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 high 30’s to very low 40’s in the lower lake on Friday (02/07/2014). The lake level was a little over a foot above the top of the dam. The water was very light brown and very slightly cloudy in the central lower lake. The lower lake and major creeks on the lower lake were not frozen on Friday, but some shore ice was still present in a few coves. The main channel areas in the upper part of the lake were open, but most creeks and coves on the upper lake were still ice-covered, and shoreline ice was present in some areas. Be careful to watch for drifting ice chunks in the middle and upper lake areas.

Lower lake winter holes contained mostly blue cats with a few crappie, bowfin, pickerel, white perch, and bass. Upper lake holes out of the current contained mixed sizes of crappie and a few pickerel and bass. Watch for crappie to start moving into the creeks, along with bass and pickerel, on sunny days during the next several weeks if we don’t get more cold fronts. Where they were active, crappie were hitting live minnows and small blade baits. Bass, pickerel, bowfins, and blue cats in the holes were hitting primarily live minnows.