Art Conway (804-514-1486) out of Ed Allen’s Boats and Bait reported that
on Wednesday March 4,Chickahominy Lake mid-day surface water
temperatures in the lower lake varied extensively. The surface of the
channel was 50.4 degrees F, but the surface at the dock at Ed Allen’s
was 53.0 degrees F. Temperatures also varied with depth. The
temperature in the channel in the lower end of the lake was 50.4 at the
surface, 48.7 at 5 feet below the surface, 47.9 at 10 feet, 47.3 at 15
feet, and 46.2 at 20 feet.

The lake level was about 3 inches above the top of the dam. The water
was light to medium brown, clear at the surface, slightly cloudy in the
top 2 feet, but much more murky for several feet below 2 feet,
apparently due to an algal layer.

A few blue cats, channel cats, and bullheads were scattered in deeper
regions of channels in the main lake. Some crappies were still in the
traditional winter holes, but most appear to be moving toward spawning
areas. White perch have occasionally been in loose schools roaming
channels, especially at the upper end of the lake, but have been hard to
locate recently. Most bluegills and shellcrackers have been in channel
basins and have mostly been inactive. A few scattered pickerel and bass
have occasionally been in creek channels near creek mouths or on main
lake flats and channel edges.

Tom Porter and I found few active panfish today, but bass fishermen have
done well in several recent tournaments, and pickerel should be moving
into the creeks soon. We did find one school of crappie in a winter
hole in the river above the lake which had a few sporadically active
fish which we caught on minnows and on Gulp Fry, both fished near the
bottom.