Hey hey, How’s it going everybody? Welcome to September and welcome to the first annual Small Waters night fishing report. This last month has been a steamin’ demon outside. I mean HOT! Brutal. It’s been so hot, to try to beat the heat, I decided to do something different and go night fishing all month. No crowds on the water, 20 degrees cooler and the possibility of a giant bass. Sign me up. It’s prime time for frogging, topwaters giant wake baits and crawlers. Let’s get into it!
This month I went night fishing at Chickahominy lake in Lanexa.
Chick lake is a 1,230-acre water supply located on the New Kent/Charles City line. The lake was created in 1943 with the construction of Walker’s Dam. Newport News draws water from Chick Lake. You just never know what you’re going to catch with each cast. There’s no motor restrictions. If you don’t have a season ramp pass, there’s a $10 ramp fee at Ed Allen’s Boats & Baits. Trust me, it’s well worth it!
You can start fishing at the cypress trees to the left of the ramp and fish the docks down to the dam or try the expansive flats to the right of the boat ramp. It’s a fair-sized lake, but it’s totally manageable in a kayak or Jon boat. I fished there for years out of my 11-foot Coleman Crawdad. Chick lake has everything you want in a lake. Cypress trees, docks, cheese mats, rivers, flats, lily pads and even more cheese mats. Throughout the year, Gavin and Oscar at Ed Allen’s hold Tuesday evening tournaments.
Let’s start this off with some night fishing tips and things that I learned along the way. I should start all of this off by saying not all lakes here in Virginia allow you to fish after dark. Check out your lake regulations before you go out.
It’s a different world fishing in the dark, so here are some things that work for me. First off, bring less rods and pre-rig everything that you’re fishing beforehand. I was strictly going to throw different types of top water, so I bring seven set ups.
A 12-inch wake bait, a Vixen or walking bait, a buzzbait and three different crawlers – a Jackyl Mega Pompadour, a Megabass Iwing 135 and a Gan Craft Joi Crawler. I have a frog tied on another rod in my rod locker just in case. It’s just a pain in the butt changing baits in the dark.
This is obvious, but bring three flashlights with new batteries. I like to keep one in the front of the boat, one in the back of the boat by the net and another at the console.
Always check to see if your plug is in, phone is fully charged, install your navigation lights, your whistle is out and most importantly, your life vest is on or close to you. A couple of things I did beforehand was to turn the brightness way down on my Lowrances and put black electrical tape over the lights on my trolling motor. You have no idea how blinding these are until you’re out there in the dark.
If you wear flip flops in the summer, spray the heck out of your feet and ankles with bug spray. You’ll thank me later. Wear your bibs to cover your legs and a sunshirt with a hood and a buff so you can cover your head, ears and neck.
If you have a livewell, make sure the pumps are working and you have ice to cool that water down. The surface temperature was 87 degrees my nights. That’s pretty warm for fish. It also doesn’t hurt to have some sort of livewell treatment like Gjuice or Please Release Me to make sure that fish of a lifetime doesn’t die before you get a good picture with her.
Let’s get into my month of night fishing. I made it a point to show up at the ramp around 12:30 a.m. and get on the water by one a.m. with hopes of fishing until nine or 10. I did my boat checklist and launched. I slowly made my way to the area I had decided to fish ahead of time, killed the motor and listened for any activity. I certainly couldn’t see anything, but all you can do is listen and yell at the bugs to leave you alone. Bullfrogs, bluegill jumping in the boat, fish blowing up and explosions all around you. It’s all pretty crazy to witness.
There’s no running and gunning at night. Pick an area that you’re confident that holds fish and commit to that area. Be as quiet as possible and cast. Cast a lot. That was my take away from the first night. Go slow and really pick apart the area that you’re in. Slow is the key. Especially with the wake baits and crawlers. Reel painfully slow.
My first night out, I ended up with four fish with the biggest going about 3.5 pounds. All were on a Vixen and a black Gambler popping frog. Not the size I was after, but I did learn a lot; specifically to slow down my retrieves.
The results for the next few trips were about the same. Three or four fish a night on the wake baits and crawlers – nothing crazy.
My next trip out, due to that lack of wind, I decided to only throw the big crawlers. Reeling them in slow, painfully slow. Like barely moving slow. Hours of casting.
About 3:30 am I had my first explosion. If you’ve never experienced a fish blowing up on a crawler on a 7’4” heavy rod with 50-pound braid, you really need to get one and try it. They explode on it like no other bait. The sound of it must make them lose their minds. It was a solid, 4.5pounder. An hour later another four pounder. An hour after that, with the Megabass Iwing 135 halfway back to the boat, another violent explosion, but this one felt heavier. I got the fish in the net and said “Hot damn, I think this is a good one” I shined the flashlight on her and she was big. She went 7.96 pounds. That’s what night fishing is all about!!! I finished the night off with two more threes and called it after the sun was up. It was a phenomenal night of bass fishing. That’s what I hoped night fishing would be like.
The next few trips were hit or miss. On my last trip out I ended up with two fish explode on the Jackyl Mega Pompadour crawler from that same area that weighed 4-10 and 6-11. I also caught a 10-pound channel cat on a crawler. That was an experience.
The key to having as much fun fishing at night as in the day is being prepared for anything that might happen.
It was an amazing month at Chick lake. I hope this inspired you to try fishing at night. Be careful and safe out there.
If you have any suggestions of where I should fish next, email me at woodsandwatersmagazine@gmail.com
