the shoreline and crawfish imitating jigs (Dave’s, Eakin’s) and plastic baits like the Netbait Paca Craw, Deep Creek Craw, ZOOM craw and Yamamoto plastics continue to produce good fish. Shaky head and giggy head jigs with plastic worms (Giggy Stick, Roboworm, Berkley, ZOOM) are also producing along the shoreline and off docks. We continue to catch crawfish from the lake and bring them into the store every week so anglers can see their colors. The crawfish caught this week were green pumpkin in color with claws were a lighter shad of green and had a slight hint of purple and blue in them. Those should be good colors for jigs, Roboworms, finesse baits and plastic craws.  

There were 29 teams competing in the Tuesday night tournament last week. Gary Nichols, Jr. and James Cassiday won the event with a total weight of 15.10 pounds. Twenty-six boats competed in the Friday night tournament out of the State Park. Bryant Copley and Steve Woodroof brought in a five fish weight of 19.12 pounds to the scale to win that event. Grant Foley and Billy Byrd caught the big fish weighing 6.5 pounds Friday and took third place as a team. The team of Stinnett and Creasy won the Saturday night tournament out of Foxport with a total weight of 16.45 pounds. The big fish Saturday weighed 5.50 pounds and was caught by the team of Bill Ward and Phillip Vanderveer. The SMLBass tournament Sunday was won by Travis Towe and Danny Towe with a weight of  11 pounds 10 ounces.  

Striper fishing has been good recently. Those using live bait presented on freelines and split shot lines behind large floats, Redi-rigs and planer boards (Outcast, Water-Bugz, Offshore) did well last week, especially off points and humps. Stripers were also caught around 20 feet deep using live bait on downlines and trolling Umbrella rigs (Captain Mack’s). Stripers are also being caught out of schools by casting and retrieving or jigging the Virginia Outdoorsman Gamakatsu custom jigheads rigged with ZOOM Salty Super Flukes. Stripers continue to feed on baitfish near the surface. Great lures for feeding stripers include the Lucky Craft Sammy, Super Spook and Spook Junior. These traditional bass lures are incredibly effective for bass and stripers, especially when twitched across the surface using the “walk the dog” retrieve. Pencil poppers, swimbaits and flukes can also be used on breaking stripers.  

The channel catfish bite continues to be good with stinkbaits like the Magic Shrimp and Whopper Shad producing better results than chicken livers. A number of large flathead catfish have been caught over the past several weeks including several that weighed around 30 pounds.

The crappie bite has picked up again and they are being caught on jigs under docks and with small minnows in deep brush.  

This Thursday evening we are conducting the “Topwater Lures” fishing workshop. It is being held in our building and will start at 6:30 p.m. Just call the shop to reserve a seat. Good luck and good fishing.

40 Village Springs Drive, Hardy VA 24101

 In Westlake Directly Across From Wendy’s On Rt 122
 (About 3 Miles South Of The Hales Ford Bridge)