Living in Charlottesville I frequently find myself driving an hour or more to find good bass fishing. Anyone who is a frequent reader of this magazine knows that I have traveled to every corner of Virginia to chase bass and many other species of fish that the Virginia waters have to offer.
The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources recently published its 2026 rankings of small impoundments, and a quick glance shows that many of the Albemarle lakes rank close to the bottom for the North Central/Northwestern Region. Chris Green, the lake closest to my house, comes in at 30th out of 39th lakes in the region.
In years past I may pop over to the lake when I am short on time or drop my kayak in for a quick topwater evening session. While the numbers of bass have never been a concern, the size frequently leaves much to be desired. This year, due to circumstances out of my control, I have been finding myself spending a little more time fishing there and have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of fish the small lake has been producing.
In July, my brother stopped for a weekend visit, and we decided to take my niece and nephew out for their first trip on the boat. I kept the expectations low because it was the end of June, hot, and we didn’t even get onto the water until around 10 am. I had rigged up a few rods with bobbers to dunk some redworms for bluegills and would have been happy with that. While I worked our way to a little cover where I expected to find some bluegills bedding I noticed a brush pile off of a little point and could see on my depth finder there were several bass suspended over the top. I tossed my urchin bait out and almost instantly had a quality bass in the boat. Within a few casts, another nice bass was in the boat and the kids were tickled seeing a giant fish in their eyes.
As we continued into the back of the pocket, I saw a big fish on my Garmin LiveScope and casted the urchin and let it slowly sink down to the fish. I saw the fish rise up to the bait and knew the bite was coming. I set the hook and instantly knew this was a big fish. Of course, I was not prepared because I was not expecting to hook a fish of this size. My net was behind the seat, I was telling my brother “Get the net, get the net!” and the fish came up and jumped right next to the boat and that was all she wrote. We finished up the day with a few more bass, and the kids caught a bunch of bluegills, so it was a great trip.
A few weeks later, my mom came down for a visit, and I asked if she wanted to spend a few hours on the lake that evening. I hooked up the boat, and we headed out. As seems to be the case more often than not, the sky was an ominous dark gray. I pulled up the radar and saw a nasty storm moving our way.
By the time we reached the ramp, the sky opened up. Just as quickly as the storm arrived, though, it passed. We launched the boat and got to fishing.
Only a few feet from the ramp, I spotted what I assumed were crappie suspended in 12 to 15 feet of water. I picked up my Trippy Stix jig and quickly put a few crappie in the boat. From there, we started working our way toward the same brush pile I had fished with my brother a few weeks earlier.
As we approached, I noticed three big fish sitting tight to the bottom. I told my mom I thought they were bass. I fired an urchin toward them and settled in for the waiting game, letting the bait slowly sink toward the fish.
As it fell, I noticed another fish swimming toward the trio. As luck would have it, that fish swam right past my bait just as it reached its level. A few quick pops of the rod tip and the fish inhaled it.
I immediately told my mom, “That’s a good fish.”
You’d think I would have learned my lesson from the last trip, but apparently I’m a slow learner. As my mom struggled to get the net free, I decided to simply flip the fish into the boat. It was, by far, the biggest bass I had ever caught from Chris Greene and the biggest bass I had ever caught with my mom in the boat.
A few high fives, a couple of pictures, and the night was already made.
I made my way across the middle of the lake and picked up a few more crappies, and the sun was quickly fading away as I worked my way to my favorite point on the lake. I noticed a school of fish sitting on the edge of the drop of the point and fired the urchin out to the school. As soon as the bait got close to the bottom multiple fish came up fighting over the bait. I picked up a few more quality bass from that school before panning my LiveScope towards a brush pile I knew was on the point. It looked like there was fish in the pile so I picked up my minnow and threw it over the pile. One fish came up and I saw several others came out of the pile.
I told my mom to come up to the front, gave her the rod and explained where to cast and what we were looking at. She looked at me and said “Those are all fish, yes Mom, those are all fish, lol. She fired out the Shakamata Shad and the first cast she was hooked up. She proceeded to catch several more fish before the summer night finally faded to darkness, and we had to call the trip.
Overall, it was one of the most memorable fishing trips I’ve had all year, made even more special by having my mom there to share it with me. The excitement of watching that fish come together, the thrill of the catch, and the laughter and high fives that followed are memories I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. More than anything, the trip was a reminder to be grateful for the time we get on the water and the people we get to share it with. Sometimes, the best thing an angler can do is set aside preconceived notions about a body of water, drop the boat in, and simply go fishing. You never know when an ordinary evening on the water might turn into the fishing trip of a lifetime.
