Capt. Art Conway of Conway’s River Rat Guide Service (804-746-2475) out of Ed Allen’s Boats and Bait reported that Chickahominy Lake mid-day main lake water temperatures were in the low to mid 30’s in the upper lake and in the mid to high 30’s in the lower lake on Wednesday (1/23/2013). The lake level was 18 to 20 inches above the top of the dam and slowly dropping. The water was brown and slightly to moderately cloudy in the lower lake. There was ice along the shores throughout a lot of the lake Wednesday morning, much of which melted by Wednesday afternoon. If the wind dies down, much of the lake will probably freeze over before the weekend, but will probably open back up early next week.

Bowfin and blue cats were hitting live minnows and blade baits and were around bait schools on mid-depth and deep flats and in deeper channels in the main lake. Small to medium crappie, a few scattered larger crappie, and a few white and yellow perch were in deeper channels or deep winter holes (about 18-25 foot depths) in the lower main lake and were biting moderately aggressively. Prior to the snow last Thursday, small to mid-sized crappies in the channels and on deeper flats (7-12 foot depths) in the extreme upper end of the lake were quite active. After the snow Thursday, these crappies had relocated to deep eddies out of the heavy current and were gradually starting to bite again. When active, crappies were hitting live minnows, small blade baits, Wright Bait Co. and Southern Pro curlytail jigs, tubes, and small Gulp baits. Bass and pickerel were scattered on mid-depth and deep flats and channels in the main lake and were hitting live minnows, blade baits, and lipless crankbaits.