Late Winter Crappie Fishing In Southeastern Virginia

Well, I had enough of cabin fever and the aches and pains of drilling through 30 inches of ice to fish and decided to get out for a day of open water fishing. The occasion presented itself last Friday when my family and I were down in the Williamsburg area over the March Break. This time, I decided to fish Chickahominy Lake near Lanexa. I spent a very enjoyable six hours with Capt. Art Conway of River Rat Guide Service ([email protected]). The lake is beautiful with its' many flooded cypress trees and migratory birds dotting the shoreline. Things started out slow as we fished the edges of shoreline vegetation and docks along the back areas of the lake, but things picked up in the afternoon as we caught nearly a dozen fish, most of them being our targeted species, black crappie. The fishing got even better the next day as my guide caught over 20 fish with his next client. The fish caught were mostly mid-sized and put up a good fight with the ultralight 7 ft Shakespeare Agility ultralight rod I was using and the 6 lb test Spiderwire Stealth main line and 4 lb test Berkley Vanish I was using as a leader. I also caught a blue catfish, which was a first for me, being from Canada. Most of the fish were caught using drop shot rigs using 1.5 inch Berkley Gulp! Hellgramites in pumpkinseed and grey-black nose hooked on VMC spinshot hooks. Another presentation that has been working well of late on the lake have been Berkley PowerBait Freshwater Pogies (available in two and three inch sizes). The first productive area we fished was a wintering hole in roughly 15-20 feet of water whereas the second area was a shallower area (roughly six feet) around brush piles and cypress trees along the shoreline further up the lake. The drop shot worked well in both areas. The water temperature varied form 49 to 52 degrees Farenheit and the afternoon air temperature got up to 60 degrees that day. Winds were light in the morning but picked up in the afternoon. Water clarity was at four feet. It was great to get out of the cold weather for some open water fishing. I'm now counting the days until I can get out here on the waters of Eastern Ontario to chase some panfish after a long, cold winter. If you found this article interesting, feel free to follow me on this site. Wishing you the best of success on the water, Pierre LaFrance