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 mid 60’s to low 70’s in the lower lake and low 70’s in the major creeks on Wednesday (5/15/2013). The lake level was about a foot above the top of the dam. The water was dark brown and moderately 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. Small to medium crappie were still scattered in the channels and on flats of the major creeks. A mix of sizes of crappie were also on wood cover and channel edges and near some lily pads in the main lake. Crappie were hitting live minnows, Kalin crappie scrubs, tubes, swim baits, and Wright Bait Co. and Southern Pro curlytail grubs. Bluegill were in scattered loose clusters on many shorelines in the main lake and in some areas up the creeks and were hitting flies (especially wet flies and nymphs) and small tubes and jigs. 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, Steve and Mitchell Novak had 17 crappie, 10 white perch, 1 yellow perch, 7 bluegill, 1 shellcracker, 1 blue cat, 1 pickerel, and 2 bass. Tom Porter and Malcolm Turnbull had 16 crappie (including 1 length citation), 53 bluegill, 3 shellcrackers, 2 shiners, and 1 bass. Hollis Pruitt had 21 crappie, 1 white perch, 2 yellow perch, 39 bluegill, 2 shellcracker, 1 shiner, 1 bowfin, and 1 bass. Capt. Bill Buck and Hollis Pruitt had 35 crappie, 1 white perch, 3 yellow perch, 36 bluegill, 1 shellcracker, 1 pickerel, and 2 bass.