Pacemaker Fishing Forum

I've been hitting the reservoir on average about once a week for the past few months. As I've said before I don't think the fishing is anywhere near what it was last year but I still stay with it because I believe there's a pig in there waiting to be caught and I simply like being out there.

One interesting thing I found last week was that the Loudoun County Sherriff’s Office has been patrolling the Reservoir Rd side access point due to lots of illegal activity. The city of Fairfax has put up No Trespassing signs on the area to the north of the access point. Plain clothes officers are stopping people from going up that way but it appears as if it's an excuse to look for other illegal activity. Just that day they had busted several people for drug possession and somebody for illegal firearms. When I pulled up last Wednesday afternoon they had a young woman with two minors sitting on a rock and questioning them. It turns out she had pot on her and they had to deal with it in front of her young daughter. They were extremely professional and considerate of the young girl. Personally, I'm happy to see them there. I had a nice talk with two of the officers as I was coming off the water. They were really nice guys and really aren't there to bust the chops of fishermen but will enforce the no trespassing area. The place had been going downhill quickly with questionable types of people and lots of litter so this might just be what's needed.

Two weeks ago I took my kids out for a day of nothing but kayaking. We didn't even bring any rods. It was great to explore the water in a way that I had never done before. Here are some pics with a few interesting discoveries.

My kids-


A catfish that choked on what appears to be one of the big golden shiners that are all over the reservoir-


First time I've ever seen this even though its at the mouth of a cove I've been in at least a dozen times. Anybody know what it is?


Several of the coves had visible bait pods in them. This was different from the usual shiners that are flipping all over the lake. Turns out that they were shad taht I knew were in there but have never seen them in tigh pods like this as I've seen in many other lakes. As we rode by them I spooked a pod with my kayak and several jumped out of the water and one ended up in my sons boat.


As for the fishing, I've been picking at fish on the submerged structure in about 10 to 15 feet of water. I haven’t gotten anything in 15 to 20 feet as I did last year. I haven't gotten anything that's hit the 5 lb mark since June and I had one good day with 10 fish back in early July. Otherwise it's been 2 to 5 fish per trip and only one fish off of my favorite point. Here's a few samples of some of my better fish.


Finally, I thought this was really cool. I lost a crankbait on some rocky structure a few weeks ago. It's a spot that has produced quite a few fish so I'm okay losing a lure or two on it now and then. One week later I was in the same spot throwing a jig and I got hung up. After popping the jig free I noticed something pop up on the surface. It was my crankbait from the week prior. It's nice to know I can put myself back on structure consistently even though its in the middle of the lake.