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 water temperatures were in the low to mid 60’s in the upper and lower lake and in the major creeks on Wednesday (5/1/2013). The lake level was about six inches above the top of the dam. The water was brown and slightly cloudy in the lower lake.

Blue cats and a few channel cats were widely scattered in a variety of depths in the lower main lake and in the creeks and were hitting live minnows. Crappie in a mix of sizes were still scattered in the channels and on flats of the major creeks and in some of the spawning areas. Crappie were also in some of the staging areas near creek mouths and on wood cover and channel edges in the main lake. Crappie were hitting live minnows, Kalin crappie scrubs, tubes, swim baits, and Wright Bait Co. and Southern Pro curlytail grubs. Bass and pickerel were in the major creeks and around creek mouths and were hitting flyrod bugs, topwaters, crankbaits and jerkbaits, frequently very close to shoreline vegetation.

Fishing with Capt. Conway, Ted Antol had 15 crappie, 1 yellow perch, 2 fliers, 6 bluegill, 1 blue cat, 1 pickerel, and 2 bass. Jeff, Jason, and Cameron Buck had 10 crappie, 13 bluegill, 1 shellcracker, 1 flier, 1 blue cat, and 3 pickerel. Capt. Bill Buck and Hollis Pruitt had 20 crappie, 1 white perch, 1 yellow perch, 19 bluegill, 2 shellcrackers, 1 flier, 1 shiner, 1 blue cat, 1 pickerel, and 1 bass.