Lake Anna Report – May

Charlie Bowles- Fishing Guide
www.CVOfishing.com

Pro Staff:
Bass Pro Shops
Johnny Morris Carbonlite Rods and Reels
Lowrance Electronics
Seaguar Flourocarbon
Deep Creek Plastics
Big Mouth Lures

This month usually offers more stable weather than the previous months and allows anglers to catch fish using many different approaches. At least a third of the fish have spawned and the subsequent spawns will happen within the next few weeks. Some fish will be very aggressive as they are feeding or protecting their beds & fry, while others will be nearly impossible to catch because they are recovering from all of the stresses of laying eggs, fishing pressure, etc.

Bass:

Bass spawn at different times during the spring. By the first week or so in May the early big fish spawns are finishing and the early stages of post spawn fishing are revealed. There will still be a couple waves of spawning but the playing field is changing. There will be fish that are thinking about going back to their summer brush piles and ledges but they haven’t quite made it out of the “Bass Brothel”. These fish will be roaming around on the flats and will get very hungry whenever they recover from the stress of making baby bass. My three favorite baits to find these fish are lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits, and poppers. Spinnerbaits are also a good choice. Since you are looking for transitional fish you are trying to cover a lot of water between the spawning areas and the summer hangouts. Once you get a couple strikes in an area you can slow down and present jigs, worms, or tubes to some of their nearby friends.

Striper

Nothing compares to seeing a 35” inch striper crush a 10” shad on the surface, except for casting your super spook right on top of it..twitch..twitch..WHAM!!! On the right morning or late in the evening you can run into some of the most impressive feeding action available in fresh water. This Month, Big Stripers will begin to transition to main lake areas. They will feed heavily throughout the month on larger baits. If you miss the early morning action you will have to pull out to the deeper flats and channel edges to troll crankbaits, swimbaits and bucktails. If you are equipped with a nice bait well and are proficient at catching bait, you can use free lines, planar boards, and down lines to target Lake Anna Linesiders.

Crappie

Nice size slabs can be found all over the lake. Bridges, docks, brush piles, beaver huts, and grass are home to thousands of Crappie. Many citations have been taken in the last couple of weeks.... One method is to try casting grubs, tubes, and beetle spins as close to whatever cover you are targeting. Another approach is to use a slip bobber above a #6 gold aberdeen hook tipped with a small minnow.