November Fishing
It’s been a fairly warm November. I’ve made a few trips recently and have found that the fish are still biting. One trip to Fountainhead park at the Occoquan Reservoir yielded a nice 15″ bass. Caught that one in the submerged timber at about 10 ft depth on a Texas rigged plastic lizard. A couple of weeks later, I caught a 12″ bass at the pond in the Franklin Farm neighborhood of Herndon. So, to summarize, even though it’s November, the fishing is still somewhat productive; not exactly Spring-time productive but at least the fish will still bite.
December 2nd, 20099:45 am at
hey gman, the walleye still should be biting. If folks can catch them while ice fishing, they still should be active at Burke Lake and whereever else they’re stocked. are you game for trying it out sometime?
December 29th, 200911:38 am at
gman, got some new places to try. Smith Lake at Quantico Marine Base, Beaverdam Creek Reservoir near Dulles airport, and the Occoquan dam spillway near the town of Occoquan. Let me know when you want to go scouting.
December 29th, 200911:38 am at
And the Tridelphia reservoir, on the Maryland side.
March 13th, 20101:28 pm at
Hey G-Man,
I like your site, hope you are still doing it. I haven’t seen any new updates since November. Anyway, I just moved to the area and I am going to be bank fishing mostly. I noticed that is what you do a lot of. Can you give me an idea of what a good set up to use would be for around here? I know that just one rod will not cover everything, but I was thinking on going with a 6.5 foot medium action spinning set up with 10# test line to start with. Will that handle most of the bass around here? Any feed back would be appreciated ( from any posters). Also If anyone wants to go fish lets do it. Tightlines… Dave
March 13th, 20102:54 pm at
No trips lately so no posts. Gearing up for some early spring fishing. Your setup sounds similar to what I use. 10# test should be good for anything you catch around here. You may want to go heavier if you are sight fishing during the spawn. The average size seems to be way better in the Spring and the heavier line is better for setting hooks. I’ll also adjust down to a lighter line too if the water is really clear.
March 13th, 20109:28 pm at
Thanks for the info. I can’t wait for the spring bite. I was at lake fairfax yesterday, mostly trout but one guy caught a LM.
March 18th, 20107:33 pm at
Hey Gman. I like your site and appreciate the detail you give. I’m addicted to muskie fishing and have caught 3 so far from Burke but I have seen many more that didnt make it to the boat. I also spend sometime fishing for bass and do some shorefishing for the larger Blue Catfish. My problem is I usually have no one to fish with. Its hard to lug around a lot of gear(catfishing) or launch a boat by myself let alone land a muskie. I would like to learn more about the lake and bass fishing. I need to get out of a rut using the same tactics. I agree that Burke is a difficult place to fish especially alone and I was wondering if anybody would like to fish with me sometime. I have a 15ft bass boat that can fish 3. It has a depth finder which Im still learning how to use and a foot pedal trolling motor. If you are interested in muskie at all right now is the time to go after them. I have also caught several citation size blue catfish from shore and a couple citation bass yet mostly powerfish for them and need to learn more about finesse. Hope to hear from you soon.
March 20th, 20102:15 pm at
Hey Thomas,
I am new to the area and i have never fished Burke, but I hope to this spring. I would love to have someone to fish with. I would really like to try for some of the Blue Catfish also. I am in the process of buying all of my bass gear. Sounds like we both need to pick gman”s brain. Do you fish at night for the Big Blues?
March 22nd, 20109:07 pm at
It depends. I will fish at night if the day is sunny with little wind or during late spring to early summer. If it is windy, rainy or overcast I will fish during the day(except for the summer). You have to have fresh bait though. Fresh caught shad larger than 6inches is best. If kept on ice and drained of excess liquid, this bait has preformed three day after caught. I have also had marginal success with store bought white perch. I pick the freshest ones and go to great lengths to keep them fresh on ice. Burke is full of shad so if you present a sub par offering such as frozen herring or cut bluegill the blues will tend to reject it. You might get lucky but fresh cut shad beats all. The weekend before last I got skunked for fishing what I suspect was previously frozen and thawed white perch. Low lake temp could have affected fishing too.
March 22nd, 20109:14 pm at
Hopefully I will do some bankfishing for the blues on the afternoon of the 22nd If you or any one else is interested.
March 22nd, 20109:45 pm at
sorry scratch that. 3/27 is when will fish for blues
August 20th, 20105:50 pm at
hey i fish at the franklin farm pond you went to i live right near there i dont think there is any bass there that arent 12″ cuz thats the only length me and my friends have caught!