BY BRIAN BOOG
Welcome back for another installment of Small Waters. December was cold around these parts! Water temps dropped intro the low 50’s, mid to upper 40’s, bringing frozen guides and high-powered winds.
I can honestly say that this was the first time I’ve ever fished open water in December. Traditionally, up in Massachusetts, we’ve got ice on all the lakes at this point in the year. This month was brand new to me, with open water and figuring out how to catch ‘em in the cold.
Before I talk about Lake Whitehurst, I’d like to thank Bob Everhartt. He’s a long time Virginia tournament angler and co-worker. He took me out for the day in his Basscat for my first time on the Chickahominy River. We launched out of the Brickyard and he proceeded to kick my butt. He put on a clinic. What a weird and wacky place the Chickahominy River is. Tidal rivers are a whole new world of bass fishing for me.
This month, I stayed very close to last month’s lake, hoping that being closer to the ocean the water would be a little warmer. I fished Lake Whitehurst, 641.57 surface acres in the city of Norfolk, one of 11 freshwater reservoirs that provide drinking water for Norfolk and the surrounding communities.
The boat ramp is located at the intersection of Heutte Drive and Shore Drive, and the lake is open from sunrise to sunset. The ramp itself is a single wide with a walking dock/fishing pier right next to it, and you can use up to a 9.9HP outboard. There’s plenty of parking for trucks and trailers.
You do need to get a city of Norfolk fishing permit to put your boat in. I bought mine at Ocean’s East Tackle for $40, and it’s good for the year.
The DWR website has zero information on Lake Whitehurst, so after doing some research, I found that Whitehurst has largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, white perch, sunfish, flathead catfish, walleye, and a few stripers. I also found in my research that there’s a possibility of trout, muskie and hybrids. I couldn’t find any information about stocking of trout, although I did see some pictures of trout catches. Does anyone know if there are still trout in there? None of my big trout swimbaits have been touched since I moved here.
One stretch of the lake borders Route 64, and another large section is directly next to the Norfolk airport. The planes land right over your head.
The majority of the lake’s shoreline has houses, seawalls, points, docks, and plenty of laydowns – perfect.
Let’s talk about my fishing at Lake Whitehurst. The days I went and fished, the wind ranged from light and variable to 15-20. The wind was always the same! It just whips there, right across the lake, never ending. Haha! It just didn’t let up. Hopefully it’s not that bad in summer.
On a bunch of frosty, early mornings in December, I launched the Crawdad with a handful of rods, Hot Hands in my pockets and headed out. Not knowing a thing about the place, being December, and watching videos on winter fishing, I was told to either go really small or really big. I flip-flopped rods each trip.
I brought an umbrella rig, Bizz Bits jig, Ned rig, Zoom shakey head and an underspin on one trip, and a Deps 175, 250, 8” Megabass Magdraft, 7” Osprey Tournament Talon and a G-Ratt 10” Poppa Pete on the next.
Each time out, I tried to go and fish the rip-rap along 64, but the wind wouldn’t allow me to do that. Whitecaps were my downfall — fishing in strong wind in a small boat can be challenging, sometimes stupid. You just have to find a cove out of the wind or get behind some trees.
Over the years, I’ve tested the limits of just how stupid one can be in a small boat. I don’t recommend it, but if it looks too rough out there, just go back home. You have to stay safe.
I turned back to the ramp and followed along the seawall, past the first point and made it into the cove. I saw a lot of timber lining the bottom on side scan. There’s a lot of debris and brush piles all over the bottom on Whitehurst.
Here, I started throwing everything that I had, and dragging a Ned rig, caught the first small keeper of the day.
Moving around that first cove towards the next point I stayed way off the shore dragging the jig and Ned rig, buy no more action.
The second point I came to had an enormous brush pile off of it. I lost another umbrella rig in it. I have the absolute worst luck with umbrella rigs!
Somehow, I was able to throw an exposed Ned rig in it and caught a three-pounder. – a miracle I didn’t get hung up. Do they make a Texas rig Ned head?
The depths I found at Whitehurst varied between 3-7 ft. I’ve heard about these “burrow pits” there that are 16-28” deep, but I never found them.
I crisscrossed my way up lake toward a very long sea wall/retaining wall and slow-rolled the swimbaits, jig and Ned rig around. I caught one more two pounder on the Ned rig as soon as it hit the bottom. I fished my way all the way up the creeks, throwing everything that I had with only a handfull of small keepers to show, all on the Ned rig. It was very tough throwing it because I got hung up every other cast.
One of the days that I was there, the wind wasn’t blowing like it had been, so I made my way over to the area closest to the airport. You go from 7’ to 1’ real quick around the islands! There are isolated big stumps all over. I was alternating dragging the jig and Ned rig around and they seemed to want only the Ned.
In all my days there, I never got a bite or even a follower on a swimbait. The only thing that worked for me at Whitehurst was the Ned rig, dragging it around wood on the bottom. Throwing big baits here in February/March must be epic.
On most days, I wasn’t the only one out there. There always seemed to be a few boats fishing for crappie. The last day I went was so cold that all of my guides froze up with ice within 30 minutes. I just couldn’t fish.
Lake Whitehurst is another great lake in the long list of Virginia’s awesome lakes. I don’t know what it’s like in the spring, summer and fall, but with all of the rip rap, laydowns, points and sea walls, it has to be great-a jig throwers paradise. If there’s any truth to all of the species of fish in there, that’s worth it alone! There are a lot of areas I didn’t get to fish because of the wind, so I will definitely be going back. Hey – I caught some largemouth in December. I like it!
If you have any suggestions for places that I should fish email woodsandwatersmagazine@gmail.com
